I’m not very keen on Romanian history but I visited a museum in Bukarest once that kind of explained some of the things he did. IIRC he forced women to have lots of children, right? And that’s also related to the many “rural” kids on the street, isn’t it?

Romania was one of my favorite trips ever. Beautiful country. Bukarest was also super interesting with intense contrasts. Beautiful old but pretty beaten up “French” style buildings, brutal Soviet style building blocks, insane roads with a bazillion lanes but at the same time a beautiful center with some parks where you can walk a lot. Modern, old, rich and poor. All at the same time. I spent most of my time around Brasov though. Beautiful place.