”We slept when we were ordered to, always after midnight, and by very clear rules: laying on our backs, the blanket pulled to our chins, arms over the blanket, bowls as our pillows. Any attempt to move due to muscle cramps or bone pain was immediately sanctioned with a wooden club stroke; even involuntary movements during sleep, due to nightmares, were punished in the same way by our sleep monitors. We had subordinated all our needs to the constant care of keeping a motionless state, both awake and during sleep, we had established a strict but effective self-control.”

Nicu Ioniță

 

 

”At mealtime, if we received any food: Bandit Gheorghe, you, you and you… We would eat on our knees, hands behind our back. Faster, faster, finish it!

You see, I'm a slow eater, I've always been one. I still joke about that: If even Țurcanu didn't manage to make me eat faster, then just let me be!
He kept beating me for being the last to finish. You're not done yet?

Eating this hot food on your knees was... everything was humiliation.”

Gelu Gheorghiu