Memorial Museum of the Victims of Communism

  Sighet, Romania
Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Also in Sighet is the Memorial Museum of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance. It is housed in the town's former prison. Many of the cells have been converted into exhibition spaces.

I recommend you go to http://www.memorialsighet.ro (click on the English flag) for details on the museum, each floor, and the exhibits in the cells. There is also information about anti-communist resistance in the mountains, Iuliu Maniu, a father of democracy, a history of the building of Sighet Prison, and much more.

This should be on your list of absolute things to do while in Sighet.

There is also interesting displays on the King of Romania. Did you know there was a king? From Wikipedia: Michael I, King of the Romanians, Prince of Hohenzollern, (born October 25, 1921), reigned as King of the Romanians from July 20, 1927 to June 8, 1930, and again from September 6, 1940 until forced to abdicate by the Communists on December 30, 1947. A great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, he is one of the last surviving heads of state from World War II, the other being Simeon II of Bulgaria.

Some of the exhibits displayed in the cells
Room 9 The cell where Iuliu Maniu (1873-1953) died
Room 10 The Communist Assault on Maramures. Case study: Ilie Lazar
Room 11 The Destruction of the Political Parties
Room 13 Repression against the Church
Room 14 The Security Police (Securitate) between 1948 and 1989
Room 19 Year 1948 - Romania's sovietization
Room 20 Communism versus the Monarchy

Make sure you exit the museum in the rear to visit the courtyard sculptures and the memorial.

What I wished I had know when I was in Sighet: just down the block is a momument to the 38,000 Maramures Jews rounded up the Hungarian police and deported in 1944.