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Dear Madam/Dear Sir,
Dear friends,
I am writing to you because I know that you care. I am
writing to you because you understand that not knowing the truth our past means
risking to repeat or deny the abhominable crimes committed in the name of an
ideology void of any respect for human dignity.
Seven years ago, my colleague Dr. Claudia Florentina Dobre,
a researcher with the “Memoria” Foundation in Bucharest, and I started an
ambitious project to document one of the least known tragic episodes in the
history of the Communist regime in Romania: the forced settlement of over
44,000 people in the Bărăgan region. Sixty years later, we still know very little about
the hardships endured by these deportees and public awareness about their
plight is fading.
For this reason, we intend to make a documentary film which, while
respecting international standards for scientific research, can also be
presented to a larger audience. We have already interviewed 15 survivors, we
have carried out field research in the region where the deportations took place
and we had the chance to talk to eyewitnesses. Guided by our conviction that
our project represents a contribution to the culture of memory in Romania, we
have invested over 4,000 euros worth of our own funds in equipment and other
costs related to the film.
We view our film as a contribution to the public good. We intend
to show the film for free in schools and universities throughout the country,
as well as at national and international conferences. At a later stage, we are
also going to place it online, in order to reach as wide an audience as
possible. The interviews with former deportees will constitute a unique
multimedia archive, especially since most survivors will cease being among us
in the foreseeable future. Their testimonials are crucial in order to
understand this bloody episode in Romanian history.
We are appealing to you for support because we do not want
this black chapter to be erased from our collective memory. In order to finalise
our work, we still need 3,000 euros in order to buy modern equipment geared at
editing videos (i.e. an ultramodern comuter).
We will be grateful for any kind of support you are able to provide for
us.
Hoping that you will accept our invitation to become our
partner in this project, I remain
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Valeriu Antonovici
Baragan Stories: Memories from the Romanian Siberia
A project by
Claudia-Florentina Dobre
and Valeriu Antonovici
Arguments:
In December 2006, the president of Romania declared the
Communist regime as “illegitimate and criminal”. One important “criminal” and
illegal (recognized as such by the communist regime itself) aspect of the
regime was the deportation, a phenomenon, which did not receive large scale
attention, although it has affected more than 50 000 people, who lost their
homes as the regime decided to transfer them from their homeland to the arid
plain of Baragan. Our project aims at re-introducing the topic of deportation
into public space talks.
In one single day, or rather night, on the 18/19th of June
1951, 44 000 people were deported into what are today the counties of Braila,
Calarasi and Ialomita, in the south-east of Romania. Among them there were
numerous children, women, and elderly, sick persons. During the 5 years of
deportation, hundreds of these deportees lost their lives. All of them lost
their sense of belonging, becoming second class citizens: aliens to their
native homes, foreign visitors to their new neighbours. The communist regime
labelled all these persons as “enemies of people”. Actually, these “enemies”
were rightful citizens of Romania, who lived near the border of Yugoslavia:
Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, Germans, Bassarabians, Megleno-Romanians and Vlachos.
Deportation had not only a political component, but also a clear ethnic aspect,
as the Serbians, the Bessarabians and the Aromanians are mentioned as
distinctive groups among deportees.
Victims of communist regime repressive politics, the former
deportees perish one by one, taking with them the heavy burden of their
memories. Our project tried to slow down the movement of oblivion through a
book, a movie and an internet site dedicated to deportation.
Movies help to expand the boundaries of our memories.
Remembering and forgetting our lived experiences are ways of coping with
life-long effects of our early years and adolescence and our grief over lost
loves. The cinematic journey can bring understanding of repressing and
remembering memories.
Our project will address the problem of the communist
deportation, a second Gulag as Nicolas Werth called it, through witness
memories. We envisage revealing the dark side of that repressive enterprise
that deprived human beings of satisfying their basic needs. Furthermore, our
project aims to lend a voice to the silent people, victims of communist
Manichean perspective of the world. It is also concerned with the individual
responses to the official politics and policies of remembrance.
Keywords: deportation, memory, collective memory, political
persecutions, Communism, trauma and narratives, everyday life, life stories,
civic attitudes and idealism
Research questions:
1. How do deportees cope with their persecution?
2. How did they survive in the arid plain of Baragan? What
strategies have they employed in order to survive starvation, cold, fear and so
on?
3. How did they re-integrate in society after being released
from compulsory domicile (domiciliu obligatoriu, D.O. in Romanian)? How did
society regard them? What about their families? Did they get a job? A family?
4. How do they recall today their life in reclusion?
5. What type of identity did they construct after being
released from their mandatory home? What about after the fall of Communism?
6. What does the deportation period mean to them?
7. What do they want to transmit to their fellow citizens
about their experience of deportation?
8. How do they tell the story of their deportation? What are
the main themes of theirs discourses?
9. Are there any differences between their own view of
themselves and the perspective emerging from the discourses (most specially the
public discourses) of others about them?
Research methodology:
1. Analysing public discourses (mass-media, historiography,
documentary series) on deportation;
2. Recording 30 interviews with former deportees, of the
“life story” type, and 20 interviews with former inhabitants of the “compulsory
domicile” regions who have met the deportees; the realization of a documentary
movie based on these interviews;
3. Archive research on deportation;
4. The analysis of other “memorial vectors”, such as
diaries, photos, objects, etc. belonging to former deportees.
Aims and outcomes :
1. A book based on the interviews, which will introduce to a
large audience several life stories of former deportees, focusing on their life
strategies during and after deportation. The book, which is going to be
published at Memoria Cultural Foundation editing house, is envisaged to set an
example of moral virtue and civic involvement of former deportees.
2. Two academic articles published in international or/and
national journals, which aim to analyze and discuss the politics of memory
concerning deportation.
3. A documentary movie of 60 minutes meant to be introduced
upon Romanian and international audience. In today’s world, our memory seems to
be shaped more and more by images. Movies can play an important role in
creating a collective memory of deportation as an example of the malignity of
Communism, but also as a model of fighting the hardships of life. This
documentary movie can contribute to an increased sense of civic pride and
self-esteem among former deportees. A year later, the movie will be posted on
the internet to achieve wide public visibility.
4. The documentary movie will be used as pedagogic support
for one course taught at Political Science Faculty of SNSPA and for one course
taught at the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest, and for presentation
in 20 high schools from Bucharest, Calarasi, Ialomita, and Braila. It aims to
generate an academic interest for Communism and a civic response to its
destructive endeavours.
5. The multiplication of the movies on DVDs sent to libraries
(estimated 1500 copies), which aims at stimulating the interest of the people
for the recent past, for a civic response to political, ethnic or religious
persecutions.
6. The creation of a site where fragments of the movie,
photos, archive documents and transcripts will be displayed, in order to
broadly publicise the deportation and its consequences.
7. Another goal of our project is to generate public debate
and get a feed-back on the topic. In order to achieve this goal, round table
discussions are envisaged as well as internet forum talks.
Periods of project realization:
November 2011 – June 2012 – interviews realizations,
archives research, writing articles
June 2012 - September 2012 – content analysis of primary
sources, movie creation November 2012 – book editing February 2013 –movie
presentation.
Estimated budget for the realization of the movie: 5000
euros
1. Interviews realization: travels, accommodation : 2000
euros
2. Cost for voice/translate actors reading archives documents,
interpreting: 1000 euros
3. Camera and technical support: 2000 euros
Estimated budget for distribution of the movie: 2000 euros
~1500 DVDs, postal taxes, flyers, presentation material.
Estimated total budget: 7 000 euros
Valeriu ANTONOVICI
was beneficiary of the project “Doctoral scholarships supporting research:
Competitiveness, quality, and cooperation in the European Higher Education
Area”, co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund,
Sectorial Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013. He
defended his PhD in Political Sciences at SNSPA, in 2011; He holds a master
degree in Anthropology and Community Development and a BA in Sociology. He took part as a researcher in a few
international projects. Most important: „Transitions in Central and South
Eastern Europe – Changing Gender Perspectives“, co-sponsored by ERSTE
Foundation, FILEA Centre, SNSPA, 2008 – 2010, and ”Changing Conceptions of
Citizenship in Post-Socialist Society Under the Impact of Globalization”,
financed by the Wenner Gren Anthropological Research Foundation (SUA) and made
through a partnership between Central Connecticut State University – USA, SNSPA
– Romania and Kerala University – India, 2007 – 2009.
As an independent film maker Valeriu Antonovici directed the
documentary films: „Memorial places in Romania. University Square” – film made
in collaboration with Mirel Banica, 2009, 51 min; and „We cannot talk about
communism at street corners”- qualitative research 2007, 56 min).
Claudia-Florentina DOBRE majored in Historiography and
Cultural Studies at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of History. She held a
Master of Arts in Social Sciences from Ecole doctorale francophone en sciences
sociales, Europe centrale et orientale. In June 2007, she defended her thesis
on Women’s, former political detainees, testimonies on communism and political
persecutions at Laval University of Québec. Subsequently, she was awarded «
Robert Schuman scholarship of the European Parliament, in 2008, and « Junior
Research Fellowship » of St. Kliment Ohrdiski University of Sofia, in 2009. She
is currently enrolled in the postdoctoral program of Bucharest University, and
works as an editor at Memoria. Revista gândirii arestate, a magazine published
by Memoria Cultural Foundation, Bucharest.
Most important publications: Vies menottées, paroles
libérées. Témoignages des anciennes persécutées politiques roumaines, Editions
universitaires européennes, Saarbrücken, 2010, 401 p.; «Quand rêver de la
France menait à la prison: le cas des détenues politiques du „lot français »,
in Bogumil Jewsiewicki, Erika Nimis, dir., Expériences et mémoires. Partager en
français la diversité du monde, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2008, p. 78-86; « Ni héros,
ni victime. La mise en patrimoine de la répression et les anciens persécutés
politiques roumains », in Vincent Auzas, Bogumil Jewsiewicki, eds., Traumatisme
collectif pour patrimoine. Regards sur un mouvement transnational, Presses de
l’Université Laval, Québec, 2008, p. 331- 350.
