All language subtitles for Dictators.Hideouts.S01E04.480p.x264-mSD[EZTVx.to]_Subtitles01_Unnamed.ENG

- (inquisitive music)

NARRATOR: In the heart of Bucharest,
the vast People's Palace

stands as the largest
administrative building in Europe.

- It's so heavy that it actually
sinks six millimetres

into the ground every year.

- (speaks Romanian):

NARRATOR: Started in June 1984
and finally opened 13 years later,

it encompasses
a staggering 11,000 rooms,

spanning a total
area of 365,000 square metres.

Such grandeur was the vision of
longtime Romanian strongman

Nicolae Ceausescu
and his wife, Elena.

This colossal building was supposed
to be not only a symbol of power...

..it was meant to be a refuge
for a fading ruler.

Deep beneath its imposing facade
lies a secret underground bunker.

- There's this real sense
of paranoia

that's still very, very much
attached

to what lies below
the People's Palace,

and that's even today.

NARRATOR: Was this amazing building
a symbol of the rampant megalomania

of an aging dictator
trying to cling to power?

Or is there something altogether
more sinister

buried deep
within its tunnel complex?

Underground tunnels.

Nuclear bunkers.

Architectural madness.

Lavish headquarters.

For dictators,
the cost did not matter.

Only their desires, power

and security.

What secrets hide
in these grand structures?

- Ceausescu is a typical character

who is corrupted by power.

- You've got to remember
that Nicolae Ceausescu

is not being a dictator
all by himself

because his wife, Elena,

was also immensely powerful.

NARRATOR: A member of the Romanian
Communist Youth movement

in the early 1930s,
it was, ironically, in prison

that Ceausescu got his big break.
There he shared a cell

with legendary Communist leader
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej,

becoming his protege.

Following the death of Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-De in 1965,

Ceausescu took power
in the country.

- When he began, Ceausescu
was much more constructive,

with much more positive potential
for contributing to his country.

- When Ceausescu
first came to power,

he looked as if he was going to set
up a new kind of government,

something unique
behind the Iron Curtain.

- Initially,
Ceausescu is actually, you know...

He's quite anti-Soviet.
He's quite anti-Russia.

And what he starts
doing is looking west

and forging links
with Western countries.

- (clock chimes)

NARRATOR:
Ceausescu took his first major step

in convincing the whole
world that he was a staunch opponent

of the USSR
by opposing Soviet suppression

of the Prague Uprising in 1968.

Ceausescu not only refused
allowing Romanian forces

to retaliate against Czechoslovakia

but also publicly condemned
the actions

of his fellow members
of the Warsaw Pact.

- He begins to believe
that he's a new path,

a path that's sort of diplomatically
between West and East.

NARRATOR: Hailed
as the Genius of the Carpathians,

Ceausescu could be found
sipping champagne

with the president
of the United States on one day

then ordering the fastest mass
urbanisation

of a rural population the next.

The project was the largest ever
witnessed in a Communist country.

While Ceausescu flew in luxury
around the world,

at home, poverty raged
and thousands died from hunger.

- He travelled to London.
He travelled to North Korea.

He travelled to China.
He travelled everywhere, really.

NARRATOR: With one hand,
Ceausescu accepted a knighthood

from Queen Elizabeth II,
whilst with the other,

he inflicted yet more misery on
his people by restricting abortion

and signing
a law requiring every family

to have at least five children.

Thousands of women die due to use
of underground abortion clinics,

while children are left on their own
due to orphanages being overwhelmed.

- Ceausescu was an evil man.

There is no other word for it.
And actually, so is his wife.

- They completely believe
that they were somehow destined

to be these great leaders,
great statesmen and women,

and they take total control
of Romania.

And Romania gets poorer and poorer,

and they spend more and more
and more money.

NARRATOR: Romanians were
afraid of the despotic couple.

- Throughout his entire regime,

all the way through,
people were disappeared,

they were tortured.
Or of course, they were murdered.

So,
this is classic dictator behaviour.

NARRATOR: As
they sought to extend their reign,

Nicolae and Elena were themselves
increasingly fearful.

Rising tensions with the USSR,

which first emerged after their
condemnation of Soviet suppression

of the Prague Spring, created
a pervasive atmosphere of paranoia.

Foremost amongst their fears
was their conviction

that the KGB
would try to poison them.

NARRATOR: Among the fears
that tormented Nicolae

and Elena Ceausescu,
one rose above all others.

- Well, of course,
if you're gonna be the new king,

then you're gonna want
your own new castle.

And so what Ceausescu does
is to order the building

of the world's biggest castle.

And that's exactly what
the People's Palace is.

- (water dripping echoes)

- (eerie music)

NARRATOR: In an act of madness,

akin to Hitler's fantasy model
for Berlin,

Ceausescu decided
to remake Romania's capital

in his own grandiose image.

His magnum opus would require
the displacement of thousands

of Romanian citizens, not to mention
hundreds of millions of dollars.

The project was the brainchild of
two ministers in the Politburo,

Cornel Burtica and Stefan Andrei,

whose vision was to recreate
the face of the capital.

- She was really the go-to
person in a number of ministries,

and above all, she
controlled access to her husband.

NARRATOR: Elena immediately
pitched the project to her husband.

- He was worried about the effect it
would have on the people,

and of course,
he was paranoid about a revolution.

NARRATOR:
In 1977, however,

a golden opportunity
presented itself.

- (alarm whines)

NARRATOR: As a result
of an earthquake in Bucharest

measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale,

1,400 people lost their lives,
with over 10,000 injured.

Nearly 12,000 houses
were uninhabitable,

while dozens of historic
buildings were damaged.

For a dictator,
the most important thing

is to show that he
is in control of the situation.

- He gave a lot of attention to how
he was presented in the media.

NARRATOR: Paradoxically, this
tragedy led to the strengthening

of Nicolae Ceausescu's prestige.

- Ceausescu realises, this is a
great opportunity. Now he could say,

"Look, now I can protect the
city from any more earthquakes."

So, what does he do?

- Ceausescu destroys 30%
of the city himself,

which is far worse than any
earthquake has ever done.

- All the rest of Bucharest was also
unsafe, according to his excuses,

but he nevertheless,
didn't think about that too much,

even though
he was a complete hypocrite.

NARRATOR:
Despite its anecdotal origins,

reality was every bit as bizarre.
At a public exhibition,

Ceausescu strutted around a model
of Bucharest with a stick,

toppling buildings
he intended to demolish.

Construction of new walkways
and thoroughfares,

along
with the imposing People's Palace,

officially started in 1983.

- The estimate is up to 100,000
people actually worked

on the construction of this project,

so it was a massive undertaking.

NARRATOR:
The whole project was supervised

by the fledgling architect
Anca Petrescu.

Very open to Ceausescu's
suggestions,

who had precise ideas about how
things should be built...

- And so she would come up with
something, and they would say,

"No, no, no, you have to change
this, you have to change that."

- And sometimes it
was actually a very foolish idea,

sometimes technically almost
impossible to accomplish.

NARRATOR: While overseeing
construction of the People's Palace,

Ceausescu drew his inspiration
from North Korea.

- It's when he starts
going to Communist countries

and especially starts
going to places like North Korea.

- (crowd singing in Korean):

- (upbeat music plays)

WALTERS: Because he looks
at North Korea and he goes,

"I love these big buildings.

"I love all these people singing
songs to the dear leader.

"This is great.
I want this at home."

NARRATOR: The impression made
on the dictatorial couple would

prove pivotal. They began to crave
the same outpouring of devotion

from their people on the streets
of Bucharest

as they had seen for the supreme
leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.

Key to that, they believed, was
construction of a new capital city.

- "I've got to build that, because
that's the way I'm going to project

"onto the rest of the world
how powerful

"and how important
and how mighty I am."

NARRATOR: Ceausescu complained that
the boulevard was too narrow

and needed to be widened.

He was told that the foundations
had already been completed.

- Ceausescu didn't see a problem
with this massive building project

cos his view was,
"Well, just bulldoze the buildings

that are in the way. It didn't
matter to him how much it cost.

It didn't matter to him
what kind of cultural treasures

or historic buildings might be
destroyed in the process.

All he wanted to do
was his mega project.

NARRATOR: But what was happening
on the surface was mere child's play

compared to what Nicolae
had planned underground.

- Bucharest is, geologically,

really not the best place
to build underground structures.

It's the type of place
that if you dig,

things above you,
they're gonna collapse.

NARRATOR:
Despite the engineers' warnings,

Ceausescu insisted on building
an underground railway.

An innovative tunnelling
technique was developed.

The ground was frozen, then
the tunnel was dug and reinforced,

and the process started
all over again.

This investment
was wildly expensive and risky,

but Ceausescu didn't care.

- When they're building things
like the metro system in Bucharest,

there's only really one way you
can test

to see if it's gonna be stable
and that's to build the tunnel.

And then what you do is
you wait a year,

and if it doesn't collapse,
you're good.

But if it collapses,
you're not so good.

NARRATOR:
The construction of the metro

turned out to be a major success.

But the metro was only
part of the underground structures

the Ceausescu's had planned.

In the newly
built government district,

all administrative buildings were
to be connected by a network

of underground tunnels.

The People's Palace was
to have a series of escape tunnels

and a huge underground
bunker beneath it.

Construction would take years,
with everything cloaked in secrecy.

- This building alone
cost about $1.8 billion,

and he secretly took out loans from
the West in order to complete it.

NARRATOR: With the
People's Palace under construction

and their people starving,

the Ceausescu's
lodged in luxurious residences

dotted around the country.

- The Ceausescu's were... They're
really greedy and really wasteful.

I mean, they had around 80,
that's eight zero, villas.

But there would be food and drink
ready for them all the time.

And there'll be beds ready for them.

And there'll be staff there
around the clock.

And the Ceausescu's just didn't even
use not even half of these villas.

They used about ten
or fifteen of them.

So,
they're just sitting there, empty,

in a country
that is desperately poor.

NARRATOR: He had a special
and unique residence

in the exclusive Primaverii district
of Bucharest,

commissioned
by his former mentor.

- Ceausescu's favourite personal
residence was the Spring Palace.

NARRATOR: After the death
of his predecessor in 1965,

Ceausescu claimed
the Spring Palace for himself,

making it his primary residence.

Dumitru Burlan was
responsible for the protection

and management of the villa
between 1968 and 1990.

NARRATOR:
The vast villa quickly failed

to meet the needs of Ceausescu.

The dictatorial couple
decided on an overhaul.

An entirely new wing was constructed
behind the master bedroom.

- It's human nature to wanna better
yourself in life. We all want that.

But the Ceausescu's
make that absurd.

- (upbeat classical music)

NARRATOR:
Despite their Communist heritage,

Nicolae and Elena did everything
to pass as educated,

cultured aristocrats
with expensive tastes

and intellectual predispositions.

- So, you have Elena claiming to
have all these academic titles

and doctorates, things like that.

Ceausescu himself,
he's a pretty ill-educated guy.

I mean, he's not very bright either,
and he comes from this very humble,

rural background.
And yet here he is,

trying to make out that
he's the new king of Romania.

So, the couple's ambition
is absolutely boundless.

Actually, though,
grounded on nothing. In fact,

they're both big liars.

NARRATOR: Despite
their ambitions and pretensions,

they found it impossible to disguise
their humble origins entirely

and often overcompensated,
especially Elena.

- She was a terrible, terrible boss.
Horrible person to work for.

- She leaves expensive
items in a room unattended.

Then she spies on the cleaners
and the staff

to see whether they're
gonna steal that thing.

It's just utter madness.

NARRATOR: Ironically,
during their trips abroad,

it was the Ceausescu's themselves
who did the stealing,

stripping hotels where they stayed
of towels,

bathrobes and bedding.

- This is a thief
spying on potential thieves.

- (water dripping echoes)

- Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu,

they are not the only members
of the family

kind of adjusting to the high life.

The dictator's parents
were really unable

to completely forget
their modest rural roots.

NARRATOR: His mother-in-law refused

to eat anything except sweets
and cakes.

- And his father, Andruta Ceausescu,
he would often go missing,

and he had to be picked up by the
dictator's security detail

from the local pub
because he used to sneak off

while their backs were turned.

NARRATOR: Keeping their watchful
eye on Andruta Ceausescu

was Romania's dreaded secret police,
the Securitate.

Developed and modelled on the KGB,

designed to ensure Ceausescu
could dominate the country

without fear of popular dissent.

- Securitate was one of
the worst of the secret services

behind the Iron Curtain.

NARRATOR:
On behalf of the Securitate,

the security officer responsible
for safeguarding the president

and his family was villa
manager Dumitru Burlan.

NARRATOR: The Securitate's structure

and arsenal of informers
ballooned to vast proportions.

- Their paranoia leaked
out into the whole of society,

in a country of 22 million people.

By the 1980s, there were already
half a million agents

that were working
for the Securitate.

NARRATOR: Round-the-clock
protection for the Ceausescus

and the Spring Palace
fell to the first department.

Department three organised

and secured
the dictator's visits abroad.

Department four was
the information gathering

and domestic intelligence service.
In the Spring Palace,

it was mainly responsible
for surveillance of employees.

Department five's agents
protected the dictator

while traveling around Romania,

while departments seven

and eight took care
of the food supply

and daily necessities
for Ceausescu's family.

As a result, working at the family
villa was both a privilege

and a curse.

- They set up a network of secret
police in every level of society.

Places were bugged.
People were followed.

NARRATOR: Elena Ceausescu
enjoyed eavesdropping,

uncovering scandals and threats.

The Securitate collected gossip

and tittle-tattle,
especially for her,

and reported ongoing rumours

about all members
of the party committee...

..who had direct contact
with her husband.

- Elena was so paranoid

and so determined to remain in
control of every aspect

of life in Romania that she even
had her husband's office bugged.

NARRATOR: As Nicolae Ceausescu
received various delegations

and ministries, Elena's obsession
over the meetings only grew.

NARRATOR:
Though she wasn't officially invited

to these meetings,
with the Securitate's help,

she could listen in.

However, the most complicated
issue for the Securitate by far

was the personal
protection of the president.

The dictator's security practices
involved food tasting,

checks on people meeting the leader,

along with regular deployment
of decoys

to confuse potential assassins.

Burlan himself acted as Ceausescu's
doppelganger on several occasions.

NARRATOR: The dictator himself
was especially paranoid

about poisoning plots,

which caused the Ceausescus
to become germaphobes,

constantly washing their hands
with disinfectants.

- Even if he had to shake the hand
of a world leader or somebody else,

he would rush back and clean
his hands with an alcoholic solution

so that he wouldn't be somehow
stained

or infected in any way.

NARRATOR: To further protect

and insulate themselves
from possible assassination,

they developed concentric layers of
security around their residences,

with each unit
assigned specific areas,

governed by separate pass codes.

NARRATOR: Mounting paranoia made
the dictator feel unsafe everywhere.

He needed a new security measure:

a no-expense-spared...

..nuclear bunker.

The Spring Palace bunker
was no ordinary refuge...

..comprising a portion

of the villa's two-level
underground structure.

Much like the rest of the residence,

it was characterised
by splendour and kitsch.

The basement's first level
included a cinema,

allowing the dictator to watch
his favourite American programmes.

Below it,
past a set of marble stairs,

stood the fallout shelter,
adorned with luxurious furniture.

- This is so typical of Ceausescu.

Even the bunker's got to look
like the Palace of Versailles.

Of course,
from a practical point of view,

everything he needed was there.

Most importantly,
he could stay in permanent contact

with the Securitate
or the Army or the police.

NARRATOR: Additionally, two
now-defunct escape tunnels ensured

that the dictator could make a swift
evacuation should it be necessary.

- The entrances to these tunnels
were safeguarded

with huge steel doors.

One of the tunnels
was 20 kilometres long.

- And that leads
directly to the People's Palace,

from this tunnel,
if it's absolutely necessary,

to get to the state television
building

or even the Izvor metro station.

- The second tunnel
led to a canal of water,

which then led to a lake,

so this meant that Ceausescu
could actually escape from Bucharest

by water if he needed to.

NARRATOR: But compared
to the underground complex

he was building
below the People's Palace,

Ceausescu's bunker
beneath the Spring Palace

was a mere broom closet.

As far as he was concerned,

the sooner he could occupy
his massive new palace the better.

- Ceausescu was not only
building this massive,

huge, grandiose project above
ground,

but also he wanted nuclear shelters,
he wanted escape tunnels,

and he wanted
a whole world underground,

just in case there was
some kind of nuclear attack

or some other physical attack, he
could safely escape to with his wife

and then carry on the government
from the safety of underground.

- It is very, very hard to get
a definitive answer

as to how many levels there are
below there.

No one will talk about it. No one
will give you a definitive answer

because no one really
knows for sure.

If someone does, we would
really like to hear from them.

- (footsteps)

NARRATOR: Marius Marinescu is a
Romanian politician and publicist,

the author of many publications
about the People's Palace

and its secrets,
as well as one of the few

who researched the underground
tunnels in the 1990s.

He is one of a select
group of people

who know the secrets of the bunker
beneath the People's Palace,

able to shed light on its mysteries.

NARRATOR: Aside from the underground
floors accessible to the public,

Marinescu states that there are four
additional floors below,

each fulfilling a distinct function.

NARRATOR: The command centre
consists of a meeting room,

a telecommunications headquarters.
From here,

the Ceausescu's could maintain
full control over the country

and restore order in the event
of rebellion or a nuclear attack.

NARRATOR: Elena, Nicolae
and other party dignitaries

were to have all possible luxuries
at their disposal:

private chefs, trainers,

psychologists and doctors.

NARRATOR: The fourth floor housed
all technical facilities

and the offices
of engineers responsible

for the proper functioning
of systems required

to maintain life in the bunker.

The bunker was intended to function
like an underground city.

Ceausescu made sure that he was
capable of accessing the bunker

not only from the People's Palace

but also from several other
buildings throughout Bucharest.

- (water dripping echoes)

NARRATOR: The year is 1989.

As Romanians are forced
to live in abject poverty,

Nicolae Ceausescu's vast People's
Palace remains under construction.

- Romania's population was under
more and more pressure,

under more
and more economic pressure,

but also more and more of
this police surveillance,

violence, prison
and murder by the regime.

- So, the situation is the borders
of the Eastern Bloc

are stretched to breaking point.

One of those points is a large
popular protest

which breaks out in Timisoara.

- Ceausescu
had it brutally put down,

but it was clear that the cracks in
the system were beginning to show,

and people were starting,
for the first time,

to think that they
might be able to depose this man.

- (people shouting)

- (shouting continues)

NARRATOR: The revolution
was perceived by the government

as a hostile, external act,
the act of the enemy.

NARRATOR: Protests
sprang up around the country,

spreading to Bucharest.

Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu
remained holed up

in the Central Committee building,
deploying secret police

and armed forces
to try and quell the unrest.

NARRATOR: Ceausescu,
not used to experiencing resistance,

began to promise
absolutely petty things.

- (crowd shout)

- The Ceausescus
were fundamentally arrogant.

They may have worried
about their own safety,

but what they hadn't realised,
what they should have worried about

was that by the late 1980s,
the world was changing,

and it was changing fast. The
Ceausescu's simply did not realise

that, actually,
they were very near the end.

Not you know in years to come
but right now.

- (gunfire in distance)
- (man shouts in Romanian)

NARRATOR: They headed
from Bucharest to Targoviste,

where they landed ostensibly to rest
and refuel.

But their journey ended abruptly.

- The couple were betrayed.

They were handed over to the Army,

and that is how they met their end.

NARRATOR: Captured by his enemies
and on trial for his life,

Ceausescu had one final
ace up his sleeve.

A gold watch
that he never left behind.

During the trial, Nicolae can be
seen periodically glancing at it.

In '89,
no one could explain this behaviour,

but as it turns out, the watch
was the dictator's last resort.

- Ceausescu wore a gold Rolex.
Of course he did.

Would befit his love of splendour
and opulence.

But this Rolex, it was different.

It had a radio locator in it.

And the Securitate
could then use that

to look out for the dictator
at any time.

And this is why Ceausescu
behaved so strangely

during that very quick trial.

He's actually waiting for the moment

that people loyal to him
are gonna come to his rescue.

Now, unfortunately for him,
that never happened.

- I think it's fair to say
that neither Nicolae

nor Elena Ceausescu
got a fair trial.

NARRATOR: On December 25th, 1989,

Ceausescu and his wife were
tried within roughly two hours

before being sentenced
unanimously to death.

Had he managed to escape to his
tunnels rather than taking flight

with his military, his fate
may have been vastly different.

NARRATOR: Former British Army
Intelligence Corps officer

and security expert Adrian Weale has
examined this hypothetical scenario

and whether the Ceausescu's might
have survived

under the People's Palace while
facing the sophisticated weaponry.

According to Adrian Weale,

an attack with Scud missiles
would be effective.

- The Scud missile was a Soviet
invention originally,

and it's a fairly basic
short-range ballistic missile.

It can carry a conventional
warhead or a tactical nuke.

NARRATOR:
A simple but deadly weapon,

these missiles were successfully
employed by the Soviets in Iraq

and Iran in the 1980s.

- It's got an accuracy of about,

what's called a circular error
probability of about 1,000 meters.

So, if you were to fire Scud
at the People's House in Bucharest,

it's a really big target.

So it might be that you just hit
the gift shop

or the canteen or something else,
but you're still gonna hit it.

And that will spook Ceausescu,

who was not a terribly brave man,
and get him out of there.

- (air-raid siren wails)

- (multiple explosions)

- (wailing continues)

NARRATOR: Shelling the People's
Palace would be insufficient

in eliminating Ceausescu.

Other administrative buildings
would need to be targeted

alongside to ensure he would
flee in the intended direction.

- From the People's Palace,
you have a number of tunnels,

and it's likely that Ceausescu's
destination

if the People's Palace
came under attack

would be his personal favourite
residence, the Spring Palace,

still within a government area
but next to the river.

NARRATOR:
Of course, Nicolae Ceausescu

and his wife would not have
stayed in Primaverii.

There was an underground tunnel
leading from the villa

to Lake Floreasca.

NARRATOR: But the only possible
escape route in this situation

leads straight into a trap.

At the end of the tunnel, the
Russian Spetsnaz would be waiting

for Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu.

- In the 1970s and 1980s,
Spetsnaz developed a reputation

as being super soldiers, equivalent
to Western special forces.

I think the thing about them
is that they're very ruthless.

The weaponry they're gonna be
carrying is probably quite light.

The Kalashnikov AK-74.

So, the modern Kalashnikov
and probably the AKSU variant,

which is much smaller than a
standard Kalashnikov rifle,

with a silencer fitted.

They'll have thermal imaging
sights for use at night.

And these are accurate, effective
modern weapons,

which, because of the silencer,
have a very low sound signature

and will enable these soldiers

to get very close to their target
before they're detected.

- (silenced gunshots)

- Now, there are all these rumours
swirling about that Ceausescu,

when he leaves
Bucharest by helicopter with Elena,

that maybe he's going to head
to Iran or maybe Argentina.

I don't think there are a lot
of people in the world

who really wanted to have
Mr and Mrs Ceausescu

as their permanent house guests.

NARRATOR: By December 1989,

the Ceausescus had no friends
left to call on.

Two decades of corrupt rule,
enriching themselves

and embarking on impractically
grandiose construction projects,

all whilst
abandoning their people to starve,

had long ago eroded
any residual goodwill,

both at home and abroad.

All that remains of their 25-year
reign of terror is the vast edifice

of the People's Palace, a monument
to the Ceausescus greed

and hubris.

- (reflective music)

Subtitles by Sky Access Services