Eastern Bloc abolished provisions guaranteeing the ruling Communist party its leading role. President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-Communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned, in what was called the Velvet Revolution. Romania had rejected de-Stalinization. Following growing public protests, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu ordered a mass rally in his support outside Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest. But mass protests against Ceauşescu proceeded. The Romanian military sided with protesters and turned on Ceauşescu. They executed him after a brief trial three days later. Even before the Bloc's last years, all of the countries in the Warsaw Pact did not always act
Nicolae Bretan Nicolae Bretan Nicolae Bretan (25 March 1887 – 1 December 1968) was a Romanian opera composer, baritone, conductor, and music critic. Bretan was born in Năsăud. He studied in Cluj, Vienna and Budapest before becoming one of the pioneers of Romanian opera - his opera "Luceafărul" (1921) is cited as the first opera in Romanian. Bretan also composed over 200 lieder. In 1944, Bretan wife's family, who were Jewish, were transported to the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz and murdered. Refusing to become a member of the Romanian Communist Party in 1948, he was not favoured by the Romanian communist