Jean-Louis COURTINAT
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Photographie issue du livre "Les enfants du diable" collection Photo-Poche. En décembre 1989, après la Pologne, la Hongrie, la Bulgarie et l’Allemagne de l’Est, la Roumanie met fin à son tour, dans des circonstances troubles à un demi-siècle de totalitarisme. La découverte, durant les mois qui suivent, d’orphelinats sordides qui rappellent les pires univers concentrationnaires permet alors de mesurer la monstruosité du dictateur Ceausescu. Ces mouroirs bouleversent les opinions publiques occidentales. Les nouvelles autorités roumaines s’engagent à fermer ces orphelinats et à lutter contre l’abandon des enfants par leur famille. Onze ans plus tard, je suis retourné en Roumanie. Le bilan est catastrophique. En 2003, plus de 120.000 enfants croupissent toujours dans des orphelinats immondes. Ils sont l’épiphénomène d’une crise économique et sociale chronique. Ils sont surtout le symptôme du désarroi d’une société brisée par près de cinquante années de dictature et de pensée unique.
The Devil’s children
This photo is an extract from the book “Les enfants du diable”, (from the Photo-Poche collection.) In December 1989, during difficult times, Romania put an end to half a century of totalitarianism. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the east of Germany had already done so. The extent of Ceausescu’s monstrous dictatorship was uncovered, most obviously through the orphanages which recall the worst concentration camps. Children die there. International public opinion was deeply affected. At the time, the new Romanian authorities announced their intention to close those orphanages and to take political measures in order to prevent families from abandoning their children. I returned to Romania eleven years later. The situation is still disastrous. In 2003, more than 120 000 children were still living in these disgusting places. Their abandonment is the consequence of the continuous economic and social crisis and a symbol of a country broken by fifty years of dictatorship.
The Devil’s children
This photo is an extract from the book “Les enfants du diable”, (from the Photo-Poche collection.) In December 1989, during difficult times, Romania put an end to half a century of totalitarianism. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the east of Germany had already done so. The extent of Ceausescu’s monstrous dictatorship was uncovered, most obviously through the orphanages which recall the worst concentration camps. Children die there. International public opinion was deeply affected. At the time, the new Romanian authorities announced their intention to close those orphanages and to take political measures in order to prevent families from abandoning their children. I returned to Romania eleven years later. The situation is still disastrous. In 2003, more than 120 000 children were still living in these disgusting places. Their abandonment is the consequence of the continuous economic and social crisis and a symbol of a country broken by fifty years of dictatorship.
Caption: Hysterical teenager. Horia orphanage, Romania.
