Final Report of the International Commission on the - Minority Rights ...

thus, concubines <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> conscripted Roma and Roma who were intended to be drafted as well as <strong>the</strong>ir
children should be exempt from deportation. After an investigation, repatriation was granted to 311 heads
<strong>of</strong> families and 950 family members—a total <strong>of</strong> 1,261 individuals. Not all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se were repatriated,
however, and those Roma who had relatives at <strong>the</strong> front, or who had fought in World War I or <strong>the</strong> anti-
Soviet war, became eligible for better treatment.
At <strong>the</strong> same time, Roma were forced from <strong>the</strong>ir homes without even <strong>the</strong>ir most necessary personal and
household belongings and were not given time to sell <strong>the</strong>ir possessions. So, heads <strong>of</strong> local gendarmerie
and police stations would <strong>of</strong>ten buy <strong>the</strong> Roma’s belongings and livestock at extremely low prices. The
houses and all o<strong>the</strong>r goods belonging to <strong>the</strong> deported Roma were taken over by <strong>the</strong> National Center for
Romanianization.
Later Deportations. The deportation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sedentary Roma categorized as dangerous was to be
followed by that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r Roma listed in May 1942. When <strong>the</strong> selection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sedentary Roma was
made, it was intended that conscripted or soon-to-be conscripted Roma would later be imprisoned in <strong>the</strong>
camps inside Romania. But, <strong>the</strong> authorities eventually settled on deportation. It never occurred, however,
<strong>the</strong> deportation was postponed at <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> October 1942 until <strong>the</strong> following spring. Then, on
October 13, <strong>the</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers decided to call <strong>of</strong>f any future deportations <strong>of</strong> Jews and Roma. The
following day, <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> Internal Affairs ordered that no more Roma were to be sent to
Transnistria—nei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> nomads still in <strong>the</strong> country nor those with criminal records; only those Roma
“who by <strong>the</strong>ir very presence were a threat to public order” were still to be deported.
It can be argued that problems encountered during <strong>the</strong> deportations by <strong>the</strong> Romanian military
bureaucracy played an important part in bringing <strong>the</strong>m to an end. The Roma deportations were discussed
at <strong>the</strong> September 29, 1942, Council <strong>of</strong> Ministers meeting, during which Gen. Constantin Vasiliu,
secretary <strong>of</strong> state at <strong>the</strong> Ministry <strong>of</strong> Internal Affairs, stated that he would not send any more Roma to
Transnistria. Never<strong>the</strong>less, deportations <strong>of</strong> Roma to Transnistria continued even after that date—some in
<strong>the</strong> fall <strong>of</strong> 1942 and o<strong>the</strong>rs during <strong>the</strong> following year. These were <strong>of</strong> small groups and isolated individuals
from among those who had escaped <strong>the</strong> two major deportation operations, those who had escaped from
prison, and some whom <strong>the</strong> authorities had registered later on <strong>the</strong> list <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> “undesirables.” They
amounted to several hundred people deported after October 1942. The last deportations took place in
December 1943, when a transport arrived in Transnistria with fifty-seven Roma from Piteşti and from <strong>the</strong>
county <strong>of</strong> Argeş; thirty-six <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m were considered to have been “evacuated” (deported) and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r
twenty-one were “re-evacuated” (re-deported).
Number <strong>of</strong> Roma Deported to Transnistria. The total number <strong>of</strong> Roma deported to Transnistria from
June 1942 to December 1943 reached slightly over 25,000. In early October 1942, after both major
deportations, <strong>the</strong>re were 24,686 Roma in Transnistria: 11,441 were nomadic, 13,176 were sedentary, and
ano<strong>the</strong>r 69 had been deported after having been released from prison. This number later increased by a
few hundred with <strong>the</strong> additional deportations <strong>of</strong> some who had escaped <strong>the</strong> major operations, been
released from prison, or become “undesirable.”
The Treatment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roma in Transnistria
“Gypsy Colonies.” The Roma were settled at <strong>the</strong> border or inside villages located in eastern
Transnistria on <strong>the</strong> bank <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bug, in <strong>the</strong> counties <strong>of</strong> Golta, Otchakov, Berezovka and Balta. Initially,
most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nomadic Roma were settled in Golta county, while sedentary Roma were almost all settled in
Otchakov county. Some Roma were accommodated in huts, o<strong>the</strong>rs in houses. Usually half <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> local
Ukrainian residents in a village would be evacuated from <strong>the</strong>ir houses and <strong>the</strong>n moved into <strong>the</strong> homes <strong>of</strong>