Romanian ex-prisoners fight to save memory of former communist jails

Niculina Moica felt the weight of history as she pushed open the rusty iron gate to the former communist prison of Jilava, where she was detained as a teenager.

Jilava is one of 44 prisons and 72 forced labour camps set up under Romania’s communist regime (1945-1989) to jail more than 150,000 political prisoners, according to the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes.

While some still function as prisons, many of the buildings have been closed and demolished or left derelict.

“It’s a pity, because (Jilava) is a place where you can show the truth about the communist period. The way prisoners were tortured, kept in such wretched conditions, the food, the cold,” said Moica, now 80.

For years she has been fighting to have Jilava turned into a museum before the site further deteriorates, at risk of fading into oblivion.