2009 Nobel Prize: Herta Muller

Ms. Herta Muller, from Timisoara, wins the Nobel Prize for Literature this year.

Her texts reflect her own biography and the complex situations in totalitarian systems and the human decay and degeneration: "This is not a topic that I chose, but rather one that my life has chosen for me. I don't have that freedom of choice. I cannot say: 'I want to write about that thing, or about that other thing.' I am bound to write about what concerns me and about the things that won't leave me in peace."

Being an advocate for the respect of cultures, Ms. Muller says: "In Timisoara [the main city in Banat] one can hear on the street all kinds of languages: Romanian, German, Hungarian, Serbian, Romany -- that's how it used to be and that's how it should be. Nobody should hide their culture."

Personally, I admire Ms. Herta Muller for her decency, just and noble attitude to life and also for her talent as an international writer.

The 2nd Mourning Day - Bucharest

20 years ago, people in Bucharest continued what heroes in Timisoara had started - but again the outcome was bloody - 40 new young heroes died in the first hour alone.

Highly-trained snipers were shooting civilians from the top of the buildings - mercilessly.

But people would shout: "We shall die, but we shall be free!"

The 1st Mourning Day - Timisoara

December, 17th 1989 - the day when shootings against civilians start.

More than 200 children grow up without their fathers - like Monica Silaghi who sees her father's blood on her 15-year-old hands.

More than 100 families are forced to live with traumatic memories all their lives.

The "Romanian-Romanian war" starts. 'Securitate' people close the doors of the Cathedral so that civilians cannot seek refuge inside. Young heroic people die on the steps of the Cathedral...

The Silent Force

They were betrayed. And they were caught. The mountains had covered them for long but it hadn't been enough.
"The Americans" never came, as hoped, and the communist regime enforced its unifying destruction... But the year 1989 brought about the much needed change.

The force of the resisting spirit cuts through time. They have won!

Whenever I think of the resistance groups of brave men and women, Toma Arnautoiu is among the first leading figures who speaks to my mind and heart and whenever I see his daughter, which is a miracle in itself, I cannot help feeling the silent force of the look in their eyes - the force of justice and truth...

The BBC reveals in an article titled "Romania Securitate legacy 20 years after revolution" the haunting effects of a regime that lasted for too long.