In Timișoara on 15 December 1989 the people openly protested the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu after the government tried to evict Pastor László Tőkés. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the abolishment of the Brezhnev Doctrine by Mikhail Gorbachev Ceaușescu became more and more isolated. Empowered by the protests in Timișoara the revolution smouldered. On 21 December Ceaușescu addressed the nation on television from the balcony of the Central Committee building in Bucharest. The crowd started to chant "Ti-mi-șoa-ra! Ti-mi-șoa-ra!”. 22 December Ceaușescu and his wife fled the city by helicopter. During their escape they were arrested by local police.  On 25 December Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu are found guilty of genocide in Timișoara and they were promptly executed.

A few months later in the springtime of 1990 I travelled to Rumania and visited Arad, Timișoara, Bucharest, Târgu Mureș, Sighișoara, and several smaller towns and villages in Transylvania, Crișana and the historical region Banat.