Romania: Confronting the Past

Vladimir Tismaneanu Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland.

In 2006 the people of Romania confronted the legacy of their communist past. Through the deliberations of a select Presidential commission Romanians spent months in intense examination of the crimes, errors and misdeeds of the Communist era. The process was complicated by the fact that many who held power then are still in public life. For this and other reasons the commissions' report received a tumultuous welcome when it was unveiled in December 2006. Vladimir Tismaneanu, who headed the commission, describes what happened.