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Village Name: Râmnicu Vâlcea (town, Vâlcea County)
Region, Country: Oltenia Region, Romania
Deportation Date: September 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“The wagon was made of wood, and there was nothing inside except for a wooden floor and a small
window. The gendarmes who locked them in the wagon beat and insulted them. These gendarmes
confiscated their animals. There were four gendarmes in each wagon because they feared we would escape when the train stopped. People were cramped against each other. At each stop, they were given a piece of bread and cabbage. The interviewee’s 3–year–old brother died of thirst on the train, but the body was transported to Bug and buried there in a field after they arrived. The gendarme [who was guarding the deportees] beat the mother because her little brother was crying. The train did not stop until it reached Transnistria, traveling for three days and three nights […]”
Roma have been present in the municipality of Râmnicu Vâlcea since the 15th century, on the estates of the Râmnicului Episcopate (Soare 2012, II: 30–31). The favorable geographical location on the right bank of the Olt River, at the intersection of trade routes, and the exploitation of mining
resources encouraged the settlement of Roma craftsmen (coppersmiths, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, etc.). By the end of the 19th century, the city had a population of 7,417 (MDGR 1902, V: 246). The population doubled by 1930, reaching 15,648 inhabitants, including 81 Roma (RGP 1930, II: 496–
497). In addition to the sedentary Roma, nomadic Roma families would set up camp on the outskirts or nearby the city during certain times of the year. According to the interviewee’s testimony, these Roma crafted metal objects and went into the town to sell their goods for household use.
farm. Families were made to work in the fields, harvesting corn in exchange for small food rations.
After six months, the deported Roma were relocated near the village of Tridubi (Golta County).
They were housed in hovels and subjected to forced labor once again. Violent acts (rape, beatings,
arbitrary executions, etc.) were routine; the interviewee witnessed several such acts committed by
the guards at the labor camps and lost a relative (mother–in–law) to this violence.
that they could buy a horse and return to Romania. The family returned to Slatina and, with the help
of the locals, gradually rebuilt their life.
locals during the interwar period.
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