Censorship in Communist Romania occurred during the Socialist Republic in two stages: under the first Communist president Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947-1965) and the second and last Communist president Nicolae Ceaușescu (1965-1989).
Groza government (1945–1947)
Petru Groza became the Prime Minister in 1945, and under Soviet occupation, his government started to communize Romania. Citizens' Committees were formed to assist the police, and thus, it was justified for these committees and the police to randomly check people's documents on the street, to search people's home without any notification and to inspect suspicious billeting refugees or Soviet officers. There was also widespread violent repression and abrupt communization of the country in Romania in the context of post-World War II. The supporters of the communist regime labeled the group of opponents as fascists, criminals, or anti-national components under Western interests, and blamed those opponents for destabilizing the country. Groza himself told the British journalists in 1945 that about 90,000 Romanians had been arrested in two months right after he seized the power. Groza also tried to get rid of the final obstacle to complete Soviet domination of Romania: overthrowing the Kingdom of Romania run by King Michael. In the last half of 1947, King Michael was still on the regime while Soviet had so much power on Romanian economy. Though pre-war Romania showed some features of democracy such as a constitution, a parliament, political parties etc., it still had a king and was politically oligarchic. As the King Michael continuously refused to abdicate the throne, Groza threatened him with the civil war. Michael wanted to avoid the bloodshed and he gave in on 30 December 1947, and on that same day, the Romanian People's Republic was declared.
Under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947–1965) As the Romanian People's Republic was declared, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej became the first president of the country and the Communist politicians, including himself, were eager to establish the foundation of the totalitarian state. As a first step, on 4 February 1948, a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Romania and the Soviet Union was signed. Soviet Union became a more influent power in Romania territory after this treaty was signed and Gheorghe carried out terrifying tasks, all imposed by Soviet Russia. As the communism became widespread in Romania (backed up by the Soviet Union), there was a strong censorship throughout political, economic, and cultural sectors in the Romanian society.
When it comes to the cultural sector, the communist regime of Romania often used party-state propaganda to erase all the symbols and artifacts of the pre-communist era which could have remained in people's mind. The communist party activists started the control of art "to eliminate and erase all traces of the previous configuration" and to dismantle the previous institutional model, etc. The communist Romanian government not only got rid of all the previous institutions and art legacies which were founded in the pre-communist era, but also physically eliminated many actors, musicians, painters etc. As Romania established the Soviet model of communization process, it was taken for granted for authorities to impose "physical (arrests, killings, institutional purges) and psychological repression (terror, corruption, compromise)". In the meantime, the communist Romanian government announced lists of forbidden volumes between 1944 and 1948 along with the lists of forbidden writers. For the institutional level, the last thing Romanian government wanted was intellectuals who could be possible insurgents. Thus, government authorities expelled professors and students from universities and never let them come back again. At the same time, the “Cominform Journal” was published under the Communist Party's supervision and this was delivered all around the world as the journal was published in many languages. Cominform Journal specifically dealt with communism and was used to teach and spread the ideology all over the world and what were the right things to do under communism.