Murders At The Border

Dear Everyone,

Try to ignore the fact that this article is badly written - I tried to correct it but gave up in the end as I was suffering from Proof Readers Blindness (!!!). However it is written the message is clear, and the final question is indeed a good one - for how long? Following article taken from Jurnalul National...

Fleeing Romania During Communism, Not An Easy Job

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Romanians tried to flee communist Romania over the border, some choosing to swim across the Danube, never to be heard from again by their relatives and friends.

de Marina Constantinoiu
17/05/2009

Kosta Jakovljevic, a retired forensic doctor from the Negotin region in Serbia took notes on the unidentified bodies the Danube washed away to Serbian shores, over the decades he was practicing his profession.

The documents Jakovljevic holds in his personal archive back to the 1970s, are also to be found in Serbian archives, and they tell the story of so many lives lost, many due to the criminal actions of the Romanian border guards.

For instance, a 16 March 1989 entry in Jakovljevic's records says:
Golubinje. Unidentified body, most likely Romanian. Male, 35 to 40 years old, dressed in a red and blue jacket, zipped. In pockets: swimming cap, a phone booklet. A small purse taped around body holding Romanian currency and note, on which was written "KNIJA VISESLOVA 72 tel. 992128 TRIM HOTEL H BENGOSEN".

Under the jacket he wore a blue waterproof suit, zipped up. On top he wore black trousers, with a black belt. The manufacturing label said Centrala Industriei Confectiilor Bucuresti. He wore shoes number 43. On top of the shoes he had put rubber gloves. He wore one pair of leather gloves and one pair of rubber gloves on top. The body may have been in the Danube waters for one or two weeks.

2 April 1989 entry in Jakovljevic's records says: Zapis, a place a little bit up stream from Donji Milanovac town. Unidentified body found, possibly Romanian. Male, height 1.70 meter, age 35, athletic type. Parts of the scalp were missing, as were parts of the flesh, probably after having been eaten by fish. The body may have been in the Danube waters for about two months. It was handed over to the Donji Milanovac city hall, for burial.

So far, post-communist Romanian authorities have started no investigation into the missing persons files of people who were killed trying to cross the border by their fellow countrymen acting as border guards.

The archives of neighboring Serbia could help trace victims and their killers, as would the living memory of the local people on both shores of the Danube.

The green uniform clad border guards started to sift through the people approaching the border some 15 to 20 kilometer before reaching it. On trains and in railway stations they started asking questions: "Why did you get out of the train at Orsova? Why are you travelling to Oravita? Where are you going? Who do you know in the villages and cities around here? Why do you want to enter the border zone?"

Travel restrictions in the the border area were decided by Government Decree 678 in 1969 laying out the guarding methods for the state frontier.

The law enforcement agents were border guards corps aided by the troops of the Ministry of Interior, and staff from the intelligence services, local councils, local militia and volunteer citizens. Officers serving with the border guards corps were empowered to declare prosecuting files against people violating the law, while the lower ranking officers could only file reports on facts they discovered.

Another provision of the law was for all persons reaching the border area to report to the local police station within 24 hours from their arrival.

At night, the freedom of movement was strictly restricted. Two kilometers from the border line all moving around, be it on foot or in a vehicle, was to be done only on approved public roads.

Also, people camping overnight for half a kilometer from the border had to get the explicit approval of the local commander of the border guards unit. Planting crops, grazing the animal stock, or using the water sources were also regulated, with activities forbidden 50 to 250 meters away from the border strip.

While fishermen were restricted to fish during day time, with documentation proving their identity, line of work, registration of the boat plus a fishing permit. Even so, thousands of Romanians ran over the border strip to brave the cold waters of the Danube and seek freedom via the former Yugoslavia.

For those stopped in their tracks by bullets fired by Romanian border guards, and had their bodies washed ashore in Serbia, forensic doctors in the neighboring country were able to positively identify them as Romanians, by the labels in their clothing.

However, Romanian authorities more often than not refused to take the bodies, claiming that no incidents were reported at their border, hence the dead were not Romanian. Thus many of these bodies were buried in Serbian communal graves, and murder trials never filed in Romania, on their behalf.

For how long?

Comments

[sairj]

PS I did actually state that however it is written, the article is clear and the final question a very good one. I'm sure it is perfect in Roumanian, but that doesn't help me since I had it on my screen in English and to have read it in Roumanian would have taken me ages! My shortcoming and not yours. I am working on my Roumanian, I promise! Please continue to educate the unschooled and those lacking in knowledge of this period, to shame the perpetrators and pay homage to the victims. Kudos to you, Marina, and apologies again if my comment upset you. That wasn't my aim.
Sairj

[sairj]

Hi Marina,

I'm so sorry if you were offended by the phrase 'badly written'. THe article is excellent and you are absolutely right - the history of this period should be told and retold - there is too much still left unsaid, far too much brushed under the carpet and history is so often told to suit the teller. I applaud your article highly. I was referring to the English itself. As an English teacher very deeply touched by all that concerns Roumania, the country of my heart, it upsets me to read such excellent articles full of grammatical mistakes which are needless and reflects badly on the newspaper. I read them when I am home after a long and tiring day and wish I didn't have to retranslate some of them in order that they make sense. Please, please, if you have any more such articles, send them to me, for example, to proofread and correct before they go to publication. I have many ex-collegues in Bucharest (British, mostly) who don't read Roumanian newspapers translated into English because of this very point, thus their knowledge of the country, despite them living there, remains worse than vague. Their fault, I concess, not the fault of the paper. But there are many of us more than happy to help put this right. Please do take me up on my offer and allow me to make corrections so that your history may be read and understood by many more foreigners. Just let me have your email address and I will send you mine by return.
Best wishes,
sairj

[Marina]

Hello,
I just saw your comment and I would like to ask you what does it mean in your opinion "badly written"? The idea of the article, the story itself or the English translation?
Maybe the English translation makes the article sound bad, but for sure the Romanian version is very clear.
Anyway, this is a very important issue in Romanian modern history and we have to search for the truth.
Many thanks,
Marina Constantinoiu, JURNALUL NATIONAL daily newspaper, Romania