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Village Name: Andrășești (commune, Ialomița County)
Region, Country: Muntenia Region (Romania)
Deportation Date: June – August 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“Later, they arrived in Krasneanka, where there were hundreds of people from all Roma
communities. They were supervised by Romanian gendarmes and Russian guards. Upon arrival, all
the carts and horses were confiscated by the Russians. Here, the deportees were forced to cut down trees in the forest and transport them to the train station in Liubașevka. For two months, they did not see their families. They lived in tents.
Later, they were relocated to Tridubi. There were more than 4,000 people there. They lived in huts
built by the Russians. When they were placed in the huts, it was winter and snowing. Those who
didn’t manage to get a place in the huts all died. The bodies were loaded onto a tractor with a large
trailer driven by the Russians. There were several piles of bodies, frozen. The interviewee’s father,
Vasile, died from hunger. They had nothing to eat and had to eat dog meat. The place was surrounded by gendarmes. The deportees called this place a ‘camp.’ The village was located some distance away, and the Roma didn’t dare to go there due to the gendarmes.”
The commune of Andrășești is located in Ialomița County, approximately 18 km from Slobozia.
Around 1890, the commune had a population of 938 inhabitants, of which 5 were Roma families
(MDGR 1898, I: 79). In 1930, the commune had 1,108 inhabitants, with 6 sedentary Roma (RGP
1930, II: 240). Periodically, nomadic Roma groups would settle in the commune, traveling from
village to village to sell products (household utensils and aluminum pots) or work as day laborers.
Several groups of nomads would gather for religious holidays and celebrations. However, their
movement through the country was closely monitored by the authorities (the “bulibașii” had to
notify the local gendarmerie about their movements, and the so–called “sălaș” cards had to be
stamped upon arrival and departure).
Principesa Elena, Ialomița County) and escorted from post to post by gendarmes until they reached
Brăila, where a convoy of 150 carts was formed. The gendarmes escorted them through Transnistria, crossing the Prut River, Cahul (Bessarabia), and the Dniester River.
After crossing the border into Transnistria, the gendarmes confiscated their horses and carts and
relocated them to Krasneanka (Golta County). They were allowed to live in tents for two months and
were subjected to forced labor (cutting and transporting wood to the train station in Liubașevka).
Later, they were relocated to the Tridubi camp (Golta County) in the winter of 1942. Many of the
4,000 deported Roma crowded into huts perished from hunger and the cold. In the spring of 1943,
they were once again relocated to the village of Krivoi–Ozero (Golta County), where they were put
to work in a collective farm. The forced labor regime and abuse by guards (rapes) caused many
victims. Some survivors received food from local Ukrainian villagers.
Repatriation occurred in the spring of 1944, when the front moved into Transnistria, and the
deportees began their journey back to Romania following the retreating Romanian–German troops.
The journey back was long and exhausting, with many deportees walking the route from Tiraspol to
Tighina to Brăila. Many died from exhaustion and illness during the return journey.
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