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Village Name: Cilieni (village in the eponymous commune, Olt County)
Region, Country: Oltenia Region, Romania
Deportation Date: September 1942
Excerpt from Testimony:
“[…] They then went to Pitiluvka and were taken by gendarmes to Kovalevka, where they were housed in a small house with two rooms. Many people died there, especially from typhus. The bodies of the deceased were thrown into a pit, kerosene was poured on them, and they were burned. They received rye flour and cornmeal and made polenta. The bulibașa, escorted by guards (both men and women), would enter the house, count the people, and then distribute the food rations. They used a copper cup to measure the food and pour it into a sack. No one tried to steal food from the cart because they were afraid of the guards.”
Romanian Archives (if available):
The Romanati Gendarmerie Legion, which was responsible for the Cilieni commune, created a list at the beginning of September 1942 of sedentary Roma from the county who were proposed for deportation. 21 Roma (5 families) were included on this list (ANI, IGJ Fund, file no. 127/1942: f.29). The name of the interviewee does not appear on this list.
Historical Note on the Roma:
The commune of Cilieni is situated on the right bank of the Olt River, approximately 30 km from Caracal. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was part of Romanați County and had a population of 1,997 (MDGR 1899, II: 406). By 1930, the population had grown to 3,257, of which 57 were sedentary Roma (RGP 1930, II: 376–378). According to the interviewee’s testimony, some of these Roma engaged in agriculture, working as day laborers on the estates of large landowners in the region.
Historical Note on Deportation:
At the beginning of September 1942, the interviewee’s family was in the village of Cilieni, about 100 km from Cerat commune. The family was deported from Cilieni, along with 21 other Roma (ANI, IGJ Fund, file no. 127/1942: f. 29), and transported by truck to Craiova. The local gendarmes promised the deportees that they would have a better life in Transnistria. On September 12, 1942, the deportees were boarded into freight cars attached to the special E8 train bound for Tighina. After a journey of about three days, they arrived at their destination and were transferred to another train, being disembarked in Ocheakov County. Before crossing the border, the gendarmes confiscated their belongings.
Once in Transnistria, the Roma deportees were placed in Kovalevka commune (Ocheakov County) to work in a kolkhoz. Initially, they lived in a house from which Ukrainian locals had been evacuated. A lack of food, along with a typhus epidemic, decimated the Roma population (including the interviewee’s grandparents). The bodies were collected by the guards and incinerated in a nearby pit. After a few months, the deportees were moved to Mostovoi (Berezovka County) and forced to live in barns. The deportees tried to buy food from the locals, exchanging gold, but the threat of reprisals was always present due to the Volksdeutsche troops, who committed violent acts (rapes and summary executions). The interviewee likely repatriated in the spring–summer of 1944. They left Transnistria with the Romanian–German retreating troops. Their family joined a convoy of 300–400 Roma who set off on foot toward Romania, facing numerous dangers (Soviet bombings and reprisals from retreating German troops, who executed a group of Jews in a barn). Many Roma died on the way from cold and hunger (the interviewee’s father died in Sevastopol). They managed to board a train heading to Romania. Upon arriving in Cerat, they found that their house had been destroyed.
A Brief Note on an Aspect of the Roma:
Some of the Roma in Cilieni commune are engaged in agriculture.
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