Nicolae Ceausescu
January 26, 1918 - December 25, 1989
Who: Leader of Communist Romania from 1965 till shortly before his death.
One of the craziest dictators of modern history, he banned abortions, made divorce almost impossible to get, awarded 'heroine mothers' who had ten children or more, bulldozed villages to move peasants into flats, and reshaped the capital, Bucharest.
His policies resulted in thousands of people being rendered homeless and a raging AIDS epidemic (his government banned HIV tests).
How he died: Was tried by a military court and shot along with wife Elena.
Photograph: Gerard Fouet/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier Slide Show: The Pope at 25
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