After the fall of Communism in 1989, her story became known following an interview included in the 1992 documentary "Memorialul Durerii" by Lucia Hossu-Longin. In May 2001 the former King Michael I of Romania visited Rizea at her home in Nucșoara. During the visit, she told reporters, "When these wretched Communists came to power, they took everything from us, the land, the wooden carts — the hair off our heads. Still, what they could not take was our soul."