Vasile Dudeanu

"I: Being surrounded by intellectuals, especially by our teachers, we learned foreign languages, mathematics, each with his area of expertise. How did we do this? We would put DTT (which we were given against lice) in a bag or in a handkerchief, then soaked the bottom of the dish (that we received for eating and washing), smeared it with soap and used the handkerchief to spread the DTT dust - it would turn into slime. We would strike the spoons we used for eating with a stone the best we could, so they would turn into some sort of knives, which we then used to sharpen little sticks we could use for scratching that slime. We wrote our math lessons or other things we were taught like this. When we heard the guard, we wiped off what we had written. Or when the bread arrived. Before bringing us the food, they would give us a bread cut in quarters. It was cut in quarters because it was round. We organized ourselves in the cell like in a committee. We even had a chief of the room. We received the bread at the door because they wouldn't let us go any further. Together with other brothers in pain, we would go and take the blanket with the bread. We then shared the bread among groups of four. Because it was never enough, to avoid the hunger obsession which we all felt, we would give out numbers: one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four... so in groups. We would take one bread, the quarters were, of course, not cut equally. R: A smaller piece, a larger piece. I: And then, every day, we had like a scale, also made out of a wooden stick, with two thorns and a thread. We would push the stick inside the bread and weigh the pieces, the first one in line would then receive the largest quarter of bread. The next day it was someone else's turn to take the largest piece. We would take the bread one after the other, one, two, three, four - the last one received the smallest loaf. And the last one was first in line tomorrow, you know?"

"I: (…) they started threatening us: „On your knees! Line up one after another!” and I don't know what else, and then chased us: „Forward, march!” They made us walk from the railway station to the prison, to Poarta Albă. R: How long did you have to walk? I: Oh! We didn't walk much, the prison was near to the railway station. We walked for about fifteen minutes! R: I see. I: Yes. So we walked for a while and then got inside an enclosure, which was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and lookout posts, where they let us go. When I found myself under the free blue sky, I thought I was half free. I was no longer locked in a cell, I was outside in the yard. After that, after forcing us inside, they lined us up in the middle of the yard and started splitting us up. They assigned me to a barracks. The barracks were marked: A, B, C... you know? They assigned me to a C barracks. I climbed into bed and went to sleep. In the morning, when the program started, they took us outside into the yard and lined us all up, all detainees who had just arrived. They started asking us questions: What is your profession? What sentence did you receive? I was wise not to say I was a student. I said: „I'm a carpenter, sir!” R: What do you mean you were wise? What would have happened, had you told them you were actually a student? I: I would have had to work on the land, pushing wheelbarrows with earth. R: So a much harder work! I: Exactly, a harder work! But as a craftsman, they needed people like this."