Twenty five years after execution of dictator Ceausescu, democratic Romania elects ethnic German president
“The twenty fifth anniversary of the end of the Cold War and the execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu is the year Romanians voted in massive numbers to elect an ethnic German, Klaus Johannis, as president,” argues Jim Rosapepe, former U.S Ambassador to Romania and co-author of Dracula is Dead: Travels in Post-Communist Romania. “So much for ethnic conflict in the Balkans.”
Rosapepe and his wife and co-author, former ABC News Correspondent Sheilah Kast, have updated their compelling travel memoir about the transition from Communism in an often-forgotten corner of Europe. For the second edition, they talked with Romanians young and old about what they expected after 1989.
“What’s changed in twenty five years is that Eastern Europeans are richer, freer and tied more closely to Western Europe than any time in their histories,” Kast noted.
“The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Romanian dictator’s execution is a chance for Americans to update their understanding of the success the Balkans have had since then.” Rosapepe said. “Russia may be at war, but today the Balkans are at peace – and burying centuries of old ethnic conflicts.”
While they lived in Romania at the turn of the 21st century, and since, they traveled extensively there and got a close look at how it works – from the mines to the monasteries, from hospitals to software lobs. They met Romanians from all walks of life at town meetings in remote villages, at schools and factories in small towns, and in the corridors of political power in the capital, Bucharest. The new edition of Dracula Is Dead: Travels in Post-Communist Romania includes interviews with intellectuals, business owners, young people, and political leaders on their memories of 1989 — and their reflections on the twenty-five years since. Rosapepe was US Ambassador to Romania under President Bill Clinton. Kast covered US/Soviet relations as ABC News White House Correspondent and later.
If they gave out gold medals for books, Dracula is Dead would get one. It’s a fascinating, long overdue, and timely look at Romania, giving readers an unparalleled view of my country’s many, many layers.”
— Nadia ComĂneci , Olympic Champion and Gymnastics coach
“Romania is a living legacy of Rome , as well as a great American ally. Jim and Sheilah are outstanding guides to this country, which is both familiar and exotic.”
—Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sheilah Kast is an award-winning journalist well known to viewers of PBS, ABC, and CNN, and to listeners of NPR. For ABC, she reported on the collapse of Communism from Moscow and Tbilisi and covered Hillary Clinton’s first trip to Eastern Europe. She launched two interview shows on PBS, and hosts her own daily magazine show on WYPR, the public-radio affiliate in Maryland.
Jim Rosapepe represented the United States as ambassador to Romania from 1998 to 2001, bringing to the job experience in American government and business, as well as in the former Communist world. Since returning home, he has served on the boards of investment funds and companies active in Europe and the former Soviet Union. He has written on economic and security issues for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Harvard International Review. Jim and Sheilah have been married for thirty-one years and live in College Park, Maryland.
Contact: Jim Rosapepe/Lucy Winterhalder (202) 349-7018 rosapepeassistant@yahoo.com;
Sheilah Kast at kasts@yahoo.com
