A number of persons in the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress are to be thanked for bringing this undertaking to fruition. Richard F. Nyrop provided guidance through the planning and chapter-drafting stages, and Sandra W. Meditz and Raymond E. Zickel reviewed the study. Martha E. Hopkins, managed editing and Marilyn L. Majeska supervised production. The manuscript editors were Deanna K. D'Errico, Patricia Mollela, and Ruth Nieland; editorial assistants Barbara Edgerton and Izella Watson helped prepare the manuscript. Catherine Schwartzstein performed the final prepublication editorial review, and Shirley Kessel compiled the index. Linda Peterson of the Library of Congress Printing and Processing Section performed phototypesetting, under the supervision of Peggy Pixley.

The editor gratefully acknowledges the graphics support provided by David Cabitto, who was assisted by Harriett R. Blood, Sandra K. Ferrell, and Kimberly E. Lord. David Cabitto executed the artwork on the cover and chapter title pages as well as the military rank charts. Special thanks go to Helen R. Fedor for obtaining photographs from individuals who had recently travelled in Romania. The editor also expresses his gratitude to Stanley M. Sciora for the detailed description of military uniforms and insignia and to Olena Z. Thorne for her help with Romanian spelling and orthography.

Preface

Like its predecessor, this study is an attempt to treat in a compact and objective manner the dominant social, political, economic, and military aspects of contemporary Romania. Unfortunately, during the intervening months between the completion of research (July 1989) and publication, economic, and social upheaval of its post-World War II history. The introduction (see ALMOST FREE, 1989 - 1990) briefly chronicles the tumultuous events that have transpired between late December 1989 and December 1990. Although the text proper does not address the changes wrought by these events, it provides information that will enable the reader to understand why romania's move away from communism was simultaneously more turbulent and inconclusive than was the case elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The study provides the context for Romania's "revolution," the violent demise of the detested Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, the displacement of the Romanian Communist Party by the National Salvation Front, the reemergence of long-dormant political parties, and the escalation of interethnic tensions inside the country and with Hungary and the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Sources of information included the most authoritative English and foreign-language literature, including books, anthologies, scholarly journals, newspapers, and United States and Romanian government publications. An objective description of Romanian society in the late 1980s, however, presented special challenges because of the paucity of reliable statistical data in official Romanian sources and because of the propagandizing mission of the state-controlled press. The Bibliography includes published sources thought to be particularly helpful to the reader.

Measurements are given in the metric system. Diacritical marks appear on Romanian place names and other words as rendered by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

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Source: U.S. Library of Congress