Deportation of Romani Nomads from Soroca – Translated

Name of the Settlement:

Soroca (city, Soroca District)

Region, Country:

Republic of Moldova

Date of Deportation:

June – August 1942

Excerpt from Testimony:

“[…] When they arrived at the camp, the gendarmes shot a large group of Jews. The gendarmes forced the younger Roma to dig a pit. The column of Jews kept arriving. Pregnant women and the wounded were shot. The interviewed person witnessed the executions. Queen Maria was the one who saved the Roma. She sent planes that dropped leaflets. The leaflets stated that the Roma should not be shot because they were musicians.

Only Roma were found in the barns [at the collective farm near Domaniovka]. There had been very few Jews in the barns. They were executed. In the barns, there was a bulibașa (Roma leader). He told people not to steal anything and to stay quiet in the barns. The gendarmes occasionally brought food. A cart would arrive with large pots of soup and pieces of bread. The Roma would approach with their bowls. The gendarmes distributed the food, giving one portion per person. The bulibașa accompanied the gendarmes. The poorest people died of hunger. [The deportees] remained there until the end of the war.”

Romanian Archives (if available):

N/A

Historical Note on the Roma in Soroca

Soroca is home to one of the largest Roma communities in the Republic of Moldova. In the census conducted by the Tsarist authorities in 1897, Soroca had a population of 15,351 people, including 12 Roma (PVPNRI 1897, III: 241-242).

After Bessarabia (now the Republic of Moldova) became part of Greater Romania, the 1930 general census recorded 15,001 inhabitants in Soroca, including 66 Roma (RGP 1930, II: 422-423). Some of them, including the father of the interviewed person, were blacksmiths (Roma ciocănari).

Historical Note on the Deportation

In the first phase, the nomadic Roma from Soroca were registered by local police agents in May 1942. In the summer of 1942, local police officers and gendarmes rounded up the nomadic Roma from the city and surrounding areas, organized them into columns, and escorted them to the border with Transnistria.

The interviewed person testified that along the way, other nomadic families from nearby localities joined them, as well as a separate column of Jewish deportees. They crossed the Dniester River by ferry, not far from Soroca, driven from behind with whips by German and Romanian troops.

After arriving in Transnistria, a significant portion of the Jewish deportees were executed by guards and buried in mass graves. According to the testimony of the interviewed person, the Roma deportees were saved due to an alleged intervention by Queen Maria of Romania, who supposedly sent planes to Transnistria to spread leaflets demanding that the Roma be spared because they were musicians. However, Queen Maria had already died in 1938, making this claim unlikely. It is also uncertain whether Queen Elena undertook such an action.

The interviewee’s family was relocated to Domaniovka (Golta County), where they initially lived in a tent on a nearby field. Under guard supervision, they worked crafting agricultural tools (pitchforks), which they exchanged for food and firewood from neighboring villages.

However, during the winter, their horses and carts were confiscated, and the deportees were moved into barns. The cold and lack of food claimed many lives among the deportees. Those who attempted to escape were beaten and killed by the guards.

The interviewed person repatriated to Romania in spring-summer 1944, when Soviet troops occupied Transnistria. The Russian soldiers helped the deportees return to Soroca.

Short Note on a Roma Group in Soroca

Some Roma blacksmiths still live in Soroca and continue practicing their traditional craft. However, more and more Roma have abandoned traditional trades and are now involved in selling various household products.