photo #9445408

History with JacobIn the 1980s Socialist Republic of Romania, families shivered through winters on rationed food and heat, while their Communist leader was building the most expensive government building in the world.Nicolae Ceaușescu had run up about $10 billion in foreign debt. His solution to pay it off was to squeeze his own people.Food was rationed, and much of it was shipped abroad for cash. Heat, gas and electricity were cut. Romanians stood in line for basic necessities like cooking oil.Meanwhile, he bulldozed nearly 3 square miles of historic Bucharest and forced 40,000 people from their homes to make room for his palace.In 1987, hungry workers in Brașov stormed the local Communist party headquarters. Inside, they found the officials' canteens were fully stocked.Two years later the country rose up and on Christmas Day 1989, Ceaușescu was executed.While his people went hungry, their Communist leader built himself a palace.