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Village Name: Danceu (village in the commune of Jiana, Mehedinți County)
Region, Country: Oltenia Region, Romania
Deportation Date: September 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“[…] After they arrived in Mostovoi [in Transnistria], they were housed in 3–4 abandoned houses. They had to dig ditches because there was not enough space for everyone [deportees]. It was December. There were Russians in the village. They burned manure to stay warm. Some guards had flour, potatoes, and other food to feed them. Many people died there from hunger and cold. The bodies were taken by the Gendarmes and thrown into a pit [1–2 kilometers from the houses]. When the weather warmed up and the bodies began to smell, the decomposing bodies were removed.
The guards’ uniforms were yellow. They lived in the same village. They forbade us to leave the village. One person escaped and caught and killed a dog, which they ate. Some people used the money they had left to buy food. Our family had nothing; everything was taken by the Russians when we crossed the border at Piatiletka […]”
The guards’ uniforms were yellow. They lived in the same village. They forbade us to leave the village. One person escaped and caught and killed a dog, which they ate. Some people used the money they had left to buy food. Our family had nothing; everything was taken by the Russians when we crossed the border at Piatiletka […]”
Romanian Archives (if available):
The interviewee appears on the list of sedentary Roma deported from Danceu, compiled by the Mehedinți Gendarmerie. In the case of Danceu, 21 Roma (5 families) were proposed for deportation, including the interviewee’s family, which consisted of parents and 4 siblings (ANI, IGJ file no.127/1942, p. 46).
Historical Note on the Roma:
In the past, Danceu was a rural commune with 896 inhabitants by the end of the 19th century (MDGR 1900, III: 54). By around 1930, the commune had 1,528 inhabitants, including 79 Roma, speakers of the Romani language (RGP 1930, II: 278–279). Some Roma were engaged in agriculture, while others were musicians. After 1964, the commune lost its status as a commune and became a part of the Jiana commune.
Historical Note on Deportation:
The tragedy of the sedentary Roma from Danceu began in 1942, when the Romanian authorities decided to deport them to Transnistria. First, local gendarmes conducted a census in May 1942 and included 75 people (19 families) on the list of “problematic Roma” (ANI, IGJ file no. 201/1942, p.147–148; p. 159). In September 1942, 21 Roma (5 families) were taken from their homes and sent under escort to Drobeta Turnu–Severin (ANI, IGJ file no. 127/1942, p. 46). The 21 deportees from Danceu had little time to prepare, taking only essential belongings. Once in Drobeta, they were loaded onto freight cars attached to the special E8 train heading towards Tighina. The train departed on September 12, 1942, making brief stops in Galați and Mostovoi to distribute food rations to the deportees. After a week of travel, during which several deportees died, the train reached its destination in Tighina.
After arriving in Transnistria, the interviewee’s family was first placed in Mostovoi (Berezovka County), then in Korcina (Oceakov County), and in three other unidentified locations. The deportees were housed in abandoned houses, barns, or dugouts, and were forced to work in collective farms in exchange for small rations of food. The harsh conditions, cold, and hunger led to numerous deaths among the deportees. The interviewee spoke of the abuses and violence by the guards (including rapes and summary executions). Deportees who tried to leave the village to search for food were executed on the spot.
The interviewee spent about two years in Transnistria, losing a brother and a sister. He was repatriated to his family in early 1944, following the same route (Mostovoi–Galați–Drobeta by train).
A Brief Note on an Aspect of the Roma:
Some of the Roma from Danceu were musicians, and the interviewee’s family belonged to a group of lăutari (traditional musicians)
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