Cornel Mihalache is either getting sloppy or shows an incredible lack of self-awareness in the face of the historiography of December 1989. I could focus on many things in this interview from TVR on 13 December 2020 that are wrong or ridiculous or deeply misleading, but let us start pretty much close to the beginning, not a bad place to start.
From approx. min. 3:45 we have Nicolae Ceausescu’s televised accusations of the evening of 20 December 1989 about what had happened in Timisoara in the previous days…the interviewer Marian Voicu asks about Ceausescu’s allegations about the involvement of foreign agents in Timisoara…it could be just editing…but I doubt it…Mihalache, transitions almost seamlessly (min. 4:12-4:36ff and on) almost unprompted, into talking about the 1) windowbreakers of state stores etc; 2) those who seized control of these places and engaged in destruction; and 3) those who then set fire to these places. He leads us to believe that there were almost three separate, pre-trained groups involved in this ‘astro-turfed’ destruction.
Mihalache’s contentions, 31 years after the events of December 1989, are startling for anyone with even a basic historiographical knowledge. Any response from the Romanian press, media, or blogosphere? Not much…
Where or where do these claims, however couched in euphemistic innuendo and careful editing come from?
Similar examples/arguments can be found in…the detailed, if highly dubious research of Alex Mihai Stoenescu, long demonstrated to have been on the former Securitate (communist era security service) payroll; or in the pages of Vitralii, the favored journal of former Securitate members; and last, but not least, in the 1994 testimony to the Gabrielescu Senatorial Commission investigating December 1989 of COLONEL GHEORGHE RATIU, HEAD OF THE DSS DIRECTORATE ONE, the directorate most identified by Romanians and outside observers as having been the heart of the “secret” or “political” police of the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and the communist regime.
Mihalache makes no reference, Voicu the interviewer doesn’t ask him, and Mihalache no doubt banks on the amnesia of the Romanian political and intellectual class.
But, here, is, at least, one of the sources of Mihalache’s “certitudes,” about the alleged instigatory of role of foreigners…especially as suggested in the film, Soviet (KGB/GRU) and Hungarian “tourists” (i.e. agents posing as tourists).
Declarația colonelului Gheorghe Raţiu, fost şef al Direcţiei I – Informaţii interne al Securităţii, dată pe 16 februarie 1994 în fața Comisiei Senatoriale pentru cercetarea evenimentelor din decembrie 1989.
Episodul Tokes a fost o diversiune controlată de episcopul Papp Laszlo, agent al serviciilor secrete ungareÎn 15.12.1989, Tokes a lansat zvonul că va fi evacuat, a chemat enoriaşii să-l susţină. Noi am instalat o cameră de luat vederi vis-a-vis de locuinţă lui. Noaptea au mai rămas circa 60 din aştia, bătråni. Nu se punea problema evacuarii pentru că såmbăta şi duminica nu se fac evacuări, ci eventual luni. La trei am plecat la masă, sună telefonul, am venit înapoi la serviciu. Mi s-a spus că la Timişoara, că nu la casa lui Tokes, ci pe strada principală a apărut un grup de tineri turbulenţi, alţii decåt cei din faţa casei lui Tokes, că au blocat circulaţia – au oprit trecătorii – au spart vitrine, au scos băuturi – că se îndreaptă spre Piaţa Maria (se comportau ca cei instruiţi la Bicske)… http://www.danbadea.net/2010/12/22/decembrie-1989-gheorghe-ratiu-revolutia-de-la-timisoara-a-fost-declansata-de-diversionisti/
Marian Voicu, the legion of supporters of the episode as demonstrated on FB and other social media outlets, and most particularly, Mihalache himself, make no mention of antecedents, sources or roots. Yes, it matters. Does anyone think it possible that the head of the political police, the one charged with repression and who “missed” the genuine ferment of the population against the regime in late 1989, would be trying to “spin,” to lie after December 1989 (especially five years later) about the sources of the Timisoara uprising?
Well, certainly, Mihalache does not ask and has no intention of asking…and that speaks volumes. He is at a minimum downplaying the spontaneity, importance, impact, and authenticity of the Timisoara uprising whether or not he says so directly (God help us from all the Romanian intellectuals and analysts who somehow cannot see this and have never asked themselves this most basic of questions!)
Anyway, this is a blatant and frankly surprisingly blatant and sloppy example of Mihalache’s promotion of the Securitate narrative on December 1989…although don’t look for a whole host of liberal anti-communist intellectuals to detect any of it (ignorance is bliss!)…Below, Dan Badea’s reproduction of Gheorghe Ratiu’s 1994 testimony (he of course, retains all rights and you can go to his page to view)…
To this, I will add, an intriguing observation taken from Hall’s page that quotes Securitate boss Radu Tinu…apparently, the windowbreakers and destroyers of Timisoara…studiously avoided the buildings and goods…of the Interior Ministry…my, my…for Mihalache’s imputed Hungarian and Soviet “tourists” that is remarkably careful, interesting, and, given the Mihalache and Securitate/Militia argument, counterproductive/downright stupid if…as they suggest…their intention was to spark an uprising and to make Ceausescu regime authorities, especially the Securitate and Militia, look disorganized, weak, and vulnerable. MIhalache has clumsily shown his hand here…
https://romanianrevolutionofdecember1989.com/2014/12/16/25-for-the-25th-anniversary-of-the-romanian-revolution-2-shattered-glass-securitate-vandalism-to-justify-timisoara-crackdown/
RADU TINU:…SINGURLE COMPLEXE COMERCIALE RAMASE INTREGI AU FOST CELE DIN FATA MILITIEI JUDETENE SI CEL DE LANGA FABRICA “MODERN”…
Roland O. Thomasson, PHD 