Dumitru Cercel

Sovietization in Romania: Political Opposition to Communist Power, 1944-47 Dumitru Cercel

The end of the Cold War and the gradual opening of the archives in the former Communist countries made it possible for researchers to begin writing the history of the era from a wider perspective. This work on the imposition of Communism on Romania by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II is based on archival documents, memoirs, diaries and secondary sources. It describes and analyzes the opposition parties? struggle to prevent the seizure of power by the Communists and the transformation of Romania into a totalitarian state. The work examines the pre-1989 views on the period and contrasts them with new interpretations of scholars who had the opportunity to work in the newly opened archives. It also analyzes the repressive means and methods used by the Communists against the main parties in order to abolish them and imprison their leaders. The findings of this study are to some extent mixed. It concludes that many of the views of the Cold War era were to some extent confirmed by documents from the previously closed archives. Yet, there are some new and old interpretations that are contradicted by the evidence presented in this work.