In 40′s Marshal Antonescu was trying to solve another “gypsy problem” in Romania…”all Gypsies in Bucharest must be removed. But before removing them, we must consider where to take them and what to do with them. A solution might be to wait until the marshes of the Danube are drained and build some Gypsy villages there and let them fish….Another solution would be to negotiate with the big landowners. There…is a considerable shortage of workers in Bărăgan. We could build these villages there…at least some houses and barracks, a sanitation system, stores, inns, etc. We should set up a census and arrest all of them en masse, and bring them to these villages. We will build three-four villages, each for 5–6,000 families, and install guards around them so they cannot get out. They will live their life there and find work there too.”(Ciuca)

In 1942 roughly 25,000 Romanian Roma (around 12% of the total Romanian Roma population) were “evacuated” to Transnistria. “The May 1942 census, through its definition of the two categories of Roma, also showed the criteria for “selection” of those to be deported. It was based on nomadism and, in the case of the sedentary Roma, on criminal convictions, theft, and the lack of means to subsist. In some documents authorities also referred to the necessity of ridding villages and towns of the poor Roma population without an occupation or trade and no means of subsistence, without any possibility to earn a living, and those who made a living from theft and begging.”(International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania)

The “Gypsy colonies” were created just for  them in Transnistria. “Due to the malnutrition, some of the Gypsies—and these make up the majority—have lost so much weight that they have turned into living skeletons. On a daily basis—especially in the last period— ten to fifteen Gypsies died. They were full of parasites. They were not paid any medical visits and they did not have any medicine. They were naked…and they didn’t have any underwear or clothing. There are women whose bodies…were [completely] naked in the true sense of the word. They had not been given any soap since arriving; this is why they haven’t washed themselves or the single shirt that they own.

In general, the situation of the Gypsies is terrible and almost inconceivable. Due to the misery, they have turned into shadows and are almost savage. This condition is due to the bad accommodations and nutrition as well as the cold. Because of hunger…they have scared the Ukrainians with their thefts. If there had been some Gypsies in the country who were stealing…out of mere habit, here even a Gypsy who used to be honest would begin stealing, because the hunger led him to commit this shameful act.” (Achim, p.26-28)

In Spring 1944 the deported Roma  returned to Romania.  11,000 of them never made it back. Those that made it, came back to a country where, for another 45 years, were not even recognized as an ethnic minority.

References

International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania: The Deportation of the Roma and their treatment in Transnistria, 2004, p.5-6

Achim, Viorel (ed.) Documente privind deportarea ţiganilor în Transnistria. Bucharest, Editura Enciclopedică, 2004,vol. 2: no. 249, (Report December 5, 1942)  p. 26-28

Ciucă,Marcel-Dumitru, et al., (eds.), Stenogramele şedinţelor Consiliului de Miniştri. Guvernarea Ion Antonescu,  Bucharest, Arhivele Naţionale ale României, 1998, vol. 2, p.181

They fostered the spark for the search of meaning in me and now this search is taking us on separate paths. I’m scared because I don’t know if my direction is already set at the right angle to make sure I become what I can be (like in prof. Frankl‘s diagram above) but this looks like a good time to figure it out.

Ann and Chip, with humility, I thank you both.

In 2005 Laura Simms, a US storyteller and activist,  faced with the tragic reality of caged starving animals in a Zoo from a small Romanian town, had a plan:

“within four years the zoo will be up to EU standards, the animals will be healthy and Buhusi itself will have a practical and self-sustaining plan for industry, cultural activities, tolerance and tourism.”

After a few months the project initiators learned first hand about “greed and a kind of pride that stood between change and comfort” of local people responsible for the zoo. Players and partners were reevaluated in 2006 only to be challenged again in January 2007 as Romania was entering the EU. The Buhusi Zoo did not meet the European standards at that time and was closed down.  The initial dreams had to be reduced to a main dream of finding new homes for the animals. Two years later the last of the initial 45 animals found a better place to live.

The Lion’s Roar shared the story of this project and stories about the animals with love and compassion. Bella’s story is just one of them, one that has a happy ending.

The four-year plan was successful. At least for most of the animals. It took the hard work and the dedication of passionate people to save the animals from a reality that was killing them.

The questions that I have now are: who has the plan, how many years and where we could find the passion to fight for the people in Buhusi (and other places in Romania) whose lives during Communism and after resembled, in so many ways,  the lives of caged creatures.

Laura Simms tells stories on “How to find Romania“. I don’t know if she adds anything from The Lion’s Roar experience to her grandmother’s stories but I am very interested to listen to the (human) stories that she collected during her work in Romania.

Here is a short piece from the article about the terrible family history of Ioana Voicu Arnautoiu and the way she recovered it.

“A concert violinist, she was born in a cave in the Carpathian mountains. Her parents were partisans, part of a small desperate band that resisted the communist takeover in the 1950s.They held out for nine years – surviving sometimes on boiled bark – before the Securitate hunted them down.

Now it is the Securitate’s own records that are revealing Ioana’s family history, in 85 thick files and a collection of black-and-white photographs.

One shows her mother climbing out of the cave and going down a ladder, carrying baby Ioana under one arm like a doll.

Before her father was executed, the Securitate took a last photograph of his gaunt face, with dark, haunted eyes. Her mother died later in prison.

Ioana was spared. Aged two, she was taken to an orphanage and adopted by a loving family. She grew up without knowing who she really was – until Communism fell and the archives opened.

Her story might be unbelievable – if the Securitate had not archived everything so thoroughly.” (Oana Lungescu- Romania Securitate legacy 20 years after revolution)

Lungescu raises interesting questions about the role Securitatea had in documenting life during Communism. The State had to know everything and now, people have access, at least in part, to what the State knew of them.  Ioana Voicu Arnautoiu says in the documentary that she is thinking about putting her family history into a book. Working on such books is a needed exercise for Romanian society. Even though affecting individuals this drama was felt by the whole society and Securitate practices combined with the lack of information channels changed our information habits.

Many are still amazed by the way people chose to act even though they have freedom to be informed and access to information. People that worked on the case of  Ioana Voicu Arnautoiu parents could, presumably, be  successful business men nowadays (as is the case with the Securitate person that had Herta Muller, the Nobel prize winner in literature, under observation). One needs to take a step back and notice the destines that, even though shared the same geographical space,  were parallel  as long the State was not “in danger”.

What the evil library did was to document those intersections.  Looking back at these documents can help us figure out where and why deviations in behaviors took place. That would help understand the current “informed” decision Romanians make and how they can be helped to take part succesfuly in the global Information Society.

She is sharing her stories but manages, as good tellers do,  to tell the stories of many people. Among them, she is telling of  the lessons learned while being an international student in US, where “international” is mostly developing countries and where “learning” is not limited to what is thought in classes.

I’ve been living for some years now in the international community of Orchard Downs in Champaign-Urbana campus in US and her stories resonated so much with me. It is true that we, as outsiders, are often expected to fit the  given stereotype but is nonetheless true that we bring here our own single story version of the others. In time though, we get to share and live new stories together and the one story becomes many stories and many friends. As a proof for this I have my dear friends, who are getting ready for summer in Montevideo but long for the colorful fall of Illinois, that think of their Romanian friend when they hear Chimamanda Adichie speak.

There is  something else that, I suspect will get sooner or later into  Adichie’s work (if is not there already). Once you know multiple stories and connect in a meaningful way with the other … you cannot accept one story versions anymore. The hard part though is that people around you will continue to be happy with what they know: the single true story.

In the meanwhile,  I am happy to find that,  without giving it a meaningful name/title, people from different regions of Romania are doing community building work through dance and music!

For example people got together following the sad event of MJ’s death and put together  this dance.  It is the first time when such a response comes from an informal community from Romania in such an organized way.

Another community of more than one hundred children and youth from different backgrounds, schools and institutions was formed during five weeks of rehearsal for dancing the Stravinsky’s Firebird that was presented on the main scene of the Romanian National Theater early this month.  The participants with no previous dancing experience did not know that they were becoming a community and that through dance they were learning to trust themselves and each other. This has been the intention of  “Jungen Rumänen eine Chance!” charitable association and from what we can see in images and read on blogs it has been a real success for everybody involved in the project.

One winner of this community dancing project is eight years old Marian who had Firebird in his life after having a life in a cardboard box in Sibiu train station.

Last but not least I am happy to learn about an art and education project transformed by the Rahova community at the Community Center laBOMBA . As Maria Draghici puts it “they know how to express themselves in an artistic way, it’s just not in the way we have tried to teach them how to do it.”   Supporting the community’s voice is not an easy task (especially in such a challenged community) but the fact that, at the laBOMBA community center, common language was discovered is a huge step forward.

Congratulations to all that worked for and that took part in these projects! Hope that you all will have future projects where you will get to continue this kind of learning in and with communities!

According to the news that surfaced the online media channels the night after the concert Madonna had “Romania at her feet” and it was a historical concert.  The organizational problems or fact that, unlike other artists that came to Bucharest, she did not say a word in Romanian were also mentioned.

In the concert a “gypsy moment” took place where Madonna sang  “La isla bonita” and Lela Pala Tute a song in Romani (The Madness Of Love).

Madonna added:

“Now, I’ve been paying attention to news reports and it’s been brought to my attention that there’s a lot of discrimination against Romanis and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe. And I feel very sad, because I don’t believe in discrimination against anyone. We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone. Gypsies, homosexuals, people who are different, everyone is equal and should be treated with respect, OK? Let’s not forget that!”

That evening  the moment was mentioned only tangentially in newspapers and the public’s reaction was noted by few (I found only one but I am not sure whether they also mentioned it in the printed version – I’ll have to check that). In the heart of Bucharest Madonna was booed when she asked people to respect the others.

Sky News found that this event deserves more than a line and published the “Madonna Booed Over ‘Sad’ Gypsy Abuse” article. The news spread on international media, Associated Press also mentioned it.  Then the Romanian online media started to talk about public’s reaction and how it was inappropriate. They questioned people’s reaction. From the readers’ comments I gather that the TV channels did not mention the “gypsy moment” at all. A number of hours after the news was out (half a day after the event took place) several discussions started online on this topic.

Romania seems surprised. The readers are asked:

Why do you think Madonna sent this message ?:

• to teach Romanian a lesson about being tolerant
• to build up her image
• to make sure her concert will not be soon forget.

First the incident  is not important enough to be talked about in our media, until the international press underlines it. Then we start talking about it. (How we talk about it is another story!)

That is how the conversation about  tolerance takes place in  Romania. I feel like  Romanian leaders hope  we will become a truly democratic country  following the same pattern:  EU will notice our mistakes and will show them to us so that the people  can learn not to make them anymore.

In the “gypsy moment” with Madonna, the public could see (and be vocal about it) that foreigners  say Romanians are no tolerant but in the same time they don’t even know us.  People cannot understand why Madonna would touch or care about a wound that is not hers, a wound  that we don’t even know we have.

Similarly, people cannot understand most of the EU’s regulations and policies and why are those affecting their life. Why does Brussels think they  know us? We never talked with them, they never talked with us. EU will be booed in Romania as long as people will continue to see it as a group of foreigners telling them what to do…in a different language.

When will we learn to be tolerant with Romani people? Well, as you can see, we are in denial about this.

Down here, same old “not the end” life that we are trying to give a sense to.  Hope they treat you well up there with music and Carpati cigarettes.

Thank you for giving us so much…

Melba like young warriors are still around us. They are looking for help and this is one reason why  libraries are still needed.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

In Romania a similar moment, even in a small crowd celebrating our First of December,  would be cataloged as right extremism. In USA you  don’t get a denigrating label (as far as I know) for this. Some say this is because you have freedom, some say because it is not politically correct. It may be also because people cannot really see you. As an Orthodox Christian(but not only),  you still have to wear a mask in the  society. Yes, you are free to worship whatever but why are you so different? …and at one point you get tired of explaining. (Nobody cares anyway).  Depending on the  community, you sometimes need to wear a mask in your own church.

We, who came to learn about freedom first from books and movies,   often don’t expect that, once established,  freedom is not free.  We have to continually give something in exchange for freedom for “our people” being them our community, our county, region, state, world.  Compared to other prices like someone’s life, dignity or identity,  a mask is a small one.  However, to get to this price,  many people paid much more along USA history.  (It’s market economy 101,  a friend of mine would say.)

Will the USA be able to allow maskless people to simply be? Don’t know. All I know is that, at the moment, in Romania, even though the Orthodox communities don’t have a mask they might, just might,  get used to the “right extremist” box they are put in and act accordingly.

Having a Communist past, we are just learning about how our face looks like. Some look in the mirror for this, some on the window heading West. In any case we don’t like masks. What we don’t know is that we are expected to wear one and figure very fast  how to wear it properly in the European society. You see, very few people (if any) are looking for God’s blessing of the European Union. And in Romania … we used to ask for God’s blessing even before cutting our bread at dinner.