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Village Name: Valea Ursului (village in the commune of Tâmna, Mehedinți County)
Region, Country: Oltenia Region, Romania
Deportation Date: September 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“[…] They arrived in Karanika. They were placed in a camp, in a barn. They were told to wait for the local Russian residents to be evacuated from their homes [so that the deportees could move into them]. They slept on the floor, on straw, with two blankets they brought with them. They stayed there for two weeks […]
Later, they were moved into houses. There was a large pit where the corpses were thrown. When it filled up, the bodies were thrown in heaps. The heaps of bodies were along the road leading from the barns to the wells. The bodies were left there.
Russians still lived in the village, and they would treat them badly, beat them, and give them nothing to eat. They stayed a year in Karanika. The children didn’t work, they stayed inside the house. My brother, father, and grandfather died from the epidemic and hunger at Karanika […].”
Later, they were moved into houses. There was a large pit where the corpses were thrown. When it filled up, the bodies were thrown in heaps. The heaps of bodies were along the road leading from the barns to the wells. The bodies were left there.
Russians still lived in the village, and they would treat them badly, beat them, and give them nothing to eat. They stayed a year in Karanika. The children didn’t work, they stayed inside the house. My brother, father, and grandfather died from the epidemic and hunger at Karanika […].”
Romanian Archives (if available): N/A
Historical Note on the Roma:
Valea Ursului is a village located in the commune of Tâmna, Mehedinți County, about 35 km from Drobeta Turnu–Severin. At the end of the 19th century, the commune had 740 inhabitants (MDGR 1902, V: 606). Alongside Romanians, several dozen sedentary Roma families lived there. According to the 1930 general census, Tâmna had 374 inhabitants, of whom 27 were sedentary Roma (RGP 1930, II.1: 284–285). In reality, the number was much higher, as the Mehedinți Gendarmerie identified 129 “problematic Roma” in the commune of Tâmna in May 1942 (ANI, fond IGJ, file no. 201/1942: p. 151; 161–162). According to the interviewee’s testimony, some of these Roma were
engaged in agriculture.
Valea Ursului is a village located in the commune of Tâmna, Mehedinți County, about 35 km from Drobeta Turnu–Severin. At the end of the 19th century, the commune had 740 inhabitants (MDGR 1902, V: 606). Alongside Romanians, several dozen sedentary Roma families lived there. According to the 1930 general census, Tâmna had 374 inhabitants, of whom 27 were sedentary Roma (RGP 1930, II.1: 284–285). In reality, the number was much higher, as the Mehedinți Gendarmerie identified 129 “problematic Roma” in the commune of Tâmna in May 1942 (ANI, fond IGJ, file no. 201/1942: p. 151; 161–162). According to the interviewee’s testimony, some of these Roma were
engaged in agriculture.
Historical Note on Deportation:
The gendarmes evacuated the Roma from Valea Ursului from their homes in early September 1942. According to the interviewee’s testimony, the Roma were escorted by local gendarmes to the Drobeta train station. They waited for a week on a nearby field after the mayor had promised them land and money. Around September 12, 1942, they were loaded into freight cars attached to the
special E8 train bound for Tighina. After an inhumane journey of almost a week, during which many deportees lost their lives, they arrived in Transnistria (ANI, fond IGJ nr. 126/1942: p. 109; p. 213– 214v).
Upon arrival in Transnistria, the deported Roma realized they had been deceived and would have to work in a kolkhoz near Karanika (Oceakov County). Under the strict supervision of the gendarmes, the deportees were first housed in barns, then in the houses from which Ukrainian locals had been evacuated. They stayed for a year in Karanika, then were relocated to Vasilievka, where they were housed in barns for another year. Hunger, cold, and typhus claimed many lives among the Roma (the interviewee lost their brother, father, and grandfather in Karanika). A glimmer of hope appeared when the interviewee’s uncle, a conscripted soldier, arrived in Transnistria and managed to release
his wife and children. The interviewee returned to Romania later (likely in the spring of 1944), when the Romanian–German troops began to retreat from Transnistria. The journey home was grueling, and physical exhaustion, lack of food, and Soviet air raids caused many casualties (the interviewee lost a nephew and two aunts). After walking much of the way, the interviewee’s family managed to board a train bound for Odessa. Following the Odessa–Tiraspol–Tighina–Bucharest route, after several months, they finally returned to Tâmna but could not recover their belongings, including their house, which had been nationalized.
Upon arrival in Transnistria, the deported Roma realized they had been deceived and would have to work in a kolkhoz near Karanika (Oceakov County). Under the strict supervision of the gendarmes, the deportees were first housed in barns, then in the houses from which Ukrainian locals had been evacuated. They stayed for a year in Karanika, then were relocated to Vasilievka, where they were housed in barns for another year. Hunger, cold, and typhus claimed many lives among the Roma (the interviewee lost their brother, father, and grandfather in Karanika). A glimmer of hope appeared when the interviewee’s uncle, a conscripted soldier, arrived in Transnistria and managed to release
his wife and children. The interviewee returned to Romania later (likely in the spring of 1944), when the Romanian–German troops began to retreat from Transnistria. The journey home was grueling, and physical exhaustion, lack of food, and Soviet air raids caused many casualties (the interviewee lost a nephew and two aunts). After walking much of the way, the interviewee’s family managed to board a train bound for Odessa. Following the Odessa–Tiraspol–Tighina–Bucharest route, after several months, they finally returned to Tâmna but could not recover their belongings, including their house, which had been nationalized.
A Brief Note on an Aspect of the Roma:
The commune of Tâmna has a community of Roma brickmakers who still practice this traditional occupation.
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