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Village Name: Corabia (city, Olt County)
Region, Country: Oltenia Region, Romania
Deportation Date: June – August 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“[In December 1942], they were relocated to a place where there were partially buried barns. The place was quite far away, and the barns had already been built. Those who managed to get a place in a barn survived; others died. Three or four families lived in each barn. At that time, they had to take their animals (horses) to a nearby kolkhoz near Varvarovka. The Roma were forced to give up their horses and carts under the threat of the Romanians, who told them they would receive other animals and a house later. There were many Russians at the kolkhoz.
Russian women came to the barns offering to exchange food for marks. Later, they would go to the market to buy food. Only the father went to the market. There were many dead in the barns. The bodies remained unburied, under the snow…”
Russian women came to the barns offering to exchange food for marks. Later, they would go to the market to buy food. Only the father went to the market. There were many dead in the barns. The bodies remained unburied, under the snow…”
Romanian Archives (if available):
The Romanian Gendarmerie of Romanați County identified 900 nomadic Roma in rural and urban areas (including Corabia) during the May 1942 census. It is possible that the interviewee’s family was included in this list (ANI, fond IGJ, file no. 258/1942, f. 27).
Historical Note on the Roma:
Corabia is home to one of the largest Roma communities in Olt County. The city is located approximately 100 km from Craiova and had a population of 4,162 around the year 1900 (MDGR 1899, II: 632). The population doubled during the interwar period, reaching 8,857 inhabitants, of which 289 were Roma (RGP 1930, II: 376–377). According to the interviewee’s testimony, communities of Roma, especially blacksmiths, lived or stayed in certain periods of the year in the outskirts or nearby villages of Corabia (e.g., Ștefan cel Mare) during the interwar years.
Historical Note on Deportation:
Nomadic Roma in the Ștefan cel Mare commune (Olt County) were censused in May 1942 by local gendarmes and soon escorted from post to post by gendarmes to the eastern border of the country. The interviewee emphasized that the deportees made this journey on foot, with insufficient food rations (some deportees ate the meat of dead animals), and along the way, other Jewish deportees joined their convoy. The Roma deportees were first relocated to Varvarovka (Oceakov County) to work in a kolkhoz.
Initially, they were allowed to keep their carts, set up tents on a field, and work the land (harvesting potatoes) under the direct supervision of a bulibașa they chose. Due to insufficient food rations, the Roma were forced to trade their gold coins for marks, which they used to buy food from local Ukrainians. However, in December 1942, the gendarmes confiscated their carts and moved them into barns, where they lived in harsh conditions, with three to four families in each barn. Mortality rates
quickly increased, and the abuses and violence of the gendarmes forced them to flee and return to Varvarovka.
The interviewee, along with their extended family (mother, brothers, and uncles), managed to survive until 1944 by buying food from the locals. Some of them managed to repatriate in the spring of 1944, when the front was rapidly approaching Transnistria, and the gendarmes told them to retreat from the region.
quickly increased, and the abuses and violence of the gendarmes forced them to flee and return to Varvarovka.
The interviewee, along with their extended family (mother, brothers, and uncles), managed to survive until 1944 by buying food from the locals. Some of them managed to repatriate in the spring of 1944, when the front was rapidly approaching Transnistria, and the gendarmes told them to retreat from the region.
A Brief Note on a Specific Group of Roma:
The interviewee belongs to a group of blacksmith Roma from Corabia who traveled from village to village in the summer to sell their products. They were arrested along with their family in Ștefan cel Mare, and after the war, this deportation survivor settled in Drăgănești Olt, a town where an important community of blacksmith Roma lives.
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