Argument for an online and offline publishing house

Why our own publishing house? As a natural consequence of the fact that, over the years, such a small group has completed a vast editorial work and because it was expected that we would like the volumes prepared by us to see the light of the press under the name of “Editura Memorialul Revoluţiei 1989” .

Even if in the early years our association did not intend to write and print specialized volumes, along with conducting oral history studies and completing our photo and audio-video archives, gathering at the Center for Documentation, Research and Information He published an increasing volume of information about the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, and I wanted these truths to be known and published nationally and internationally.

At the beginning we started small. In addition to the works of arrangement, repair and consolidation of our headquarters on Str. E. Ungureanu, time was also found for some presentation leaflets, along with brochures with the monuments of the Revolution. This was followed in 2000 by our first book, the photo album Then we were saved from fear. Timişoara – Decembrie 1989, and in 2001 the volume Întrebări cu şi fără răspuns, which includes works by the participants in the international symposium organized on the occasion of the commemoration of a decade since the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

We started our editorial activity with the transcription of the audio tapes recorded during the Timişoara Trial, received from Radio Timişoara, with the kindness of the director Mihai Anghel, participant, as editor, in the process. The result of this chronologically ordered and long-revised activity materialized through the over 5,300 pages, which then saw the light of day. In 2004 we published the first two volumes, referring to the hearing of the 21 accused security guards and militiamen, followed by volumes III and IV, published in 2005 and 2006, which include hearings of the witnesses and the 4 accused dignitaries.

In 2007, with the publication of volume 5, focused on testimonies about the Revolution, repression and the death in Timişoara, we launched another publishing project, the scientific and information bulletin “Memorial 1989”, from which the first two issues appeared that same year.

A year later, volume VI of theTimişoara Trial-appeared, alsoreferring to the hearings of some witnesses about the Revolution and the death from Timişoara, and the third issue of the bulletin, and with volume VII of 2008 the testimonies of the witnesses ended

In 2009 they saw the light of day: albumul foto 20 de ani de la Revoluţie: 1989-2009, bilingual, in 2 versions: Romanian-German and Romanian-English, the catalog of drawings made by children on the theme of the 1989 Revolution and a brochure with monuments dedicated to the Heroes-Martyrs.

Within the seriesDocumente ’89 appeared the VIII volume of the Timişoara Trial, where the conclusions are formulated on the merits and the last word of the defendants, followed by a synthesis of the Timişoara press: Journalists, heroes, terrorists… The Timişoara Revolution in the local press, under the coordination of the journalist Lucian-Vasile Szabo.

Also in the anniversary year 2009 I published issues 4 and 5 of the scientific and information bulletin “Memorial 1989”.

In the meantime, I periodically printed a series of maps in Romanian and English, which set out the areas where the 12 monuments dedicated to the Romanian Revolution were located.

In the desire to support historians, journalists, political scientists and all those interested in our recent history, in the spring of 2010 our team released 4 volumes under the close supervision of the editor in charge, Gino Rado: Panică la Cotroceni, O Revoluţie, un Memorial…, ediţia omagială După 20 de ani… a buletinului nostru ştiinţific şi de informare şi ultimul volum al Procesului de la Timişoara, o sinteză a celor 8 volume anterioare. În a doua parte a anului, sub semnătura lui Lucian-Vasile Szabo, au apărut volumele Atentat împotriva Revoluţiei Române şi Mass-media, represiune şi libertate, urmate de primul volum al Procesului lui Nicu Ceauşescu şi de numărul 7 al buletinului „Memorial 1989”.

The Volume Panică la Cotroceni was launched in March, around the anniversary of the Proclamation in Timisoara, also coordinated by Lucian-Vasile Szabo, who selected the representative articles written by the late George Şerban, the author and initiator of this programmatic document.

O Revoluţie, un Memorial… is a collection of memories about the crucial event of our recent history and about the establishment and evolution of the Revolution Memorial Association, signed by Lucian-Vasile Szabo.

Since 2011 we have our own publishing house, under the auspices of which they saw the light of day: issue 8 and 9 of the bulletin “Memorial 1989”, volume II of Procesului lui Nicu Ceauşescu, to which three more volumes were added: Decembrie, stare de urgenţă, coordonated by Lucian-Vasile Szabo, which echoes the local and central post-revolutionary press, Lugoj, Decembrie 1989, the result of the collaboration between the historian Dumitru Tomoni and the vice-president of the Revolution Memorial Association, Gino Rado, and Candelă împotriva timpului, whose authors are Titus Suciu and Vasile Bogdan. The book has as a starting point the homonymous film made by Vasile Bogdan, a production of the Timişoara Studio of the Romanian Television, and is doubled by a DVD with the 8 episodes of the film.

Also in 2011 appeared the volume coordinated by Romeo Bălan, former first military prosecutor and deputy of the Timișoara Military Prosecutor’s Office, Victimele Revoluţiei. Timişoara – 1989,while Gino Rado developed, as editor, a Incursion in the history of the institutions participating in the repression of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Timişoara – Decembrie 1989.

Due to the change of headquarters, the year 2012 was not so rich in editorial titles, we had completely different priorities and problems to face, but even so we prepared issue 10 of the scientific and information bulletin, which was launched in next, together with no. 11 and 12 and, unique for our publishing house, a first edition in English was added to them, more specifically, a selection of the most important studies and articles from the previous issues.

Also in 2013 we published the volumes: Sindromul Timişoara: adevăr şi imaginar. Strategii de comunicare mediatică într-o realitate explozivă, where Lucian-Vasile Szabo debates episodes of the Revolution long debated, sometimes with errors and exaggerations, in the Romanian and foreign media, and Procesul de la Timişoara: audierea în cadrul urmăririi penale a celor 21+4 inculpaţi,coordonated by Gino Rado, where the statements given “hot” in front of the prosecutors by those guilty of the repression in Timisoara are present.

In 2014, using the impressive volume of information in our database, we marked the 25th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 through other highly appreciated editorials: Revoluţia din 1989 în spitalele timişorene, autor Lucian-Vasile Szabo; Enciclopedia Revoluţiei din Timişoara 1989: volumul I – Cronologia şi victimele Revoluţiei, coordonator Lucian Ionică, respectiv volumul II – Documente ale Revoluţiei, autori Romeo Bălan şi Gino Rado; albumul de fotografii al arhitectului Mihai Botescu, Timişoara, oraşul libertăţii româneşti, in Romanian, German and English; no. 13 and 14 of the scientific and information bulletin and, as promised, a German edition of the same publication.

In 2015 we continued the series of these bulletins with no. 15 and 16, marking 25 years since the founding of the Revolution Memorial Association. Also worth mentioning are our latest editorials: Imaginea militarilor și a victimelor în Revoluția de la Timișoara. Aspecte controversate cu privire la implicarea Armatei în reprimarea mişcării de protest, al cărei autor este Lucian Vasile-Szabo, și Pionieri şi utecişti împotriva lui Ceauşescu. Decembrie ’89 în Timişoara de Dumitru Tomoni, lansate în 15 decembrie la Sala „Orizont” a Uniunii Scriitorilor.

Simona MOCIOALCĂ