Overview
- Interview Summary
- Călina Păpănău, born on March 9, 1930 in Suhaia, Romania, discusses how she was taken away from Zimnicea, Romania with her family; being taken by carriage to Turnu (Turnu Măgurele), Romania; being transported across the Prut River in freight cars; their shelter in windowless buildings without doors; spending two years in terrible conditions; their everyday life, including the misery, dirt, and constant hunger; how many of them died of starvation and that the dead were thrown into mass graves; how nine people were taken away from her family and only four returned; the conditions they lived in and the people who died of starvation; how due to the extreme hunger they were forced to eat seeds picked out from cow dung, fish caught by the Russians and left on the bank of the Bug River, and raw horse meat; how she saw many Roma being shot only 50-60 meters away from where she was staying; how the shooters were possibly German or Russian; the reasons the Romanies were killed; many people being killed, but how some managed to flee; how Romanian soldiers came to get them and transported them back into the country in wagons and by cars; and an aerial bombing she witnessed on their way back.
- Interviewee
- Calina Papanau
- Date
-
interview:
2004 September 25
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation
Physical Details
- Language
- Romanian
- Extent
-
1 videocassette (DVCAM) : sound, color ; 1/4 in..
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Bombing, Aerial. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Romania--Personal narratives. Holocaust survivors--Romania. Mass burials--Ukraine. Mass murder--Ukraine. Romani Genocide, 1939-1945--Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Children--Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Romanian. Women--Personal narratives. Romanies--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Germany--Armed Forces. Prut River. Romania--Armed Forces. Southern Bug River (Ukraine) Soviet Union--Armed Forces. Suhaia (Romania) Turnu Măgurele (Romania)
- Personal Name
- Păpănău, Călina, 1930-
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Nathan Beyrak, project director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch, coordinated the interview with Calina Papanau in Romania for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Romania Roma Documentation Project on September 25, 2004. The interview was received by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives Branch in May 2005.
- Funding Note
- The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. - Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:00:54
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517718
Additional Resources
Time Coded Notes (2)
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Oral history interviews with eight non-Jewish witnesses (Roma) whom were victims of persecution, humiliation, and forced labor in Transnistria during the Holocaust.
Date: 2004 September 25
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Oral history interview with Ilinca Mosor
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Oral history interview with Ioana Buzatu
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Oral history interview with Stan Vaduva
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