Dumitru Burlan (born May 11, 1939) is a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n former

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

officer. __NOTOC__

Biography

Dumitru Burlan was born on May 11, 1939, in Licurici, Gorj County, in a family of poor peasants with seven children. In 1950, after graduating from primary school in his native village, his father brought him to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. In the capital, he was enrolled into the military school. In August 1960, at the age of 21, he was ranked as junior lieutenant in the

State Security Department The Ministry of State Security of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Korean: 조선민주주의인민공화국 국가보위성) is the secret police agency of North Korea. It is an autonomous agency of the North Korean government repo ...

. In the 1960s, his hierarchical bosses were Soviet advisers or close-knits, such as

Gheorghe Pintilie Gheorghe Pintilie (born Panteley Timofiy Bodnarenko, ua, Пантелей Тимофій Боднаренко; also rendered as Pintilie Bodnarenco, nicknamed Pantiușa; November 9, 1902 – August 21, 1985) was a Soviet and Romanian intelligence ...

, alias Pantiusha Bondarenko. In 1965, when

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

was elected head of the Romanian Communist Party, Dumitru Burlan worked in the 7th Directorate (Surveillance and Investigations) with the rank of lieutenant-major. In 1989, he had the lieutenant colonel rank, Specialist Officer I at the 5th SSD Directorate. He worked for 30 years in the Securitate, including 22 years in the 5th Directorate. During the communist period, he worked for the

. He was the chief of bodyguards of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, and served once as his stand-in (double), but was not able to protect Ceaușescu from arrest and execution during the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

of 1989. Ten years after the revolution, he published his understanding of the revolutionary events and his beliefs about Ceaușescu. After publishing details about the coup, he received several death threats. He declared himself proud of having served Ceaușescu, and he considers Ceaușescu to have been one of the most intelligent and greatest leaders in history. Burlan published his memoirs in 2003.

References

Bibliography

* A series of 3 articles in the Romanian newspaper Adevărul, 2003

(see archives) titled "I was Ceaușescu's double", (rom. "Eu am fost sosia lui Nicolae Ceaușescu"). * Viorel Patrichi
"I was Nicolae Ceaușescu's double" (Eu am fost sosia lui Nicolae Ceaușescu)
Lumea, Nr 12, 2001 * Marian Oprea, "15 years later -- the Securitate conspiracy" (rom. Au trecut 15 ani—Conspirația Securității), Lumea, Nr 10, 2004 *

Victor Stănculescu Victor Atanasie Stănculescu (10 May 1928 – 19 June 2016) was a Romanian general during the Communist era. He played a central role in the overthrow of the dictatorship by refusing to carry out the orders of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu d ...

"Nu vă fie milă, au 2 miliarde de lei în cont"
("Do not have pity, they hold 2 billion lei 65 million dollars at the exchange rate of november 22 2004in their account ), in ''

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Buchare ...

'', Nov 22, 2004

External links

The book was launched
(Romanian)

(Romanian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Burlan, Dumitru 1939 births Living people People from Gorj County People of the Romanian Revolution Securitate officers Bodyguards Romanian non-fiction writers