Ceausescu regime used children as police spies

Prior to the uprising in 1989 every village had a roadside sign prasing Nicolae Ceausescu and the Romanian Communist party

· Young informers reported on parents and teachers
· Romanian archives reveal network of thousands
The secret police of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu recruited thousands of children to spy on schoolfriends, parents and teachers, according to communist-era archives. They show that the Securitate blackmailed children across Romania into becoming informers in the late 1980s, as the whiff of liberalisation in the Soviet bloc prompted Ceausescu to tighten his grip on the country. The files have shocked Romanians and prompted calls for an inquiry into why many of the agents who allegedly recruited the child spies continued working for the security services after Ceausescu was toppled and executed in 1989.

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