The article describes the integration of a new, atypical collection of documents into the patrimony of the Eugen Todoran Central University Library in Timișoara and how a part of it is used in order to preserve and research the collective memory of traumatic historical events. The collection contains a corpus of interviews, as well as other documents – memoirs, journals, photographs, monographs, and so on – that address various aspects of the sociocultural identity of Banat, including ethnicity, religion, micro-regions, education, professional life, and generational memory.

The interviews and other oral history materials that comprise this collection were brought together by the Group for Oral History and Cultural Anthropology of the A Treia Europă Foundation, coordinated by Associate Professor Dr. Smaranda Vultur. Later, the entire corpus was donated to the Central University Library. The long term aim with this collection, designed as an Oral History Archive, is not only to provide interested parties – students, professors, and researchers – with unique materials that broaden the current perspective on the identities of Banat and Timișoara, but also to establish a virtual memorial space, accessible online, that would facilitate explorations of memory and identity from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Establishing an Oral History Archive

The Oral History Archive has been in the library since 2016, and much work has been done since then to organize, catalogue, digitize, and make its contents available, in various forms, to the public.

The corpus of the Oral History Archive (Arhiva de Istorie Orală) contains 486 interviews (testimonies), along with related documents (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară ‘Eugen Todoran’, n.d.). These materials were collected by students and researchers between 1991 and 2022 (at significantly slower pace from 2012 to 2022), with most recordings initially made on audio cassettes. These interviews followed the ‘life story’ format, where interviewees were encouraged to speak freely, with minimal intervention from interviewers. The corpus traces a map of the social life and cultural memory of the inhabitants of the Banat region and Timișoara. The interviews were developed to illustrate a wide range of intercultural and memorial practices.

Defining an Interview

What we generically call an ‘interview’ is, in this case, a multi-document, or a unit composed of multiple elements. Thus, a complete interview consists of the following:

• The physical storage medium: Information may be stored on an audio cassette or, in more recent cases, on a CD, hard drive, or USB stick.^[1] An interview may be recorded on part of a cassette, an entire cassette, or even multiple cassettes. To date, 577 cassettes have been inventoried, some of which have undergone physical degradation, resulting in distorted audio. Technical staff are working to restore these materials. When a single cassette contains two or even three interviews, it poses challenges for cataloguing and storing it in an organized manner, as the interviews are grouped thematically and, in some cases, the themes of the interviews differ.
• The interview file: This standard-format file contains essential information about the interview, including the date and location of the recording, the interviewer’s name, and specific details about the content of the interview.
• Interview transcripts: Most interviews were transcribed by the interviewers at the time they were conducted. This was not always the case though, so a part of these interviews had to be transcribed by the librarian in charge of the archive. Transcription is a time-consuming task that requires significant focus and attention to detail. At times, linguistic challenges were present, as older individuals sometimes used terms from multiple languages, the region of Banat being multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic. In these cases, the transcriber had to search for and clarify the meaning of these terms.
• Additional documents (photographs, journals, postcards, letters, etc.): These were donated by interviewees. In some cases, individuals donated multiple photographs, raising questions about whether these should be inventoried and described individually or as a photo group by the librarian-cataloguer.

Methodology

To clarify the process by which each interview was inventoried and catalogued, a concrete example would be helpful: the interview of Margareta Oglindă, born in Banat in the village of Iecea Mare and deported first to the USSR (1945) and then to Brateș (also known as Frumușița) in Bărăgan (1951). The archive contains five cassettes of Mrs Oglindă‘s interview and its transcript. The data has been recorded in a centralized inventory table, and several aspects have been noted for each interview: the interviewee’s full name, ethnicity, cassette details (quantity, numbering, etc.), whether the cassettes have been digitized as MP3 files, whether the interviews have been integrated into the Aleph library system, and other pertinent observations, such as the interviewee’s maiden name (if applicable) or the place of deportation.

The team that currently works on the Oral History Archive is composed of three persons: a cultural anthropology expert who focuses on the content and academic use of the interviews, an IT expert, and a cataloguer who creates and manages entries in the Aleph online electronic catalogue. The anthropologist and the cataloguer work together closely in order to select key words to be used as headings for each interview. It is the first time that such atypical documents are being catalogued in Romania in the Aleph library system, and thus the cataloguer is creating new authority files for this collection. This is considered a work in progress, and the quality and scope of the authority files are being constantly improved. The IT expert is in charge of uploading and updating the materials that pertain to the Deported to Bărăgan project on the dedicated website. There are currently no hyperlinks in place between the Aleph electronic catalogue and the website. The digitized recordings have not been uploaded on Aleph due to lack of personnel.

The interviews are physically grouped according to thematic criteria, such as ethnicity, cities or geographical areas mentioned, and historical events (war, deportation, etc.). For instance, though Margareta Oglindă‘s married name is Romanian, she is ethnically German. Given that she experienced two deportations – first to the USSR in 1945, and then to Bărăgan in 1951 – her interview is categorized under the ‘deportations’ thematic group.

The Deportations to Bărăgan

Of the 486 interviews in the Oral History Archive, 107 fall into the thematic group concerning the Bărăgan deportations, which were enforced between 1951 and 1956.

Between 1951 and 1956, Romania witnessed a significant wave of internal displacement enforced by the communist regime. These actions, known as the deportations to the Bărăgan plain, represented one of the more severe forms of oppression during this period. Unlike deportations that involved expulsion across national borders, these were structured as compulsory domiciles, forcing individuals into new settlements in the plain of Bărăgan, a steppe plain in south-eastern Romania, where weather conditions were harsh and, at least at the beginning of the displacement, resources were scarce. The relocation, or deportation, was aimed primarily at individuals perceived as threats to the stability and ideology of the communist regime, although the group of deportees included a broad spectrum of people whose only commonality lay in the suspicions cast upon them by the state.

The Bărăgan deportations primarily affected people from the Banat region, although the exiled were not exclusively from this area. In total, about 44,000 persons were deported. This relocation effort was targeted at those labelled as ‘hostile elements’, a label that broadly encompassed individuals whose socioeconomic backgrounds, political beliefs, or ethnic identities were deemed incompatible with the goals of the state. The Romanian Communist Party identified these groups as potential threats to state security, marking them for displacement. Included in this classification were landowners, prosperous farmers, villagers residing near the Yugoslavian border, political prisoners, ethnic Germans, and those suspected of espionage activities or anti-regime sentiments. Vultur (2021) has researched this topic extensively, also studying the nominal tables drawn up by the Ministry of Internal Affairs listing the professions of the deported persons:

In the case of those registered in the above tables, the persons had most diverse trades or professions – farmer, carpenter, lawyer, doctor, accountant, printer, merchant, butcher, winemaker, teacher, artist, worker, writer, photographer, housewife, painter, pharmacist, shepherd, student, banker, business owner, manufacturer, typist, electrician, shoemaker, etc. They were evicted from their house and forcibly displaced to other localities, where they were assigned compulsory domiciles according to the provisions of Decree no. 239/1952. (Vultur, 2021, p. 46).

Families were often included in the relocation orders, meaning that the dislocation impacted individuals across generations, from young children to elderly family members. After being notified of their impending displacement, deportees were permitted to take only a limited number of personal belongings, often insufficient to meet their needs in the unfamiliar environment of Bărăgan. Upon arrival, they were provided minimal, if any, assistance from the authorities, who abandoned them in open fields and left them to construct shelter and organize their lives with whatever limited resources they could gather. Later on, they would be assigned working places in nearby farms.

The psychological toll of deportation was as profound as the physical hardships. For those affected, deportation to Bărăgan was not merely a forced change in residence, but an experience marked by oppression, fear, and uncertainty about their future. The constant surveillance and suspicion that followed them mirrored the broader atmosphere of fear cultivated by the regime.

Over time, the experiences and memories of deportation to Bărăgan were passed down through generations. The psychological impact of these experiences has been reflected in the narratives of those who were interviewed about the deportations: ‘Studies concerning the deportation reveal that the greatest trauma was suffered by the children.’ (Vultur, 2021, p. 59). While some accounts emphasize the persistent scars left by the trauma, others highlight a sense of pride in having survived such adversity. For many deportees and their descendants, the experience of having endured the Bărăgan deportations became a source of personal and collective strength.

However, the deportations to Bărăgan were a relatively unknown phenomenon immediately after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, as they were not discussed during the communist years. Consequently, the testimonies only began to emerge after 1989, and some of those persecuted during that time were already elderly. A race against time began to enable the witnesses to share their stories. Researchers in the humanities were particularly interested in these narratives, and thus, the task of recording interviews commenced (Lazăr, 2023). Still, it was not enough to simply gather testimonies and documents; it was essential to make them accessible to the general public.

The Deported to Bărăgan Project

To make the testimonies of former Bărăgan deportees more accessible, a small team from the Eugen Todoran Central University Library, in collaboration with the Association of Former Bărăgan Deportees, initiated the creation of a website.^[2] Launched in June 2016, the site hosts the 107 interviews related to Bărăgan from the library’s collection, providing descendants, the general public, and researchers with resources such as audio interviews, their transcripts, photographs, bibliographic lists of additional readings on deportation, and files from the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Securitate (secret police) from the communist era.

In 2022, the site was updated for improved functionality. Users can now search entries by the deportee’s name (if known) or by the location of deportation. There were 18 new settlements where deportees were forced to reside: Brateș, Bumbăcari, Dâlga, Dropia, Ezerul, Fundata, Lătești, Măzăreni, Movila Gâldăului, Olaru, Pelican, Răchitoasa, Rubla, Salcâmi, Schei, Valea Viilor, Viișoara, and Zagna.

One of the website’s most significant features is its audio library. Users can listen to the MP3 files of interviews with former deportees. Listening to these voices can be profoundly revealing – the tone, inflection, and pauses convey the meaning of the discourse in a way that brings the interviewees closer to the present reality of the listener.^[3]

Another compelling feature of the website is the ability to access portions of the documentation compiled by the communist-era Securitate (the political police) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs concerning the deportees. This feature allows users to view typed lists from the 1950s, annotated by hand, without having to visit the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives in Bucharest in person.

The Deportați în Bărăgan portal serves multiple functions. On the one hand, it fulfils a sociocultural role, preserving and transmitting the memory of events that profoundly shaped the lives of a significant number of individuals. On the other hand, the site provides unrestricted access for students, researchers, and the general public to unique historical information and rare documents that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, particularly in physical form. For example, the visual artist Renée Renard has used some of the photographs in the library collection to advance her work concerning the history of her family and to explore the links among collective history, individual memory, objective realities, and emotional landscapes (Nițiș, 2024).

The interviews on the site are not merely sources of information; they are narratives that convey meaningful messages. Emphasizing this aspect is crucial, as one of the major goals of the project is to facilitate analysis of how cultural patterns have evolved over time. Simultaneously, these narratives reshape contemporary perspectives, influencing our understanding of the world in which we live.

Conclusions and Challenges

The Deported to Bărăgan project represents a significant endeavour for the preservation and dissemination of historical memory, shedding light on a lesser-known chapter of Romania’s past. Through integrating oral history interviews, archival documents, and multimedia resources into a publicly accessible digital platform, the initiative provides a unique opportunity to engage with personal narratives of displacement and resilience.

The project not only contributes to academic research in the humanities, but also plays a crucial role in public history by fostering a deeper understanding of the sociocultural impact of forced deportations. The testimonies gathered illustrate the complexities of memory, identity, and trauma, ensuring that the voices of those affected by the Bărăgan deportations are neither forgotten nor marginalised.

Despite these achievements, significant challenges persist, particularly in terms of archival maintenance and digitisation. One of the primary difficulties is the lack of dedicated personnel. The team members working on the Deported to Bărăgan project are involved in multiple research and administrative tasks, resulting in a slower pace of progress. This limitation affects not only the digitisation of materials, but also the ability to effectively integrate them into broader research networks.

Nevertheless, despite its small size, the team curating the Oral History Archive has made remarkable strides in ensuring access to these valuable testimonies. Their efforts have facilitated public engagement with personal histories that might otherwise have remained inaccessible, allowing future generations to gain a deeper understanding of this crucial period in Romania’s history.

Moving forward, further development of the project – through increased institutional support, funding, and interdisciplinary collaboration – will be essential in overcoming these challenges. By strengthening the links between the Deportați în Bărăgan platform and academic resources, the project can continue to expand its reach and impact, serving as a model for similar initiatives in oral history preservation.

Ultimately, the Deported to Bărăgan project underscores the importance of making historical narratives accessible, not only for researchers, but for all those who seek to understand the intricate interplay between personal memory and collective history.

References

Abstract

The Deported to Bărăgan (Deportați în Bărăgan) project is aimed at at bringing to light and disseminating a collection of oral history interviews (testimonies), unique photographs, audio files, former secret police archival materials, and other documents that highlight the forced displacement (deportation) of a part of the population from the Banat region of Romania to the Bărăgan plain – during the Soviet occupation of Romania (the 1950s). The material is part of the Oral History Archive of the Eugen Todoran Central University Library of Timișoara, Romania, and can currently be accessed through the website https://deportatiinbaragan.ro/. In this paper, we shed light on the work that has been done to bring this corpus of documents into the public conscience and underline the importance of such an initiative.

Keywords

Oral history archive; Collective memory; Atypical library document; Banat region; Deportations; Digitisation