My Paperback Book

Nicolae Ceaușescu (born January 26 1918 Scornicești Romania-died December 25 1989 near Bucharest) Communist official who was leader of Romania from 1965 until he was overthrown and killed in a revolution in 1989. A member of the Romanian Communist youth movement during the early 1930s Ceaușescu was imprisoned in 1936 and again in 1940 for his Communist Party activities. In 1939 he married Elena Petrescu (b. January 7 1919 Oltenia region Romania-d. December 25 1989 near Bucharest) a Communist activist. While in prison Ceaușescu became a protégé of his cell mate the Communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej who would become the undisputed Communist leader of Romania beginning in 1952. Escaping prison in August 1944 shortly before the Soviet occupation of Romania Ceaușescu subsequently served as secretary of the Union of Communist Youth (1944-45).