PressOne Quarterly #4

VOLUME 4

THE ANGEL OF HOPE 17 YEAR OLD GERTRUD BADER’S COURAGEOUS, PURE HEART COST HER TWO YEARS IN COMMUNIST PRISONS

Mr. Iugan ONE MAN’S MISSION TO SAVE HIS MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY

Shame of a Nation ADOPTED IN 1991, IZIDOR RUCKEL MOVES BACK TO ROMANIA TO HELP PUT CHILD WELFARE BACK ON TOP OF THE NATIONAL AGENDA

CHERISHING ROMANIA

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PressOne Quarterly PO Box 498065 Cincinnati, OH 45249 Thanks for supporting independent media in Romania!

© 2017 / PressOne / All rights reserved

Welcome We are introducing video to PressOne Quarterly. All you need to do is download a QR reader to your smartphone and scan the Matrix Barcode (see below).

We have incorporated the QR video into three of our stories: Mia and Andrea, Father and Daughter, and Shame of a Nation.

This summer a shocking statistic grabbed my heart. The child population in Romania has declined from 6,600,000 in 1990 to 3,900,000 in 2016. In our schools, healthcare and parks, there is neglect for the future of Romania. No where is the neglect more serious than in the 57,000 children still under the care of the Department of Child Protection. Our story, Shame of a Nation, is about former orphans coming home to reform the system.

Angel of Hope, our cover story, is a remarkable story of courage and kindness. Makes anyone proud to be of Romanian heritage.

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View the full magazine preview, with Don Lothrop.

Photo: Dan Bodea

VOICU BOJAN

MIHNEA MĂRUȚĂ

Voicu Bojan is the publisher of PressOne and one of its three founders. He has over 10 years of experience in print publications, including Esquire, National Geographic Romania and LensWork, US.

Mihnea is the editor-in-chief of PressOne. He started working in the media in 1990, fascinated by the post-revolution political and social effervescence in Romania.

He has over 20 years of experience as a translator, editor and publisher of books.

Over the past 26 years, he has been part of several newsrooms in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, had the privilege to run two national newspapers, but still has butterflies in his stomach every time he signs a piece.

He is in love with words and photographs. As a journalist and travel writer, he tries to combine these two means of expression.

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Voicu is also in love with his wife, two boys, one dog and an obscure hut on a mountain top somewhere in Transylvania. Plus life in general, including off-road triathlons.

He graduated with a degree in Philosophy and is passionate about ideas and surprising connections, which he looks for in books, movies and sports.

Mihnea has three daughters and finds it hard to accept they are already teenagers, so he tries to keep his mind in the present and finds that balance that is so rare nowadays.

CONTENTS 7 / THE ANGEL OF HOPE – GERTRUD BADER

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17 year old Gertrud Bader’s courageous, pure heart cost her two years in Communist prisons.

19 / ROMANIAN GOODIES Small farmers are reinventing cooperatives to get higher prices for their home grown food.

27 / MR. IUGAN A story of tradition, survival, and family.

37 / THE GREAT RENOVATION

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Blaj comes to life with an award winning civic renovation.

49 / MIA AND ANDREI An unlikely dance duo won the English National Championships.

55 / FATHER AND DAUGHTER 27 years apart, Ioana Tudor carries on her father’s struggle for democratic rights.

65 / SHAME OF A NATION

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Orphans from the Ceausescu era are coming home to help remove the dark stains of child abuse and neglect that still plague Romania.

79 / FUNDĂTURA PONORULUI A couple of journalists discover a slice of heaven hidden from mankind.

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From PressOne Series – Models of Courage

The Angel of Hope Gertrud Bader VALENTIN Č˜CHIOPU

For eight months in 1958, Gertrud Bader was an unlikely messenger between the antiCommunist prisoners in the Gherla Penitentiary and their loved ones

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Gertrud lives in Cluj and takes care of her husband, who suffers from Alzheimer’s

It was a time when hell had unleashed its fury on Romania.

their beloved, who would be waiting to catch sight of them from the prison window.

Out of the darkness, a young woman tossed small fireballs of scrap paper towards heaven and created a light that lasted forever.

Gertrud was arrested on August 8, 1958. She was 17 years old when she was sentenced to seven years in prison. She served almost two years in Cluj, Miercurea Ciuc and Gherla prisons.

Living beside the Gherla prison was a beautiful adolescent by the name of Gertrud Bader. She exchanged messages between prisoners sentenced for “conspiring against social order” and their families. The prisoners nicknamed her “The Angel of Hope.”

Morse code was the mediator between love and injustice. Greti, as she was affectionately known, would receive coded messages with the addresses of the fiancés or wives of the prisoners and send them letters indicating the exact time and date to show up in the cemetery, adjacent to the prison wall.

Each woman was told to hold a big bouquet of flowers, white or red, in order to be recognized by

After reading her story, we were curious how the rest of her life unfolded. We discovered that she moved to Germany in the 1970’s and that her married name is Gertrud Czell. We found an address and phone number located in Bamberg, a city in northern Bavaria. The phone number offered us nothing more than a busy signal.

We then contacted Cosmin Budeanca from the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes. He introduced us to political detainee Ion Baurceanu, who spent thirteen years in prison during the Communist Regime. Mr. Baurceanu was a beneficiary of Gertrud’s courage.

The Angel of Hope – Gertrud Bader

“I tried to warn her to suspend communication with the prisoners the moment I realized she was in trouble.

There were spies amongst us at Gherla and it was not right to put the life of a child on the line”, recounted Baurceanu.

He sent Greti messages through the small opening in the blinds of room number 87. “It was a space no bigger than 20-30 centimeters. It was there to prevent us from suffocating in the cell.”

Baurceanu used a rolled up towel to communicate using Morse code. If he placed the towel horizontally, it made a dash, and if he placed it vertically, it was a dot.

Greti followed the movements from the window of her room, using a pair of binoculars. Her responses came in the following way: her upper blind – drawn – was the dot and her lower blind – closed – was the dash. When she ended a sentence, she would shake the curtain dramatically.

Now 86, Ion Baurceanu has come to a conclusion:

“Gentleman, this story demonstrates the existence of God. If you have any doubt about that, take what I’m saying into consideration. To this day, I’ve never met Greti. We did correspond after 1989 and again in 2013, 45 years after our conversation using Morse code. She called me and I heard her voice. God truly does exist. And all the proof in the world is in Greti, who you will find in Cluj. She returned to Romania some time ago.”

We finally met in person before Easter in 2017. She sat us down in her living room and served us coffee.

Then, she agreed to share her story with only one condition.

“Things unfolded the way they unfolded. I don’t want anyone to say that I’m a heroine or that what I did was a sacrifice. I met real heroines in prison, women who had to spend years away from their children.

I was a strong child and I never once cried after receiving my sentence. I was certain that what I had done was just and right.

I’ve always hated injustice, whether it’s injustice in the small details of life or injustice on a larger scale. Either way, it must not be tolerated.”

Gertrud was the oldest of four children in the Bader family. Her father, Sebastian, of German descent, was a veterinary doctor. Her mother, Delma, graduated from the conservatory and was an excellent piano teacher.

From the window of their home the Gherla prison was in plain sight. Every time screams or gunshots were heard from the prison, Gertrud’s parents would close the windows and shut the blinds.

The children never asked questions, but Delma would light a small candle beside the piano and would tell her children to pray for those who were behind bars:

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Last August, I called her to ask for an interview.

For eight months, we spoke on a weekly basis with the hope that she would establish a date for our meeting. But her husband was sick with Alzheimer’s and Gertrud was content to stay by his side and care for him without complaint.

GRETI SHARES HER STORY

Photos: Raul Ștef

Remarkably, the whole time I was searching for Gertrud Bader in Germany, she was living just a few streets away from our office.

Gertrud is now 75. She says that once in awhile, she looks at her husband and still sees the glitter of complicity, the love born in a clandestine, common language understood only between a former political detainee and a young man robbed of his future, with a father in jail at the Canal. Seeing that expression on his face is enough to help her recover her strength and continue on.

The Angel of Hope – Gertrud Bader

Gertrud Bader Czell will be turning 76 in May

“These are all innocent people who were locked up because they wanted justice and a better world. We were very impressed by the things that we would hear our mother tell us. We grew up in this climate and as time passed, I began to develop a sort of fascination for those behind the impenetrable wall,” remembers Gertrud.

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The Bader parents sent Gertrud to Oradea for high school. For two years, she would return to Gherla only for vacation.

Christmas 1957 found her at home in her parents’ living room. Her father was playing the violin, her mother was at the piano in a room full of friends. It was getting dark and Gertrud went outside to get a breath of fresh air.

Echoes of Christmas carols could be heard from the direction of the jail, intermingled with screaming and wailing. It was a lamentation that jolted her awake. She ran back into the house and asked

permission to go to town. Her parents disagreed, but she insisted that she had to meet some friends.

She went quietly to the prison wall, with a handful of small rocks that she had wrapped with little pieces of paper. She lit these on fire and threw them up in the air.

About five minutes later, the alarm sounded and she found herself surrounded by four guards.

- What are you doing here?

- I’m playing!

- Leave right now! Enough with these games or you’ll be coming with us. Go home and spend Christmas there, not here trying to grab attention!

Greti deliberately headed in the direction of town so that the guards wouldn’t realize that she lived across the street from the penitentiary.

“I finally got home and sat down at the table but my soul was elsewhere.”

The Gherla Prison with the cemetery beside it

The next day, she returned to the same spot and raised a white handkerchief into the air. She saw rags, towels and papers start flying about in the prison cells. Greti headed home, opened the window to her room and began waving a large, white bed sheet. The response came immediately.

was able to exchange messages with prisoners from various cells.

Using her binoculars, she followed the movements from the prison and understood that they had a deeper meaning. She realized that the detainees were communicating using Morse code.

In message after message, Greti discovered that the families of the prisoners did not know the whereabouts of their loved ones. She asked for addresses and began writing on behalf of the prisoners. She would sign the letters with the pen name Abbot Faria and would send them off from neighbouring cities such as Dej, Cluj and Bistrita to cover her tracks.

Greti went to see Schneider, a friend of her father who worked at the post office. She made up a story about a physics project. In return, she received a brochure explaining Morse code.

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Greti improvised a system of communication using the two curtains that covered her window. If she pulled the top blind, it was a dot and if she pulled the lower blind, it was a dash. Slowly but surely, she

“I wrote to the prisoners’ relatives, ‘If you wish to make contact with your beloved who you miss dearly, be there in the cemetery beside the prison, holding a big bouquet of red or white flowers, on this day, at this specific hour.’

Photos: Raul Ștef

Greti is written in the following way: dash dash dot (G), dot dash dot (R), dot (E), dash (T), dot dot (I).

“There are 6,000 people here. Be very careful, we’ll warn you if you’re in any danger,” signalled one prisoner.

The Angel of Hope – Gertrud Bader

I was constantly trying to figure out which flowers would be in bloom around that time so that they could easily find them at the market. Then, I would send them instructions to lay the flowers down near a particular tombstone so that the prisoner in his cell would be able to make visual contact with their loved one.

During that time, I would make sure to be in the cemetery – on the opposite side – to ensure things went as planned.”

“IN THAT MOMENT, I THOUGHT MY HEART WOULD EXPLODE. THE YOUNG GIRL WAS NONE OTHER THAN MY MIOARA” The author of the book “Beyond the Bars”, Aurel Baghiu, who died in 2010, recounted how Gertrud united him with his fiancé Mioara.

Baghiu was a leader of the university students’ movement in Timisoara in 1956. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for “agitating the public.”

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In his book, Baghiu wrote: “I walked into Cell 53 on that memorable Easter Day. I was determined to prevent my eyes from wandering outdoors, but two cellmates, Peter Schuster and Stefan Nekel, wanted me to look a person in the cemetery who appeared to be looking for a prisoner.

I ignored them, stating that no one would visit the prison on Easter Day. But they kept insisting that I see this young girl lingering in the cemetery and I walked to the window.

As I looked beyond the bars, I saw a girl crouched down and digging up the dirt beside an old grave in the cemetery.

A large flower bouquet was next to her. On a nearby bench, laid the girl’s handbag and trench coat. There was not a single soul in the cemetery besides this girl.

When she finished digging, she stood up, shook the dirt off her hands, and looked directly towards the window of our cell.

In that moment, I thought I my heart would explode.

The young girl was none other than my Mioara. My friend, lover and Miorita, as I had nicknamed her.

At that instant that I recognized the yellow, silk handkerchief on her head. It was the handkerchief she always wore so I could recognize her at the Cluj train station. There was no way I could miss her on the platform when she wore that bright handkerchief on her head.

I recognized the curls that framed her tanned, beautiful face. My first reaction was to throw off the blinds that limited my view. Like an agile monkey in its cage, I jumped up onto the bars, trying to see over the blinds and enlarge the small peephole back into life.”

Baghiu began singing a verse from the Romanian troubadour genre: “De-as fi vantul.” (If I were the wind) Mioara and Aurel Baghiu were married six years later, when he was released from prison.

Aurel finally got a chance to thank Greti in 2000, when they met for the first time.

YOU THINK THE AMERICANS WILL COME AND SAVE YOU FROM PRISON? Greti was arrested in August 1958. She knew that the Securitate (Secret Police) was following her.

At the beginning of the month, “two gentlemen” confronted her on the train heading home after a visit to her grandparents’ home in Arad. They asked her where she had spent her vacation.

One week later, the Securitate showed up in her bedroom in the middle of the night at her home in Gherla. They ripped off her bed linens and threw her against the wall. An IMS (Romanian made all-terrain vehicle) was waiting outside with the engine running.

Gertrud Bader’s Penal Record

“Wake up, you’re under arrest! Gather everything that belongs to you, all your papers and notes. These were the words I remember. They were yelling like madmen.

I didn’t have the chance to hide all of my letters and notes. They even took my accordion. Once in awhile, I would play the accordion near the prison because it could be heard better than the piano. The prisoners knew the accordion meant that I was trying to communicate with them.”

Greti remembers the first dialogue in the Securitate’s basement.

- It’s not up to you to make laws here. You’re going to rot in prison.

During the next few months, as she awaited her court date, Greti was locked up in the Cluj penitentiary where she met Nuti Dejeu, the wife of Alexandru Dejeu. Dejeu and Iosif Capota had already been executed for leading an anticommunist group in the Huedin area.

Her trial was harsh. The person who was responsible for awarding justice at the Cluj Military Tribunal sought to provoke her:

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- You know what you’ve done! You’re against the regime! You don’t like how things work under

- No, I don’t know if the Americans will come but what you’re doing is unjust. The people at the Gherla prison need to be helped.

Photos: Raul Ștef

Next came the Securitate interrogations in Cluj. One of the investigators was a Major who went by the name Gruia who had a reputation for his unusual cruelty.

communism? What, you think you can change the world? You think the Americans will come and save you from prison?

The Angel of Hope – Gertrud Bader - I want you to know that if you weren’t a minor, your bones would rot here because of what you did.

Rather than getting to know our modern communist society, you cozied up to bandits and the country’s enemies.

- I sided with the people who fought for the good of our country and not for the evil that it is displaying today.

Her cheekiness was unacceptable.

- Oh, really? You don’t like it?

- No, I don’t like it, I don’t like it!

- Yes? OK, then it is here that you will die.

- If God exists, then God will decide whether or not I’ll die here or as a free woman. But I believe that I will be free.

- Do you hear that transcribe? Put this down immediately: she’s receiving a second sentence because she’s a Christian and believes in God. This is a punishable offence.

On October 16, 1958, Greti was condemned to 7 years of prison.

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She was transferred from the Cluj Penitentiary to the women’s prison in Miercurea Ciuc in 1958.

“My parents wanted a superior education for me and look, now at Miercurea Ciuc I entered into a high society of women who were political detainees. I met extraordinary women, such as Patrascanu, Busuiiocescu, Doctor Stefanescu, Doctor Virginia Munteanu, who was Pamfil Seicaru’s sister. Doctor Munteanu was gentle and was of rare, genuine human quality. My fellow inmates were so educated, French was the prisoners’ official language.

They called me Coca (coc, meaning hair bun), because my hair was always pulled up into a bun. A bun on top of my head or

a bun at the nape of my neck. Thanks to Morse code, the prisoners communicated freely, but the suffering was immense.”

Today, Greti refuses to talk about the suffering she endured when she was behind bars. In addition to solitary confinement, she was often tortured so brutally that fainting was the only pain relief.

PUNISHED FOR A CHERRY BLOSSOM PETAL “They punished you for anything. One spring, a strong gust of wind blew a few cherry blossom petals into my cell. There were just a couple of them.

When I squeezed them in my hand, they caught sight of me from the peephole.

‘What do you have over there in your hand?

Whatever you have in your hand, put in down right now.” They kept yelling at me.

I told them that since they denied me the freedom of looking at all the flowers in the fields, that God had sent me a few little petals. Then I was handcuffed for one hundred days, it was horrible.”

On May 26, 1959, ‘Coco’ celebrated her 18th birthday and her 10 month anniversary of detention. Her fellow prisoners made her a cake using small morsels of polenta that they had been saving up for a week. They decorated the cake with jam and a little flower shaped cotton ball was placed on top.

While his daughter was incarcerated, Sebastian Bader was making frequent trips to Bucharest and continually mailing appeals for her freedom. He tried to use her age as an explanation. How could a minor conspire against the security of the state?

Greti Bader at 20 years of age

In February 1960, Greti was pardoned. However, no one informed Greti or her family about this.

She was placed in a special train wearing only a chemise. It was horrendously cold. She had the soles of some old sandals in her possession, which she tied to her feet with a belt so that she wouldn’t have to walk barefoot. She received only one meal throughout the 48 hour train ride. Greti had no idea where she was going.

In 1960, Greti had the strength to respond to Istrate: - Yes, I know you...

- In that case, you know where you are!

- Yes, I’m in Gherla!

- Then get a move on!

The train finally came to a halt. She could hear men’s voices and the sound of chains clanging against the pavement.

“Move! Faster, move your feet faster, let’s go!”

A man opened the train compartment.

- Do you know me?

Greti went stiff. It was the feared Constantin Istrate, the right-hand man of the commander from the Gherla Prison. Along with the Somlea brothers, Istrate had instituted a reign of terror in the prison.

He had a saying: “you only leave this place in a casket.”

They left her alone in an IMS vehicle. Between the two benches, there was a bag full of files. She began looking through the files and found her own. On the cover, “Pardoned” was written in large letters.

She assumed that the car would be dropping her off at home. The destination was not her home. It was Gherla Prison. They put her in a cell on the main level. Later, they moved her to the second floor.

From her prison cell, she could see her home if she stacked blankets and climbed on top of them.

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The Angel of Hope – Gertrud Bader

“I saw my mother one day. She was walking home from the store and she suddenly turned and stared at the prison for a long time. She didn’t know I was there, she was just looking off in the distance.”

“Let’s pack the bag. What’s done is done!” responded the almost 20-year-old woman.

A short time later, a man knocked on the door.

An official IMS vehicle was parked in front of her house. Greti opened the door with trepidation.

- Do you know me?

- I believe I do but I’m not sure where I met you...

I’ve met many people in the last few years.

- I’m the judge that sentenced you. I came here today to congratulate you.

- Congratulate me?

Two weeks later, she was taken from her cell at night. There were about ten men walking ahead of her, bound by chains. They were put in a special minibus reserved for prisoners. She was trembling with fear.

She was aware that if the vehicle made a left turn, beside the high school, it would arrive at the Brick Factory. That is where the detainees were buried.

Through the grates of her cage, a man whispered something to her: “I hope you know that this is your final journey!”

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When they passed by the high school without turning and headed in the direction of Cluj, Greti responded: “No, this is not our final journey.”

Greti was held at the Securitate in Cluj for another two to three days. When they freed her on March 8, 1960, her parents were waiting for her in the hallway.

A few weeks after Greti was released from prison, a letter arrived from Bucharest addressed to the Bader family. It was a negative response to Doctor Bader’s appeal that requested his daughter be set free. The parents were frightened.

When Delma Bader saw the letter, she packed her daughter’s bags: “If they come, you won’t have to leave wearing nothing, like the last time they took you away.”

- Yes, because you were so strong. I’ve rarely had a court hearing like yours. I also came here to congratulate your father. I don’t have faith in anyone. But I do have faith in you. You didn’t see me here and never met me outside of court. Goodbye!

NEW LIFE Greti was forced to work during the day making Persian rugs for an Armenian company. She finished her high school baccalaureate in evening classes.

Her parents kept her locked up, literally. “You are not allowed to leave, you are not allowed to meet anyone.”

One evening, she went out to a summer garden with her entire family. At a nearby table, a stranger could not take his eyes off Greti. The man asked a waiter if he knew the woman. The waiter told him: “Young man, don’t even look in that direction or think about starting a conversation with her. She was a political detainee.”

The next day, Benjamin insisted on inviting Greti out for a walk. It was a long process to convince her parents to allow her to go. Beni was not able to complete university. His father had created the Ursus beer brand and at the time he met Greti, was imprisoned at the Danube Canal.

Gherla Detention Center, 2016

Greti and Beni later got married and had a child. In 1970, they applied to become German residents.

A fee was paid by the West German government to the Romanian Bank for External Commerce for the freedom of each Romanian. The fee, ranging from 1,500 to 10,000 German Francs per person, depended on their education and qualifications.

In 1973, the year Greti, her husband and child left Romania, the Romanian state made almost 16 million dollars from this type of “transaction.”

Greti and Beni Czell completed dental school in Nuremberg and he continued with this profession.

When they tired of “bending over porcelain teeth,” they opened an antique store in Bamberg.

A few years ago, Greti returned to Cluj to better care for her husband. The last two years have been especially difficult.

“This illness is enough to knock you off your feet.

Not that I’d want the time to be able to write a book or something, but I’d love to be able to gather myself and concentrate. Thank God I found a woman who is helping. It is very, very important to have a benevolent person beside you.”

Even now, I can’t stand injustice. I’ve never been able to tolerate that a human being is being treated badly. Communism was a lie. How can you lock up a man for having different ideas than your own?

You come to know a person’s essence when they are in prison, stripped of their garments and suffering for their values.

Every single person in prison had ideals that they fought for. I respected that so much.

As a child, I realized what was good and what was bad. I wanted to change things around me, to help and to support.

I had something in me, an impulse to yell and declare that everything around me was a lie.”

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On the rare occasions when she visits Gherla and looks towards the penitentiary, she longs to catch a cherry blossom petal in the air and pin it to her hair, full of hope.

“I never tried to forget the prison. This is the journey God has for me. I’ve experienced different battles and sorrows.

I’ve emerged from them much wiser.

Romanian Goodies VALENTIN ȘCHIOPU

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Small farmers go retail in Alba Iulia to the delight of local residents

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Tudor Man has seen enough.

He has seen enough of small farmers producing quality food go out of business. He has seen enough of local markets replaced by supermarket chains. He has seen enough of supermarket chains selling cheap imported food, instead of supporting local farmers. So he organized a group of farmers and other small scale food producers to form a new kind of co-operative.

The shareholders are gardeners and horticulturalists from Alba, Cluj, Hunedoara, Mures, Salaj and Sibiu Counties. They function under CAHA (Agricultural and Horticultural Cooperative of Alba), determined to see the fruit

of their labor dignified on market shelves, rather than collecting dust in store rooms.

In 2017, the co-operative opened their first store in the city of Alba Iulia, called “Bunătățuri Românești” (Romanian Goodies), where they sell only their own products. Instantly, the new concept touched the souls of local citizens who became loyal customers. The top selling item is caltaboş, local sausages that are the Romanian version of blood pudding. We decided to check out the new market, located on 1989 Revolution Boulevard in Alba Iulia. Walking through the store is a trip down memory lane to a time when

food had a face on it – usually grandma’s face.

Red pepper spread with chanterelle mushrooms, dandelion and elderberry syrup, cantaloupe jam, bitter cherry jam, sour cream made of buffalo milk, bread made on the hearth, hot pepper and onion jam, rosehip jam, cornelian cherry jam, pickled green tomatoes, homemade cakes, cheese from Țaga, live trout from Mitica, coldpressed flaxseed and grapeseed oil. These are just some of the “titles” we glimpsed on our way to the meat counter. We approached the meat counter slowly and in silence, as if we were walking into a sacred spot.

THEN WE READ THE SIGN. “We have wild boar salami, homemade sausage, ham, pork pate, sausage and meat in lard, blood sausage for cabbage, deer salami and squirrel salami”

The eyes of this PressOne photojournalist teared up behind his round lens, as I had the following dialogue with the meat salesperson:

- Oh! Squirrel with pork...

- What do you mean by squirrel salami...?

- Exactly! About how many squirrels are in a roll of salami? But now I understand, it’s mixed in there with the pork.

- What do you mean?

- When you say squirrel, what exactly are you referring to?

- Everyone is skeptical. People keep asking us how many squirrels we’ve caught.

- Squirrels - Squirrels?

- No, no thank you.

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- Yes, it’s a combination of squirrel meat with pork meat.

- No, maybe my colleague would though.

Photos: Raul Ștef

- Would you like to try the squirrel salami?

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Romanian Goodies

At the Romanian Goodies store, customers are king.

Everything in the store can be sampled, from the fish from Salaj to the sausage from Campeni.

Tudor Man, an Orthodox priest from the village of Tibru, is the brainchild of the association and the president of CAHA’s Administrative Council.

“Parents are searching for healthy food for their children. What we offer can’t be compared to the produce you find in supermarkets. Our cheese is made out of real milk, not powdered milk. That is just one example,” we are told by a proud customer service representative. There are not sales persons here, because the fresh food sells itself.

The idea came to him in 2011 and he has refined it after studying the Western model of co-operatives.

He is convinced that the future of Romanian agriculture lies in this type of organization.

CAHA has 45 members, 17 of whom put up the money to open the store in Alba Iulia.

“Everyone was growing crops and suffering financially. We’d talk about solutions and always ended with ‘What if?’ Finally we took courage and said ‘Let’s do it!’ In the fall of 2012 we established the cooperative with five founding partners. We didn’t receive very much support from the authorities such as the National Program of Rural Development.”

According to CAHA’s website, the members of the Co-operative collectively own “over 500 acres of land with 100 bovine, 100 pigs, more than 500 sheep, 100 goats, and corn, sunflower, wheat, cantaloupe, potato, cabbage, strawberry, blueberry, mushroom, tomato, cucumber, radish, green onion, lettuce and a variety of flowers grown outdoors and inside and in over 50 greenhouses.”

He started on this journey 5 years ago, accompanied by a few friends.

No one understood the structure of a small food co-operative. You begin with some funding, then form the rules of the agricultural association, then you grow food and raise some animals. The next step is to create a small processing line for the goods. Lastly, you commercialize them,” says Tudor Man. “Nobody will succeed if everybody fails,” is CAHA’s motto. Their goal is to help the small-scale producers create more commercial power.

If you work on your own, you’ll be crushed by the large-scale retailers,” maintains Tudor Man.

“The problem was that the store owners didn’t like our prices. They kept putting

When you try to sell your goods as an individual, the big retailers play you like a fool. They belittle your hard work and offer you very little. Then they mark up your produce between 100 and 500% and sell it for a huge profit.

We are not super nationalistic about blocking imports in favor of locally grown produce. But if we compare the goods, ours are very high quality. At least in this store, we know that we sell items of high quality.

If you offer quality, you can be part of our project, if you don’t, then you have to leave, that’s CAHA’s policy. Taste and health, it’s that simple”.

Photos: Raul Ștef

CAHA initially worked with a few stores in Alba Iulia. They were always the weaker player on the defensive, because they did not have options.

competitors ahead of us. Basically the message was, either sell at our low price or we’ll go to farmers in Poland, Hungary or from God knows where else to find cheap produce.

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Romanian Goodies The members of CAHA have ambitious plans to grow their business. The next stage is to open a warehouse with the help of European funds. Here, the goods of peasants and small scale farmers will be collected. In addition, the center would have a processing and packaging line.

Tudor Man follows the example of the Cooperative Confederation from the Trentino region of Italy, an organization that promotes the interests of local agronomists and paves their way into the larger market.

In the city of Trentino, there is a special bank where farmers and members of the Cooperative can obtain credit at an advantageous interest rate. Public schools in the area now teach a course on cooperatives.

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CAHA representatives know that the term “Cooperative� carries a lot of baggage from communism. But the business model has worked for centuries in sustaining small farmers and providing families with a healthy source of good tasting food. Tudor Man believes that fresh, traditional Transylvanian food will always be superior to supermarket food. We agree with him.

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Mr. Iugan CODRUȚA SIMINA

“Society cannot develop properly unless there is respect for land, work, and family, because through these things we find our values.” Emil Iugan

On the way to Lunca Ilvei, a small community in a long range of forested hills north of Bistrita, our car feels the full effect of our ‘do-little’ government.

Miles and miles of crumbling roads.

We are en route to one of the last remaining Romanian-owned timber factories. This factory is much more than a business. It is the lynchpin of an integrated system of local development that sustains an entire community, keeps families together and restores our faith in capitalism.

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The woodworking factory in Lunca Ilvei does not waste a single piece of wood and provides free heating for the local schools, milk factory, and greenhouses.

What follows is a story of survival, tradition, patriotism and the very broad shoulders of one good man: Mr Iugan.

“In 1991, I resigned as mayor and I went to my basement, my grandfather’s former workshop, to find my wood-working tools.

And today, I pride myself in the fact that my son, my daughter, my son-in-law, and my daughter-in-law all work in the factory. They all work in production. My grandchildren work in the company during

the summer, so that they can get to know this trade. That makes my grandchildren fifth generation woodworkers.”

Emil Iugan, the owner of the timber factory, Silvania International, has four fingers missing on his right hand, a sign that “production” is still in order. Even though he has accumulated a fortune of over one million euros, he still lives in the village of Șanț, in a home built on a hearth where his grandparents once lived.

GETTING STARTED “In 1993, I bought an old reciprocating saw from Germany that was used to cut wood during the First World War. I still have it now. It is ready to be showcased in the museum. Later on, I put another saw beside it.” This is how Iugan’s story began.

A few years latter, the local wood factory was about to go bankrupt. It was a tangle of machines that made no sense. Mr Iugan took of over the factory with nothing but common sense. Today, the 200 employees, of which 80 are women, are scattered around the eight acre production facility.

The sorted wood is transported by huge iron arms

The machines were built by the great communist enterprises. The former managers of the factory, together with the previous owner, were keen on repairing them and keeping them in use.

The oldest such machine is the Regina (Queen), produced by the Soviets in 1952. It is the Queen that gave Lunca Ilvei energy independence before the term was fashionable. The Queen is still in operation today.

The company takes part in auctions, whether it’s for wood “on foot” (not yet cut) or logs. If they have the winning bid, the wood is taken to the factory.

Between 60-66% of the purchased wood has a circumference of less than 35 centimeters. It is sorted by quality and size - then it’s scanned.

Scanning is important because tree trunks in this region still contain ammunition remnants from the two World Wars.

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Since they cannot afford to waste anything, the inferior wood is ground and transformed into biomass. Part of the biomass feeds the central furnace in the factory, which then heats the kindergarten, school, gym and two other businesses in the community. The rest of the biomass is sold.

Photos: Raul Ștef

In order to survive in a market where Austrian giants like Schweighofer and Kronospan purchase the majority of quality wood, this small company from the Bistrita region operates by one simple principle: 100% of all raw material must be utilized. The bark, twigs and waste are all transformed into marketable materials.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

One of the factory’s objectives is to offer young people a workplace so that they won’t leave the community in order to find work

The remaining wood is converted into chipboard and timber, and beginning next year, it will be transformed into frames for homes. Emil Iugan is proud of this development. His beliefs are a mixture of ideologies that on paper contradict themselves, yet somehow work together on a practical level.

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“Since we are in a mountainous area, we were never forced into collective farming.

We maintained a sense of respect for work and for property. I’ll tell you one thing... it’s your choice to write it or not.

The Communist system, good, bad, or whatever it was, left behind three fundamental components for the forestry industry. First, it left forests, they were not destroyed. Second, our forestry industry may not have been at the top of the game but it was good. We were in the top three furniture producers on a global level. Third, it left behind skilled workers. We destroyed the industry and the forest is on the verge of being destroyed.

Most of the good workers have either aged or left the country.

Here in Lunca Ilvei we have risen out of the ashes. We are responsible for developing the concept of local wood production and we need to take it seriously. Everything is used, everything to the last twig. The value of the business should bear fruit in the community, through salaries, income tax and other forms of tax. There’s a saying: ‘You slaughter the cow and take only its bell’... of course you have the option of being wasteful, but it doesn’t help with anything in the long run”, says Iugan.

Iugan encourages his employees to value education: “When I took over the factory, the director’s son was in fourth grade.

Now, he has a doctorate in high-efficiency electro-tech systems and has completed his studies in Denmark. This is where he grew up: in the factory.”

Mr. Iugan

The trunk is separated from the bark before entering into the production process

Between the pressure of multinationals and the muddled legislation, Iugan can’t seem to grasp why he is struggling to make ends meet in his own country, especially while huge companies are making massive profits out of its natural resources.

“We make use of everything down to the last twig. We use biomass and set the raw material aside for chipboard, a new approach that was not used in the past.

We are working on a technological system that will allow us to produce the crosslaminated panel system called X-LAM. Cross-laminated timber is a structural alternative to cement and iron and is a huge opportunity for Romania.”

“We have tried to integrate the factory into a local development system that uses the two resources found in this mountainous area: forest and grass. In the forest, by using pinecones, gathering seeds and wood. While in shrubbery, using a variety of things from medicinal plants to virgin pastures, hay and animal husbandry,” explains Iugan.

Photos: Raul Ștef 31

The vast majority of wood harvested in Romania is exported and then processed into high value wood products (like cross-laminated timber) which is sold at 100 to 200% more than it was purchased for. The Lunca Ilvei factory is committed to processing and selling high value wood products in Romania. This is how employee wages will increase.

PHILOSOPHY

The nursery in the Lunca Ilvei produces whole hectares of saplings for the purpose of reforestation

Mr. Iugan At the core of Lunca Ilvei economy is the mountain household. Unless the household system is strong, there is little hope for rural development.

“There are two essential elements in a mountain household: family and the land.

And the two are inseparable. Family must consist of at least two generations who have a property and are able to live off the land. When land is separated from family, the land becomes barren, arid, and alien. The family without land is upended, lacking in resources, identity and in value.

The people become dependent on the government for social services. People in this situation have the means to provide for themselves. Impossible! This should not be allowed. What has become of the peasant household: an 80-year-old and his 10-yearold grandson with blisters on his hand.”

Emil Iugan shares these ideas in university lecture halls when he is invited to speak about the sustainable use of natural resources.

THE STATE At the beginning of this story, I mentioned that the roads from here to Bistrita-Nasaud are not very good. The State, rather than helping the people, has not done it’s job. What could be done to solve this problem and alleviate the workload?

“The state should enact some simple laws, allowing the local resources to stay within the community. It’s not normal that we gather the resources and send them off to Bucharest where two or three men - I won’t mention any names - redistribute them back. Why do I need to go to the government and ask who knows who if I can get permission to lay asphalt on a street in my village? And when you’re halfway through the process of getting permission, the government changes and you’re left with no funding and no roads. Is this normal? That is what’s going on in this region on a daily basis.”

In 1990, the Romanian State owned 127 timber factories. The majority of them went bankrupt while foreign investors bought the others. In many of the cases, the “investors” simply wanted a warehouse for the tools and machinery with the objective of selling them as scrap metal.

Mr. Iugan is a survivor, visionary and role model.

Photos: Raul Ștef 33

The Great Renovation BIANCA FELSEGHI

The multi-functional conference room in the Cultural Palace in Blaj. Photo taken from Vlad Rusu’s architectural archive

We went to Blaj in search of a fairytale palace and discovered an entire fortress that has awakened a community from a deep slumber. We went to immerse ourselves in history and happily stumbled across a promise for the future.

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Blaj, the lost golden city of the 1848 national literature movement - was recently given the European Union’s greatest distinction for patrimonial renovation for it’s Cultural Palace renovation project.

“Many of the city’s residents spent their youth in this building, particularly when it functioned as the official cinema for the local area. Thankfully this played an important role in the public administration’s decision to restore the Palace. It would have been much easier to demolish the building and rebuild something from the ground up.” - Vlad Sebastian Rusu, the lead architect for the renovation.

HISTORY The Cultural Palace was designed in 1930 by Bucharest architect Victor Smigelschi. There is very little information available about Smigelschi after his archive was destroyed in the World War II bombing of Bucharest.

He was one of many inter-war architects that were educated abroad and brought their considerable cultural knowledge back to Romania.

“Back then people looked at buildings as artwork. That is why we see these beautiful neighborhoods, villas and apartment buildings. The clientele understood the architectural quality of buildings that were in construction. Unlike today, when it’s... somewhat hard to find…”, says Vlad Rusu.

In Blaj, it is Victor’s uncle, also named Victor Smigelschi, that is more well-known. He re-edited and annotated the Bible at the end of the 19th century. The new edition is commonly known as Smigelschi’s Bible.

A SHORT HISTORY OF BLAJ’S CULTURAL PALACE 1930 / the construction of the building begins,

as per the plans of the architect Victor Smigelschi.

The government of Maniu and Tatarescu allocate 5 million lei for the project.

1992 / the Palace becomes property of the Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Church.

1996 / the entire interior of the building is destroyed in a fire.

2011 / the Palace is acquired by the Blaj City Hall.

1936 / the building is inaugurated in the presence of King Carol II and his son, Mihai.

1939 / the building becomes the city’s official

cinema.

Ministry of Arts and Information, under the name of Popular Athenaeum: “Horia, Closca and Crisan.”

1960 / the building is restructured and the

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cinema reopens with a new projection cabin.

The Museum of History and the City Library are inaugurated inside the building. A regional radio studio opens in one of the building’s wings.

Photos: Vlad Rusu’s Archive

1949 / the building becomes property of the

Blaj Alive Festival 2017, photo by Miluță Flueraș

Bosch-Rexroth Factory of Blaj

A CITY ON THE MOVE The metamorphosis of this rare, interwar jewel was not the first major transformation in Blaj.

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Blaj has emerged from its slumber as a result of the investments made by the German auto parts manufacturer, Bosch. In 2013, the German corporation inaugurated a third production plant, significantly expanding its factory to produce speed sensors for chassis control systems.

Blaj has also benefitted from a local government committed to the city’s future. All city roads have been repaved. Public spaces are illuminated with LED lighting. And now, the city’s crown jewel, the Cultural Palace, is the centerpiece of a city optimistic about its future. Mayor Gheorghe Valentin was recently elected to his third term with 80% of the vote.

Bosch has invested over 50 million Euros in it’s Blaj manufacturing facilities and continues to hire more engineers and machine specialists. Creating a surge in demand for quality rental units and homes.

Bosch was also a generous supporter of the Cultural Palace, providing the sound systems and stage features for the performance theatre.

Over the past four years, Blaj has even become cool.

The Blaj Alive festival is a summer event uniting 10,000 music, nature and freedom lovers on the Field of Liberty (Campia Libertatii) with some of the most popular Romanian and international bands.

A sign dating back to 2012

The Great Renovation

The interior of the Cultural Palace in Blaj before its renovation. Photograph from Rusu’s archive

GETTING STARTED ON THE PALACE The City Hall never considered demolishing the building, but rebuilding it from scratch was a serious possibility. It would have been easier, especially since the Palace is not considered a historic monument. Given all the choices, the city sponsored competitions among students and architects to propose ideas for the building’s future.

What came next was a frenzy of activity.

Students began writing essays about the Palace while architects drew up plans with elaborate descriptions of extensions for the main building.

The architect Vlad Sebastian Rusu, who wrote the winning project, believes that City Hall’s involvement in the restoration was a key element in its success. It was a very positive shift in attitude for local public administration to involve the public in the renovation.

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Vlad Sebastian Rusu, the architect who is behind the restoration of the Cultural Palace in Blaj

Rusu muses about his first encounter with what was soon to be the construction site:

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“The plaster had fallen off the walls and the great fire had left its mark, its raging effects being completely visible. It had been a ruin for 17 years and there was vegetation growing on the interior. But the brickwork was quite awe-inspiring and striking.”

The Palace restoration cost almost 1 million Euros. The funding came from a partnership between Blaj’s City Hall and the Alba Judicial Council.

The Great Renovation

RENOVATION Rusu’s first challenge was the lack of images of the building’s original interior state. He wanted the renovated building to incorporate elements from all of its periods of transformation, but the original design was the most important.

“We had a team of architects searching for the original designs and found a part of the initially authorized blueprint in the National Archives of Alba. This gave a good sense of what the original Cultural Palace looked like,” recounts Vlad Rusu.

The young contemporary of Smigelschi believes that the most impressive feature of the Palace is the finesse with which such a monumental building was integrated into its surroundings.

“The architect managed to bring the Palace to a human level with designs on its facade.

From the outside, it’s hard to judge the size of the building. It’s a surprise when you enter and see the great hall and foyer, then the huge main room.

Wow, what an impressive space that you would never imagine when standing across the street in the market or simply walking by. The inter-war architects were determined to ensure that the buildings fit harmoniously into the existing architecture.”

The Palace restoration cost almost 1 million Euros.

The funding came from a partnership between Blaj’s City Hall and the Alba Judicial Council.

“We could have opted to restore the building in its exact original design, but we found a contemporary solution to evoke its recent history. We decided to share the story of its restoration for the decades to come, so that those who enter it might understand its history.”

While brushing the dust off the exterior stone, which hid years of history, the restoration team decided that the 1996 fire was a dramatic moment that should not be forgotten. It was the building’s death and resurrection.

“We came to the conclusion that the fire should be the key element for the Palace’s image in the renovation process. The building’s traumatic history is transmitted in the interior design and painting. The exterior has maintained the original elements, facades and carpentry,” says Vlad Rusu.

AWARD-WINNING RECOGNITION In April 2017, the European Commission and the Europa Nostra Organization announced the EU award for the cultural patrimony. There were 202 contestants from 39 countries. The jury of independent experts included 29 laureates from 18 different countries.

The restoration of the Blaj Cultural Palace received one of the 7 great awards for 2017.

The jury recognized the project for “renovating, not demolishing, the severely damaged building and for using minimal funds with maximum impact.”

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We used some of the existing bricks from the original structure in addition to the bricks that were used when the building

The finished building is now a multi-functional building that hosts theatre performances, shows, concerts, exhibitions, movies and conferences.

Photos: Vlad Rusu’s Archive

“It was not a huge investment. We found solutions for the building’s restoration, particularly for its interior, that were not extremely costly. We refrained from investing in extremely costly building materials.

was restored in the 1960s. This alternative was by no means an extravagance.

The larger expenses went towards strengthening the building structure, a new roof, ventilation, facilities and the stage mechanics,” explains Rusu.

Main stage and auditorium

The Renovation, interior

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Mia and andrei VALENTIN ȘCHIOPU

Andrei Toader’s journey from Timisoara to English National Champion

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Andrei Toader, 15, is from Timisoara. Mia Holden, who was born in Manchester, is one year younger

This is the story of two of the most promising DanceSport Athletes in the world. The pair has been dancing together since 2015 and after only six weeks of training, they won the English National Championships. They seem to have an unexplainable chemistry and exceptional rapport.

His parents began asking questions, but a judge told Andrei’s father that with an intense training regime, coupled with a strong partner who could bring out his talent, Andrei would make it big.

“Mia has great parental support. We are willing to consider every option for the right partner. No issues with travel for lessons/practice.

Mia is a very well-loved dancer and is a joy to work with. She is hardworking, respectful and passionate about her dancing.”

Ovidiu Toader contacted Mia’s mother: “What are your thoughts on having a Romanian boy as a partner?”

Maxine requested a video documenting the evolution of Andrei’s dance performances over the years. Once the video arrived, it took Maxine just one hour to message Ovidiu her response, “I’d do anything for Andrei”

Shortly after the encouragement, his father, Ovidiu Toader, received a friend request on Facebook from an English woman. On her Facebook profile, there was a picture of a dancer.

It was Maxine, Mia Holden’s mother. She was searching for a partner for her daughter.

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On the surface, Andrei’s dancing credentials were not extraordinary. Three years ago, Andrei did not qualify for the Romanian National Championships in either the International Standard (slow waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow fox or quick step) or the International Latin (samba, cha-cha, rumba, paso doble, or jive).

Maxine’s Facebook message stated:

Video: Andrei Toader and Mia Linnik Holden, Quickstep

Mia and Andrei

It was March 2015 and Andrei had not yet turned 13. Over the next 3 weeks, hundreds of messages between the parents ensued, attempting to establish the conditions under which Andrei could move to Manchester. It seemed impossible, until the Toader family accepted Maxine’s invitation to spend a few days in England.

The first meeting between Mia and Andrei was remarkable, almost magical. Before the two 12 year olds spoke a word to each other, they greeted each other with a short dance. As Ovidiu Toader puts it, “a spell fell upon them.”

Next, the pros and cons of moving their 12 year old so far from home hit the Toader family. “It’s too harsh, too early, how will he adapt to this new life so far away from home?”

The epicenter of ballroom dance in Great Britain is in Blackpool, 80 kilometers away from Manchester.

Mia and Andrei train there five days a week and participate in competitions on a weekly basis.

Their dream is to become World Champions. For the not so immediate future, Andrei has plans to open his own dance studio. For now, they share the same roof and the same hopes.

Mia and Andrei will soon appear on national television in an eight-week TV series about young dancers in Great Britain.

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Initially, Andrei hesitated at the thought of moving to England. How could he leave his friends behind?

But after awhile, he calmly announced that his

Maxine found a well-known couple from the Stars of the Albion International Festival to help sponsor Mia and Andrei. A simple tailcoat can cost up to 1,000 British Pounds.

Photos: Personal Archive

“They did a trial run of a few dances together. I was overwhelmed. Both Mia’s mother and I had tears of joy in our eyes because they fit together so perfectly. It seemed as if they had been training together from the beginning of time,” recounts Andrei’s father.

passion for dance was stronger than anything else.

As a result, the Holden family emptied out a room and the young Romanian boy moved in. Maxine Holden registered him as a foster child so that he could have access to free education. Andrei’s parents visit him once a month and on vacation.

They also provide him financial support for his training and other expenses.

“Two years ago, I could have never imagined that Andrei would be the National Champion of England or that he would grow up there. And now, we have no idea what the future will bring as a result of Brexit.

I like to believe that we’ll find solutions and adapt to whatever the future throws our way, and we’ll be happy doing so. Mia and Andrei are a great fit for one another, with a special spark between the two of them. We will find joy in whatever comes our way.” say Ovidiu Toader.

Photo: Lucian Muntean

Dumitru Tudor with his daughter, Ioana Tudor

Father and Daughter ROXANA GARAIMAN

A father’s dream lives on 27 years after the Romanian Revolution

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Dumitru Tudor (marked with a star), in a photograph taken from the weekly “Tinerama” of April 19-25, 1991

In June of 1990, Dumitru Tudor made headlines in all of Romania’s major newspapers. He was arrested, along with several other protesters in University Square. The Government falsely accused him of being part of the fascist Iron Guard that was prominent in Romania during the German occupation of World War II.

Full of emotion, Dumitru Tudor listened to the Radio Free Europe reports describing the political movements taking place all over Europe in 1989.

He was hoping, with the same naiveté that most people behind the Iron Curtain possessed, that the change would come to Romania at the XIV Congress of the Communist Party in November 1989.

After moving to Holland as a political refugee in 1990, Dumitru Tudor returned to Bucharest after 27 years to support his daughter Ioana Tudor (36), who is reenacting his protest, the silent strike, through an artistic representation in Victory Square.

These hopes were in vain as Nicolae Ceausescu was re-elected Secretary General of the Communist Party.

THE REVOLUTION DISAPPOINTED HIM During the Revolution, Dumitru Tudor was working as an engineer in a screw factory in the town of Râmnicu Sărat. His life was divided between the capital city and the countryside. Two of his children were attending high school in Bucharest while his nine year old daughter, Ioana, lived with her mother and grandparents in a village near Râmnicu Sărat.

The Revolution came unexpectedly, but the joy of freedom was only momentary. The long awaited political change had been quickly confiscated by Ion Iliescu, a leading figure in the Communist regime.

Dumitru did not consider himself an activist, but he could not stomach the manipulation that was taking place during those days. As a result, he consumed every bit of factual information in the newspaper “Romania Libera” (Free Romania).

On June 13, 1990, while in Bucharest to visit a factory, curiosity led Dumitru the great demonstration in University Square.

Father and Daughter

“I went through the back, by the Coltea Hospital, because the Square was surrounded by buses.

Crowds prevented the subway from stopping at the University Square station. The Square was occupied by police officers.

The protesters and those participating in the hunger strike had been evacuated by force in the first hour.”

He shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way towards to the factory. On his way back, he couldn’t help but go

by University Square to see if something else had happened in the meantime.

“I came across a corner store in Rosetti Square and noticed that people were standing in line, waiting to purchase butter. I got in line and bought two packages. Afterwards, I heard boom-boom and suddenly there was smoke everywhere. People were screaming.

In June 1990, General Mihai Chitac was the Minister of the Interior.

Dumitru Tudor lingered around the area for another two hours, until Marian Munteanu appeared on the University Square’s balcony. Dumitru considered this to be an odd gesture, particularly because Munteanu had been detained that morning.

“After his appearance, two large groups were formed.

One group went towards Romanian Television and the other one went on the boulevard, towards the Police Headquarters, where rumor had it that they were keeping the detainees.

Then they headed to the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Defense.”

He got into the row of protesters.

He was carrying some filters he picked up at the factory (the reason for his visit to Bucharest), as well as a bag with two packages of butter.

“When the protesters arrived at the Police Headquarters, the doors were thrown open and no one reacted to us. The protesters moved to the Romanian Intelligence Service. There, some kids threw lit bottles. Even though the institution was being guarded by armed officers, no one was reacting to us.

At one point, warning shots were fired from the Ministry of Defence from across the street.”

Dumitru Tudor took off towards Romanian Television and the same story repeated itself there. The building was not yet occupied and the soldiers there were allowing the protesters to invade the courtyard.

“A helicopter arrived and hovered over us. I raised my fist and yelled. Then I entered the building with those who wanted to complain about false propaganda and misinformation.”

He remembers that the great clock on Aviation Square showed 7:50 p.m. when he left the television station. He noticed that a bunch of thugs had arrived, so I decided to leave before the situation could escalate.

“When I got home, I saw a masquerade on T.V. It was all baloney claiming that those who had protested at Romanian Television wanted to throw up green flags and belonged to Romania’s Legion of the Archangel Michael (called the Iron Guard), a nationalist party from the 1930s.”

Back in Râmnicu Sărat, the atmosphere at work had changed.

Photos: Personal Archive

There was smoke pouring out of all of the buses lining the Square and there wasn’t a single officer in sight. All of them had taken off. Did they shoot and run? My guess was later confirmed by the Chitac Stenographs.”

PROTESTER ON OCCASION

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Dumitru Tudor is captured in a newspaper image wearing a sign saying “Silent Strike� at the inauguration of President Iliescu

Father and Daughter

“Under my desk, I found a note with a cartoon character drawn on it. The cartoon was of a worker, and the caption read, ‘What kind of a green shirt is hiding under your clothing, Mr. Tudor?’

His colleagues knew that he had gone to Bucharest with a work delegation and they suspected that he had participated in the protests.

“Iliescu ordered that the video images of the demonstrations at Romanian Television be replayed on television. He labeled the protesters as hooligans and ordered anyone who recognized a demonstrator to inform the authorities.

The next morning, on the 15th of June, I was told that my colleagues had gone on strike asking for my resignation. I told everyone to calm down and explained that my purpose was not to get meddled in politics.

I asked the chief engineer for vacation in order to calm the waters, but when I went to obtain my vacation slip, there were two police officers waiting for me in front of his office.”

He was escorted to Bucharest and taken directly to the Rahova prison. After the interrogation, they allowed him to leave, but the tension was rising.

“I had already appeared in the newspapers and wasn’t considered very important. I was just a man with a sign around his neck. The people who agreed with me would just nod their head in my direction but the majority just went about their daily business.”

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Dumitru Tudor recounts how he bumped into Coen Stork, the Ambassador of the Netherlands, who had just gotten out of his diplomatic corps vehicle. The Ambassador read Romania Libera on a daily basis and had come to find out why the newspaper had not been published that day.

He recalls that his behavior did not gather much attention among the demonstrators, but it did manage to irritate the authorities.

Photos: Personal Archive

“The next day, on the 16th of June, I couldn’t find a print of the newspaper Romania Libera. It was the only newspaper I had any confidence in. I went to the editor’s office, believing that I would at least find a copy there. The miners had closed the office since the 15th of June.”

On June 17, seeing that the protests did not seem to be working and only resulting in violence, Dumitru Tudor decided to try a different tactic – the silent strike.

He stood in University Square with a sign around his neck making 13 demands on the government which included releasing the detainees, for those who had brought the miners to turn themselves in, to guarantee Romanian Television’s freedom, and reopening Romania Libera.

Father and Daughter

FOUR MONTHS IN PRISON On the 28th of June, he was arrested.

“Until then, they had no evidence to support my arrest. I told them that I had gone to Romanian Television the first time because I was curious and had no negative intentions. This time, the officer smugly showed me an image that had been found of me from some video content.

I was holding up my arm straight ahead of me, like a legionary. It was a manipulated image. I was sent directly to the medical examiner.”

He was shoved into a cell with the other detainees.

In the evening, they received the newspaper with headlines that the new government would be headed by Petre Roman. Dumitru Tudor began a hunger strike and after seven days he was transferred to Jilava Penitentiary.

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His wife was informed about the arrest but had no idea where he was. His family looked for him in the all of the police divisions, penitentiaries, morgues and the Straulesti Cemetery. The authorities kept telling them that he was not on the list of arrestees in Rahova, where he had been interrogated, or on the list of prisoners in Jilava, where he was imprisoned.

“My wife looked for me everywhere. Her father had been involved in the resistance movement in the 1950s so she had an understanding of the measures she should take. She found me through the help of the lawyer Mihai Moldoveanu, with whom I had left a message indicating that I would probably be jailed. He was a member of the newly founded Association for Human Rights.”

After a week of searching, they discovered his whereabouts. His wife could not visit him, but was able to deliver a Bible through his lawyer.

Dumitru Tudor spent four months in jail. He was imprisoned alongside of Teodor Maries, who is the current president of the 21st of December Association and Marian Munteanu, the leader of the students in University Square.

Dumitru Tudor was freed on the 30th of October, 1990, his daughter Ioana’s tenth birthday.

“Iliescu agreed to free the prisoners after receiving international pressure. Without that pressure, we would not have been freed because all the judges were puppets.

All 29 arrestees were set free at the same time.

Of the approximately 1,000 protesters sent to jail, about 200 of were sent to trial.

Using video documentation that had been captured at Romanian Television, I received my sentence on April 15, 1991.”

The group of defendants, Dumitru Tudor included. Among others, Teodor Maries and Dumitru Dinca

ESCAPE Dumitru Tudor received a suspended sentence of one year in prison, however the prosecutors were not satisfied with this sentence and appealed the decision. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He decided to take his family and leave the country. His confidence in post communist Romania was completely destroyed.

“We moved around Europe for almost two months. We initially went to Budapest but we were told that we would have to wait 18 months for residency permits. We didn’t have money for that.

I wanted to get to Canada, so we went to the International Organization for Migration in Vienna. From there, we were directed went to the consulate of Quebec in Brussels. We were told that we would need 2,000 dollars, which we did not have.

Photos: Personal Archive

Ultimately, I decided to give the Netherlands a try, especially because their ambassador was such a decent human being. We stopped in The Hague, where we were to seek political refugee status to cover ourselves until we received our Canadian visa.”

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Father and Daughter Dumitru Tudor acknowledges that it wasn’t easy for his family to integrate into Dutch life. His family members reproached him for this many times.

However he has no regrets, despite the many disappointments.

“We returned to Romania after seven years, after having received our Dutch passports.

Emil Constantinescu was the president at that time. We had many hopes, but there was no political will for change.

And the worst part is that now, after 27 years, the same thing is happening. Out of that massive protest in February, there was only a group of 30-40 who had remained.

They reminded me of myself ... “

The strike will end on the exact day that the 10,000 miners from Jiu Valley violently beat the protestors gathered against Iliescu’s regime and crushed the democratic aspirations of a generation of young Romanians.

Before beginning the strike on the 8th of June, Ioana Tudor came up with a list of 13 requests, along with the help of visitors who walked by.

The exhibition is part of the Iron Curtain project, a journalistic project that is investigating online and offline what’s left of the optimism of the post-communist era in Europe. It is an initiative of Dutch journalists and is supported by the European Citizens’ Fund. The following QR code is a video detailing the silent strike.

THE IRON CURTAIN

Video: Silent Strike

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Dumitru’s daughter, Ioana Tudor, appreciates her father’s peaceful protest and personal sacrifice for honest, democratic government. From the 9th to the 13th of June, the artist Ioana Tudor went on a silent strike against the government. She says this representation, which repeats her father’s 1990 attempt, symbolizes “the uselessness of one human being before a totalitarian state.”

Ioana Tudor and her father formulate 13 demands with the help of the public. Photo: Lucian Muntean

www.pressone.us

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Photo: Lucian Muntean

Shame of a Nation DON LOTHROP

Adopted in 1991, Izidor Ruckel moved back to Romania to help put child welfare back on the top of the national agenda

Izidor Ruckel was born in 1980. When he was six months old, he became ill and his parents took him to a hospital where he contracted polio from an infected syringe.

Later, the hospital doctors encouraged his parents to drop him off at an orphanage.

From 1983 until 1991, Izidor lived in the Sighetu Marmatiei orphanage.

No one knows how many children were in Romanian orphanages at end of communism. The number is estimated to have been somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000. What we do know is that child abandonment was actually encouraged by the Romanian government as a means of population growth by discarding children who could not be productive workers for the state.

Communist newspaper encourages Mothers to leave their children in State Care

Dan and Marlys Ruckel of San Diego watched the 20/20 broadcast and went to Romania with the intention of adopting a child. On October 29, 1991, Dan and Marlys adopted Izidor. He was one of many Sighet orphans to make San Diego their new home.

In 2016, Izidor moved back to Romania, where he has committed his life to children without families and finding the means to support the 60,000 orphans of his generation who were never adopted.

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Sighetu Marmatiei is located in Sighet, a small city in northern Romania. It is the hometown of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

The Sighetu Marmatiei institution is located on the western edge of town behind a 6-foot wall. The sign above the entry reads “Camin Spital Pentru Minori Deficient,” which translates to the “Hospital Home for Deficient Children.”

In 1990, shortly after communism fell, ABC News’ 20/20 producer Janice Tomlin visited Sighet and produced the awarding series “Shame of a Nation.”

Tomlin’s photos and videos brought the world’s attention to Romania’s horrific child welfare practices.

View the “20/20 Shame of a Nation” video.

(Your phone needs to be connected to the Internet.)

Izidor meets his new mother

Izidor’s family

1990 – Izidor behind orphanage bars

I recently met Izidor at the Cluj train station to talk about his life, why he moved back to Romania, and the current state of child welfare.

TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND

As my anger subsided and family life improved, I was asked to write a book to help families who adopt abandoned children. The book, Abandoned for Life, was published in 2003 and sold over 30,000 copies.

From 3 until 11, I was in a hospital for children, not an orphanage. But back then, and still today, there is no difference between how a kid is treated in a children’s hospital or a state orphanage. They are both institutions.

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Then a Romanian family came to San Diego for Easter and I heard about Christ. I wrote down tons of questions and began to find the answers I was searching for. People ask me how I overcame this. It isn’t because of my parents or anything I did, it was because I allowed Christ to tell me who I really was.

Photos: Personal Archive

Two years after arriving in the US, I started to miss the institution in Sighet. Nobody in the US had the answers that I was looking for, and I took out my anger on the people that loved me most, my adopted family. I was a child from hell.

Izidor in the US with his father

For 17 years, since 2001, my primary life goal has been to tell people what happened in my institution and make sure it stops happening to other children in Romania. I have spoken hundreds of times, including on the BBC, in the Washington Post and recently in an interview with Morgan Freeman that will be aired this October in 176 countries on

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National Geographic.

DESCRIBE LIFE IN THE ORPHANAGE We woke up at 5, stripped naked, since most kids wet themselves in bed, and went to another room for new clothes while the floor was cleaned. We ate breakfast, washed up and were put into a clean room where we just sat there rocking back and forth, hitting each other, sleeping or watching someone cry until they were drugged. After lunchtime, we went back into the clean room, repeating the same things as the

morning. Then we were fed, bathed again, put into clean clothes and into bed for the night.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE? First, that the children suffered more than anyone knows. No reporter can capture the suffering. The abuse was worse than anything reported. If you were handicapped like me, you were hidden and never allowed outside the institution.

Secondly, despite all trauma and emotional wounds, no life is ever lost. If we give these kids, now adults, some opportunity, with love, nourishment and development, they can function in the world and develop independence. I stay in touch with the kids I grew up with and they can be helped. They still have dreams.

Shame of a Nation I kept feeling sorry for him when I got back to the institution. Now I take a picture of that cross every time I am back in Sighet.

I go back to reconnect with the kids I grew up with.

In 2014, four of us went back to the institution.

Dolls, furniture and clothes were lying around like it just closed. Crows were everywhere like in a haunted house. But it was remarkable that each of us remembered things that the others had forgotten.

It felt really good for us to share our common experience. When I asked them if they missed this place, we all said ‘yes’. It was our only childhood home.

But the biggest reason is to find out what really happened there. Even though the place had been closed for 11 years, it is still filled with records and supplies. When I was seven, a kid named Duma was beaten so badly that I hid under the sheets, fearful that I might be next. In the morning, I saw Duma’s naked bruised body and by lunch he was dead. Last year I found his medical records. His official cause of death was “stopped breathing.”

WHY DO YOU KEEP RETURNING TO SIGHET ?

There are many reasons. First off, it was my home for 11 years and believe it or not, there are memories I cherish. The few times I was allowed out of the institution, I was in awe of the natural beauty of Sighet. Romania to me was the beautiful land outside the institution, not the evil inside the institution.

Many former orphans are returning to Romania for answers. For me, it is all about forgiveness and making sure Romania stops sweeping the child welfare issue under the carpet. Children’s rights and interests are still being ignored.

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There is also a specific memory that reminds me that God was with me even though I did not know who He was. On one of my trips outside the institution, I saw a dead man hanging on a cross. The nurse said it was Jesus Christ, but without any explanation. I actually thought he was some poor guy from Sighet.

In 1995, there was a media story that Romanian orphans were given rat poison. Three years ago, a nurse from institution confirmed that Marius and many other kids were given rat poison.

Photos: Tom Szalay

I like to visit some of the nurses. I call them my seven angels. Their love and compassion was the only source of hope I had.

There was another kid named Marian who was hyperactive and was often given medicine. His father visited him every weekend and I would jealously look out the window as they sat on a bench. In time, Marius stopped eating and lost the will to live. I remember looking out the window on the Sunday when he died in his Dad’s arms. His Dad was crying and praying to heaven.

Eleven years after closing, the medical records at Sighet are still lying around in the vacant building. In 2014, Izidor looks through medical records to unpack the truth of his childhood.

From left to right: historian Mia Jinga, Izidor Ruckel and the director of IICCMER, Radu Preda.

Photo: Lucian Muntean

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On June 1, 2017, the state-funded Investigation of Communist Crimes (ICCMER) submitted a criminal complaint to the Ministry of Justice for the deaths of 771 children in the Sighetu Marmatei, Cighid and Pastraveni orphanages between 1966 and 1990. Investigators say this is just the tip of the iceberg for a much wider investigation that is needed into Romania’s 26 orphanages.

ICCMER investigators and archivists say official records list pneumonia and brain disease as the main causes of deaths, but witnesses say the causes were exposure to the cold, poor hygiene, starvation, lack of healthcare, rat poison, and violent physical abuse.

Investigators say Communist records classified children into 3 categories: reversible, partially reversible and nonreversible. Children in the latter two categories were thrown into centers to die.

Radu Preda, director of ICCMER says “My plea as a father is to ensure that these things never happen again. Let us do something on the media level and at the institutional level in order to ensure that no child in this country who has a handicap, or illness, or has been abandoned will ever be slapped, starved, tied down or left to die in their own feces.

We need to acknowledge the utterly uncivilized society of our communist past and rid all traces of this sickness from our child protection system.”

Shame of a Nation

TELL ME ABOUT THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION YOU ARE A PART OF? I agreed to help bring attention to a criminal investigation led by the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes (ICCMER). This investigation focuses on the deaths of children in Sighet Marmatiei and two other institutions.

I asked the investigators if they were going after nurses and they said “No, only the people who dispensed medicine and managed the facilities.” Once I knew that, it was okay with me.

But I am less interested in putting people in jail than I am interested in getting financial resources from the State to support the 60,000 orphans of my generation that were never adopted. Most of them have no means to support themselves as adults and are homeless. My hope is that this investigation will lead to a much larger class action suit on behalf of these 60,000 citizens. There needs to be a cost for gross neglect or things will not change.

TELL ME ABOUT HOW THE ROMANIAN MEDIA COVERS CHILD ABUSE AND WELFARE I could not believe all the Romanian media at the June 1st press conference announcing the criminal investigation. This was history! Romanians finally fighting for something that we failed to do all these years. I always challenge the Romanian media since all of the stories on orphans and child abuse come from international news organizations. Even today, all the footage of child neglect comes from international organizations.

IS THERE STILL ABUSE IN ROMANIA INSTITUTIONS

I am fighting for international adoption for children with special needs or those that have no chance of being adopted in Romania. Most of the people in the government reject this idea on the basis that children will be damaged by losing their culture and identity if they get adopted outside of Romania.

That’s a horrible excuse. From the moment these children enter the institution they are stripped of everything. Their dignity, freedom and their brains become mush. Tell me, what culture are they losing by being adopted abroad?

The issue in Romania today is all about money and jobs for political patronage. The State pays institutions, residential homes and foster care a stipend for each child. If the State found adoptive families for 20,000 of the 60,000 children in State custody, they would lose 33% of their funding and the jobs they often give to family and friends.

In my generation, the government wanted to dispose of the children. Today, they want to profit from them.

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Yes there is. I do not know from firsthand experience, but I have heard so from people I know and trust. I am trying to get access to more institutions to help kids and social workers. I am not living in Romania

DO YOU THINK ROMANIA SHOULD OPEN INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION?

Photos: Personal Archive

For years people were embarrassed and scared about this issue. But now it seems young people are waking up to the fact that this is still going on.

to embarrass or destroy people. But the government officials in Parliament seem to have no clue what is really happening in their institutions.

Shame of a Nation

WHAT BOTHERS YOU THE MOST ABOUT THE CHILDCARE SYSTEM TODAY?

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I am actually impressed with how many good social workers want to change the system. I get lots of emails from social workers and was shocked to see how many social workers showed up at the Romania Without Orphans conference last November. It is a great joy to see all of the Romanian families that have adopted and want to adopt.

We all know that institutions are not the answer.

But I am not in favor of just shutting down the institutions. Simply putting kids on the streets is even worse. At least institutions provide a bed, food, clothing and shelter. Our train stations are filled with homeless.

The biggest problem we have today is that the workers who worked in the institutions in the 1980’s

through the mid-1990’s still work in the system. You can’t expect change by renovating buildings when you have the same people and same culture.

I visited 6 orphanages 2 years ago. Most of the kids saw my story on television and were comfortable talking to me. I asked each child, “Do you like living here?” They said “See that lady over there? She still beats us.” I asked “how long she has been working here?” They said “from day one, since this place opened.”

It is constantly the same response. And I thought “Wow, there is the problem.” These people need to be replaced.

I want to work with the system. I want to stay in Romania. I can see that people are really looking for answers. I am getting a powerful response when I speak to the new generation of Romanians. I believe the time is right to confront our past and create a system that works in the interests of children.

The massive decline in child population is the greatest threat to Romania’s future

AUTHOR’S CONCLUSION I was moved by Izidor. He travels around Romania on filthy trains. He carries his suitcase without complaint, despite a partially paralyzed leg. He does not have much money and is not motivated by fame or public attention. What he has is a passion and purpose.

It is cliché to say that our future is in our children.

But in Romania the numbers speak for themselves.

Every decision made in our homes, communities and government, needs to be made in the context of “Is this a good place to raise healthy children and are we doing our best to find every child a loving family?”

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Romania in 2017 reminds me of growing up in Germany in the 1970’s. I remember talking to my German teenage friends about Nazism and the Holocaust. They had no answers, no ability to

comprehend the horror, just a deep passion to fight any legacy of Nazism. I feel the same sentiment among young Romanians today as they feel deep anger towards any abuse or injustice towards children.

Fundătura Ponorului CĂTĂLIN MOȘ PHOTOS: SEBASTIAN VASIU

It is often the road less traveled that leads to the destination of our dreams

Whoever visits this piece of the Sureanu Mountains must be armed with enthusiasm, patience, and a strong SUV. Not even our 4:00 AM wake up could dampen our excitement. We brought with us an entire arsenal of DSLR cameras, lenses, tripods, hiking shoes and energy bars.

The rock music blasting from the car speakers was the icing on the cake. It’s effect was stronger than coffee on an empty stomach.

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As we advanced, the scenery became more interesting and we became more curious.

The road was full of boulders which made our destiny more elusive.

The car’s engine seemed relieved when we got out of the car with tripods in our hands, cameras around our necks, and backpacks around our shoulder.

We briskly climbed rocky slopes lined with tall trees until all of the sudden, the verdant and diaphonic Fundătura appeared in front of us.

It is a place too difficult to describe with words, a place of awe-inspiring beauty.

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The swollen waters of the Ponor River creep along like a brown snake caressed by the gentle rays of the sun.

The bubbling waters stir the quiet atmosphere as we slowly descend the path into a pasture of grass colored in an unreal shade of green.

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Here, the air is different; colder and fresher. As if breathing for the very first time, sharp air fills our lungs and strengthens us with each mouthful.

From a distance, we see two horses galloping towards us, as if they were hosts joyfully welcoming us.

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A few homes rise up in the distance at the end of a depression resembling a colosseum. One of the chimneys is timidly letting out a streak of smoke. We wonder who lives so bravely in a life of isolation.

The old lady Armina

Fundătura Ponorului

The answer was Armina. A little old lady, awakened by the bark of her dog, was walking towards us in the pasture.

She has lived here alone ever since her husband died a few years ago.

She is peaceful and strong. She credits her determination and the incredibly quiet atmosphere as the source of her vivacity. The animals she cares for are her only friends.

After hours of examining every corner of this amazing place, we begrudgingly decide that it’s time to head back to the car with our minds bursting with unforgettable images.

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We finally get in the car and head back home.

Only the deer that occasionally dart in front of our path bring us back to the approaching reality. Behold, two tired photographers named Catalin and Sebastian, are exhausted, but unbelievably happy to have spent a day in the palm of God’s hand.

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THE PRESSONE WAY The PressOne way is our belief that the best stories are born when public interest meets a journalist’s personal curiosity.

It occurs when an undiscovered, inflammable substance is sparked by a personal approach.

The PressOne journalist starts with an original idea or approach of a known topic It continues with thorough documentation, which is achieved by thinking of the reader, not of somebody’s political or business interest And is completed with a combined package of “text & image” meant to provide a unique satisfaction to the reader as they have been respected, not lied to.

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