WEBVTT - Part Two: Nicolae Ceaușescu: The Dracula of Being A Dick 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:08.920 Ah, what's mummified my persons? This is Robert Evans, host 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.520 of Behind the Bastards, here with some exciting news from 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.079 the world of museums. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.520 and the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute have adopted the 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:24.240 term mummified remains and mummified persons to refer to mummies. 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:29.120 So we're good, everybody. Finally, the long problem of people 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:35.080 not respecting mummies is over. Uh. We we did it, everybody. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.279 I just I know there's a lot of activists out 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.400 there in the streets who have been fighting for mummy 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:41.600 rights for a long time, and I just wanted to 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.760 let you all know it was all worth it. Jeff May, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.400 how do you feel about mummified persons? I'm calling them 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.599 mummies and I don't care. Let the woke mob come 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.960 from me. All right, they are mummies, They've always been mummies. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.040 I'm not Are they going to go back and change 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:00.640 the classic horror film to the mummified person? Absolutely not, nonsense. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.240 Is it the m word now? Yeah? Horrible. If anyone 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.759 ever calls it a mummified person to me, I am 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:09.920 I am going to read from the Book of the dead, 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.480 and I know from the movie The Mummy how badly 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.360 that can go. I would give somebody a d d T. 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.000 If somebody was just like, um, do you mean mummified persons? 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:22.960 I would immediately just jake the snake Roberts d d 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.320 T them into the ground. Now, I know you're talking 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.840 about a martial arts term, but I assumed you were 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.120 talking about the pesticide that was made famous in the 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.479 book Silent Spring. And now I assume that you always 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.560 carry a full canister of DDT on you it all. Yes, 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:39.800 I gotta take I gotta fight malaria. Now it's I 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.520 would say martial arts term is that's loose? Is that 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:44.880 I would say a professional wrestling term. That's where you 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:46.840 put somebody in sort of like a like a headlock 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:48.840 is kind of a thing here, and then you just 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.200 kind of catapult the top of their head into the ground. Well, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.600 that wrestling is the only martial art I respect um. 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.600 So there, it's the only one you can do while 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:04.000 you dressed like a like a garbage manner. Yeah, Jeff, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.680 this is Behind the Bastards. It's a podcast about you know, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:13.520 people who aren't great um in in history. Speaking of which, 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:18.200 today are subject in part two is still Nikolai Cechesco. 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.520 How are you feeling about Nikki as we as we 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.760 go into to part two? We love a bastard nick 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.000 on this show with with you and I together here. Um, 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.400 you know, he's he's he's something, he's something, He's something, 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:34.600 all right, he's he's he earned the name. I know 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.119 we were building up to it last episode. It's fun 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:38.960 to see that it's going to build up to the 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.799 crescendo that we're going to see here. There was a 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.079 lot of a lot of background last episode. Gotta you 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.680 gotta cover the background. Um, the you know, it's kind 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.919 of like how if you really want to understand the 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.280 humanity of a mummified person, you have to understand I'm sorry, 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.840 what did you say? You son of a bit? Also 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:05.079 a side note here that the Chicago Studies what was 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.080 the name of the place, the Chicago, Plicago Institute of 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:15.000 Oriental Study something like that, is that it's it's referring 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.760 to the region. I know, I get it seems like 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:19.920 it's a way to work. Okay, you know what you 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:21.560 do kind of you do kind of want to know 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.880 when they started calling at that and like, yeah, I wonder, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.280 I wonder Chicago anyway, whatever, I'm sure it's fine. I'm 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:32.320 sure it's fine. You know who's not fine, Marshall Antonescu. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:38.200 So this guy winds up and again Marshall Antonescu. He's 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:43.400 this interesting character because he's ideologically he is not a 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.960 guy who is particularly interested in fascism. Um, but he 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.080 winds up in bed with these fascists and becomes like 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.680 one of the worst of them in terms of like 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.520 his actual death toll for a stump of fascism. Yeah, 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.080 it's weird. He's he's he's he's a fascinating, geting figure 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:06.760 because yeah, he's the forest gump of of of the 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:11.800 Axis powers. So under Antonescuu Romania again when kind of 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:13.920 you know, there's this whole World War thing that starts 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.119 up again. And the last time Romania had gone with uh, 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.200 you know, Britain, France, Russia, uh and and and sided 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.320 with them, and it had gone terribly for Romania. Right, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.600 the war kind of ends and they get some land, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:29.599 but they don't do well. All of their oil fields 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.320 are lit on fire, all of their young men get killed. Um. 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.080 And under Antonescu they're going to back the opposite side 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.320 and the next World War. And you know what, Jeff, 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.600 it doesn't go well for them either. World Wars not 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.359 a good call for Romania. Yeah, they're not. They're not 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.760 the champions of World Wars. No, it only really goes 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.920 well for us in Switzerland. But um, you know that's 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.280 a story for another day. So Romania, and again, the 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.440 kind of the reason Antonescu sides with the Nazis, there's 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.039 there's a lot of stuff going on, but one of 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.039 the big ones is that he wants to get back 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.320 best Arabia, which based on the treaty that the Nazis 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.920 its side with the Soviets. The Soviets got to take 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.440 from Romania just a little bit earlier. So the Romanians 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:13.720 side with the Nazis, who would agreed to give up 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:15.960 this territory that now the Nazis are saying, hey, if 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:17.960 you side with us, you can get this territory back, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.600 which may seem like a shitty deal to you, Um, 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.320 maybe not trustworthy of the Nazis. I know, this is 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.159 going to like blow a lot of people's mind historically speaking, 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.200 this is really going to cause some people's tops to 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:34.040 pop here. Yeah, wild stuff. So Romanian troops fight alongside 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.000 the Nazis during Operation Barbarossa, which works really well for 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:40.640 a little while, right for there's a couple of months 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:42.520 there where it seems like, hey, maybe a good call 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.039 back in the Nazis. We're taking a lot of territory. 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:49.080 Romania is suddenly much bigger. What a cool time. Um. 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.560 So it goes really well for a little while. But 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.160 then the bulk of Antonescue's military, the pride of Romania's army, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.880 a huge chunk of their young male population, winds up 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.640 in a in an interesting position. They are put watching 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.039 the flanks of the German I believe it's the sixth 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:16.400 Army as it encircles Stalingrad. Now, jeff right, you think 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.480 that's gonna play out? I don't know if anybody's ever 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:23.600 heard of Stalingrad, but it's pretty well known as far 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:25.880 as battles go. It's in like I would say, as 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.599 far as battles go, that's a top three historically probably, yeah, 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.480 probably a top three, very fair. Yeah. And if you're 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.480 going to pick a position to be in in World 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.360 War Two, there's a lot of bad ones, but one 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.000 of the worst is watching the flanks of the German 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.240 Army is the circle Stalin hard to get much worse 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.320 than that, trying to get famed sniper ed Harrison to 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:51.560 take out Jude Law. Yeah, Jude Law is fucking running 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.080 rough shot over these Romanians. Um, it doesn't go well 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.279 for them. Romanian military gets its ass handed to them 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.760 shortly before the German military gets its ass handed to them, 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.040 and things only get worse after that point. It doesn't 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.800 go well after Stalingrad. Yeah yeah, I mean, you know, 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.160 land war in Asia and all that beyond them too, 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:18.880 Like the Russians. This is like the guy at the 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.840 bar that tries to pick a fight with the bouncer. Yeah, 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.160 and the friends like, I don't think that's a good idea. Man, 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.560 This guy, you know, he got the job for a reason. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.239 And it's like I've taken a couple of mm A classes. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.800 I think I's like three times your size. Man. There 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.400 is a scar on his face bigger than your fists, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.640 not a real tooth in his mouth at that point 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:43.160 in time. Yeah. Um so yeah, thanks go downhill from there. Um. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.640 And despite being again on paper, Antonescu, he is not 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.360 a guy that has a long history of like anti 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:53.360 Semitic agitation. He's not a guy who I think under 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.200 his own devices, would have cared much in either way 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:02.000 about kind of Nazi policies in that regard more of 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.320 a hobbyist. But his policies against Romania's Jewish population lead 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.160 to an unprecedented level of mass death in Romania. Um 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.320 and this is not the subject for this episode today. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.559 We will talk about this at some point. Antonescue probably 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.520 deserves his own episode. But more Jews are murdered by 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.280 the Romanian government, but then by the government of any 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.040 other acts as state besides Germany itself. Um, it is 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:29.680 it is a japan didn't have a lot of options there, 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.800 although there are a couple of interesting cases. I mean 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.479 there's there's there's a couple of interesting cases of Japanese 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.800 officials who saved Jews, um and parts of the world 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.840 from the Nazis, and at least one interesting case of 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.359 a Nazi who saves Chinese citizens from rampaging Japanese troops. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.960 That's why World War Two lots of lots of neat 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.839 interesting history moments there. Yeah, it's like each country of 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.240 doing horrendous things is like these other guys need to 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.360 call down. Kind of seems like there's some got bad 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:05.040 guys on the Axis side, they're massacring the wrong people. So, um, yeah, 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:11.160 it's Antonescu, nightmare monster. UM kills about three hundred thousand 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.839 Romanian Jews. I think something like that UM. Now. Supporters 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.959 of Antonescu, because he's kind of been rehabilitated by some 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.320 corners of Romanian culture recently, will note that he also 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.960 saved three hundred thousand Jewish lives by refusing to deport 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.320 those people to people to Poland when the Nazis asked 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.480 what he could kill them himself. I'm not sure that 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.760 you get credit for saving three hundred thousand Jewish lives 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.160 when you've just killed three hundred and eighty thousand or 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.160 so Jewish people. I don't know that. Yeah, I'm not 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.480 going to really give you credit. In Vegas terms, they 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.240 call that a push. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that that's UM. 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.720 I feel I feel weird being like, look at all 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.840 these lives he's saved. Does he's massacring um like a 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.640 city's worth of human beings. We're not gonna we're not 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:00.280 gonna be doing that here on this show. That said, 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.120 we're also not going to be getting that into the 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.319 Holocaust in Romania. Not that obviously it's a worthwhile topic, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.920 but I don't want to just like, you know, we 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.640 should just I'm just trying to acknowledge the extent of 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.880 how bad it was. We'll talk about it more detail 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.319 at some other point. So they don't know what you're 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.200 talking about. Um, Jeff, we may need to sit down 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.400 and talk about that after class. Don't you have a 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.840 history degree? I'm like, I don't know how I got. Yeah, 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.560 but it's from Florida, so they're not allowed to have 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:37.439 books Diaria and Frank hasn't gotten approved by De Santis yet. Yeah. Um. So, 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.320 as the war unraveled, resistance to Antonescue coalesced behind the scenes, 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.800 and there's this alliance of like liberals and royalists led 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.720 by the new King Michael and a guy named Giulio 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.440 Manu who's the head of the National Peasants Party we 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.800 talked about in the last episode, and they decide we're 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.120 going to do a coup and get Antonescu out of here. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.280 But it's kind of useless for them to do a 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.120 coup if the Allies aren't going to lie stop doing 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.920 a war on Romania, right, Like, there was no real 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.040 point in getting this guy out if they're just gonna 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.839 have to fight the war more. Um, I mean, to 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.040 be fair, historically speaking, we've seen it happen where people 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:13.680 do a coup and then they pull out of the 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.559 war and they're like, yeah, but it's also they're trying 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.000 to like make it less messy than it's other one, 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.960 because like this, the Russians do that, right, and in 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.400 World War One, you get your revolution and then the 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.960 revolutionary government kind of awkwardly winds up still at war 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.560 with Germany for a while and it's it's it doesn't 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.880 doesn't go great. Um. So they have this back channel 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.600 to the Allies and the Brits, who is the people 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:40.520 they're talking with directly, are like, look, we'd love it 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.240 if you get Antonescu out, be real great for us. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.000 But Stalin's really the guy you got to talk to 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.520 because your romania. Um so we are not going to 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.800 be your main point of contact. They're like, hey, you 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.000 know who you need to talk is too, is our 0:11:55.200 --> 0:12:00.560 very stable friend, are sane and totally reason bold buddy 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.440 Jason to send guy now ja Stall To be fair, 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.320 it's not an unreasonable thing. He says, Hey, look, you know, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.760 if you want to work something out with us and 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.960 coup this guy, that's great, it will save me some trouble. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.280 But you gotta bring the Romanian Communist Party into the 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.200 coup government, right, They've got to be part of it, 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.439 which is again not an inherently unreasonable thing, except for 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:24.560 the fact that again there's like seven hundred Romanian communists, right, 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.559 so it's not a major party that will take an 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:32.360 afternoon to get me. Yeah, exactly, so, man, you the 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.960 National Peasants Party guy is like, of course, look, man, 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.640 we're this is a bad situation. I'm not gonna fight 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.080 you over this matter. Um. But he is like, there's 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.160 not really a whole lot of communists in Romania, Joseph Stalin, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.120 who do you recommend? We put In? And Stalin and 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:52.320 the Soviets recommend a law professor named Lucres Patronascano, patresh Canoe. 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.199 Sorry Lucres, you, I'm sorry. I did look these names up. 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:59.199 It's hard to keep them all straight. Lucreshu, petrash Canoe, Um, 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.920 and he and Menu. They plan to basically take Antonescue 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.800 down by inviting him over for dinner and having the 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:10.400 king be like, hey, Antonescue, you're under arrest now. Funk 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.360 off um, which is kind of a funny way to 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:20.439 do it. Yea exactly on party. Come over, No, no, 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.560 it's fine. We just want to all hang out together 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.000 in a room. It's gonna be totally cool. How do 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.640 you don't agree on a lot of stuff? Come on 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.400 over to my house, Come on in a room. Leave 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.800 your guards, leave your guards, um. And it's very funny. 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.280 The coup actually works great. And there's this moment where 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.480 like they're like, hey, Antonescue, do you have a gun? 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.360 And he's like, I don't need a gun. You know, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.840 my authority doesn't derive from a gun. Um. And then 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.760 they're like, okay, cool, well you're under arrest and then 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.600 we're gonna have you executed and they do. It works 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.720 out great, This part works out really good for them. Yeah, 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.640 brought that gun and and the National Peasants Party guy 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.680 Manu is kind of an old man at this point. 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.600 He's like, look, man running a coup government, that's young 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.600 man's work. So this communist petresh Canoe winds up being 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.360 kind of the first person to take a public role 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.120 in the new government. And he's actually a pretty reasonable 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.320 dude all things considered, Like I think he handles this 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.000 about as well as it could have been handled. Um. So. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.520 One of the things that happens, though, is because this 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.760 guy is kind of your public facing dude, and the 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.120 National Peasants Party, all of the Liberals who are much 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.360 more numerous, and the royal like folks who are much 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.080 more numerous and actually in like the you would suspect 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.280 be the people who would wind up in charge are 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.920 all kind of scared, right because they're they've just cooed 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.720 the other leader. There's still a bunch of German soldiers 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.880 in the country, so they don't want to make too 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.040 much of a public stink. Meanwhile, the Communists, even though 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.440 there's not many of them, these guys have been beaten 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.560 and in prisoned and starved. They're all like hard sons 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.080 of bitches. So the Communists are like, why don't we 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.440 just immediately take power? Um, which they do, and it 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.200 works pretty well for them. They they get in and 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.960 they basically like put themselves in a lot of positions 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.920 that are going to to to kind of give them 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.680 the ability to control the direction of Romania at least 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.640 help with that. Obviously, the fact that the Soviets are 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.160 so nearby helps too, and the Romanian or the Red 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.640 Army enters Romania soon after that. So the Communists kind 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.760 of despite the fact that up until this point there 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.960 had been very few of them and they'd had no power, 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.280 when World War two wins, they're kind of the preeminent 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.680 power in Romania. Um and Stalin. Yeah they stepped up. Yeah, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.080 they stepped up. And they have an election and show 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:38.880 Cescu gets to practice his faking at election skills, um 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.080 and and goes about making sure that the Communists win 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.800 that election, even though again there've been about seven hundred 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.080 of them in the company prior in the country prior 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.520 to to World War Two. To be fair, if the 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.560 people that actually stepped up to rule are running for something, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.200 it wouldn't be the worst to be like, oh, yeah, 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.000 I guess I'll vote for the guys that actually said 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.359 they yeah no again. And it's it's not an unreasonable 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.200 thing that as as Romanians in World War Two, you 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.280 would see the Communists taking over, given everything that happened 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.120 with the Nazis, and be like, maybe this will work 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.560 out better. Hey, not like anything else had been working 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.480 very well. It's the opposite of a Nazi economist. Nothing 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:22.480 could go wrong. Let's let's try it. Um So Georgiu 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.920 Day that that um, that peasant who had been like 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.880 the uh the leader of that railroad union, um that 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.960 had done all those strikes that chess Cou had helped support. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.400 He becomes one of the leaders of the country. Um. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.640 Now there's a bunch of this is it's more complicated 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.600 than that Anna Poker. That other lady is also kind 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.120 of one of the people who's running Romania initially after 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.760 the communist kind of take over. But you know, you 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.240 know how it goes. You get your show trials, you 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.160 get your people start getting put in jail and locked 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.760 up on bullshit charges, and over the course of time, 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.200 George you Day kind of consolidates his power. One of 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.840 the things that this means is that he executes this 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:05.960 guy pro trash Canu who got the king out, who 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:07.960 helped overthrow or who not the gout the king out, 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.639 who got um antonescu at who like overthrew the dictator. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.480 They they come after this guy on bullshit charges and 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.480 they kill his ass um It's so crazy when it's 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.159 just such a throwaway thing and like and then they 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.480 executed that guy. Let's move on. That cool dude you 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.720 know that cool dude who was the communist that Stalin 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:32.760 picked to take over and they fucking killed his ass. Yeah, 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.520 And and Parker, they get rid of Poker. Um, it's 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.560 it's it's it's as ugly as it usually is when 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:43.080 a guy consolidates power. Um, it's it's a real end 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.680 of the Godfather energy when that ship happens. And it's 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.880 a gradual process. Um. And Nikolai Chachescu is a quiet 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.199 figure for most of this. He does not stick his 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.840 neck out, He does not try to take any big 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.720 fancy jobs for himself. He sticks close today and he 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.000 he kind of like just sort of keeps him as 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:04.800 happy as possible. And I'm gonna I'm gonna read a 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.560 quote from journalist cattle and Gruya here under the protective 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.440 wing of day, whose favorite he had become. While in prison, 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.600 Chauchescu struggled, flattered, adapted, worked and raised himself up step 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.200 by step, tenaciously, stubbornly and with a real instinct for power. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.920 At seven, he was the leader of the Communist Youth 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.120 Organization and later of the Central Committee of the Romanian 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.359 Workers Party. At twenty eight, party instructor in Constanta and 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.840 Olinia at twenty nine deputy in the Grand National Assembly, 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.200 after he had mobilized motorized troops in the electoral precinct 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.400 to convince electors to place ballots in the urns which 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.720 had already been filled by the communists ahead of time. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.440 His meteoric rise continued, culminating with his election at age 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.720 thirty seven to the Politbureau as Minister of the Interior. Now, 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.400 this gave him a lot of control over what's called 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.920 the Securitat, which is Romania's answer to the k g B, 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.879 which means he is in a position to put people 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.959 into the Securitat, the organization that is surveilling everybody in 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:06.199 the country, um sweeping out corruption. Good position to be 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.719 in if you're a guy like this and everyone's kind 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.040 of like, well, yeah, we want like, you want someone 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.399 dumb and pliable in that job if you're not going 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.399 to be running that if you're someone with power in 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:19.760 the Romanian communist infrastructure and you can't be doing that job, 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.040 you want a dumb person in that job, right, You 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.760 want somebody who, like you feel like it's controllable, and 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.480 everyone kind of feels like Chowchesku is just sort of 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:31.680 this like not a very serious person, right, So they're like, yeah, 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:33.560 give him the job. You know, what's the worst that 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.840 could happen. He's not that, he's not that dangerous. Um. Uh, 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:40.399 the worst that could happen is pretty rough. Yeah, the 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.919 worst that could happen is about to occur. Um. But 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.520 for a while, everyone's like, yeah, you know, at least, 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.439 you know, if someone's going to have that job and 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.439 it's not gonna be me, we might as well have 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.960 it be this lick spell who kisses everybody's ass and 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.240 who wasn't very threatening. He's not, you know, really worth fearing, 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.040 and he's not worth fearing as long as George you 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.239 day is is healthy and and doing good. Um. And 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.440 given that he is an old time communist street fighter 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:11.000 who smokes like a chimney, surely he's going to live forever. Yep. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:17.879 That's classic. Yeah yeah. Um. So, as Nikolai climbed the 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.960 ranks of the Romanian Communist Party, there's this combination of 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.520 as kissing and convincing everyone else that he's too dumb 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.879 to be a threat. His wife Elena experienced numerous career 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.639 benefits as well. All of the different wonderful things that 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.280 nepotism can provide to you. He's a plus wife guy. 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.159 By the way, Oh my god, you have never wifed 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.119 a guy as hard as this guy. Wife's that shout 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:40.720 out to this guy for just being just like a 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.320 He's like the Rob Zombie of wife guys of Romania, 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.480 just being like, I don't care what you can or 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.840 can't you. I'm still giving you opportunities. I wish, I 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.760 wish I could. Given that this is Romania, I should 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.239 have been able to make a Dragula joke, but um, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.240 I'm really not sure how to work it out. I 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.560 threw your curveball with that. It's not it's not coming 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:03.239 to me, Jeff. It's not coming to me, And I 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.480 feel ashamed for that. Um, But you at home make 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.360 your own, make your own joke about Rob Zombies, hit song, 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:16.199 Dracula and the Romanian historical figure Dracula. Well, Jeff, and 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:25.880 I listen to some ads, Jeff, that that all got 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.119 me pumped up. I'm gonna be honest, man, I'm going 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.639 to consume all of the things that were just advertised, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.439 gonna slam them in the back of my Dracula was 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.360 that his car was that Rob Zombies car. Well, it's 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.639 the monster's car, isn't it. Are you serious? Is that 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.359 song about the monsters? Yeah? I think Dracula is the 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:50.639 name of their car. That's cool. It's cool because he 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:55.440 wrote a cool, heavy song about Are you serious? Yeah, 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:57.600 I mean there's a reason, oh my god. And it 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.359