OCR Text |
Show Brief history of Romania Romania is overpopulated with children because of former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who when he came to power in 1965 imposed a tax which severely penalized woman for not having children. Ceausescu hoped to build up the labor force in Romania by increasing the population. The country is now populated by 23 million people, and Ceausescu's goal was to reach 30 million by the year 2000. ' The average Romanian makes only $15 a month and many families, burdened with children they could not afford to clothe or feed, turned to the state-run or- phanages. Like Hitler, Ceausescu took some of the "prime" boys from orphanages and trained them to be in his army. Orwellian political repression became a part of daily life, and 64,000 people were killed under his megalomanian regime. The Romanians suffered from food, fuel and electricity shortages shor-tages as Ceausescu deprived his I people of essential resources so j that he could increase exports and pay off foreign debts. Romania used to be the first I vacation choice for many tourists before Ceausescu took I over 26 years ago. The livelihood of the country plum- I I meted quickly with his iron hand I I dictatorship and so did the hap- I I piness of its people. I Ceausescu and his wife were assassinated by an angry mob which included members of the . army, on Dec. 25, 1989. ' Once Ceausescu died, the birth bir-th taxes ended and, abortion was legalized. However, the country is still congested with children and living in fear of Ceausescu's communistic successor. "Ceausescu destroyed ihe entire en-tire political, economic and moral structure of Romania; it will be very difficult to reconstruct," said Romanian dissident writer Norman Manea. |