Fr. Radu Șerban (en)

Radu Șerban – the drama of a priest at the end of his rope

One day the priest from Dobrogea, Șerban, told me: – The high temperature and the effort of the mines, after the hunger I went through, have made my heart seriously ill. If I continue to work in the mines, I’ll be completely destroyed. I decided to stop working and ask for a job on the surface. – It’s a risky decision, I told him. We’re condemned to travaux forcees. If you refuse, you can be shot. Are you determined to die? – Yes, I am! I have to. It’s my only chance. Otherwise I’ll die later, completely destroyed by the […]

The assassination of Father Șerban

One night I met Father Șerban in a courtyard. He was coming from downstairs with a sledgehammer that he had taken to the workshop to attach a tail to it. He had climbed two flights of stairs and was leaning against the wall, pale, with his hand on his chest and gasping for breath. – What happened to you, Father? I asked him. – Nothing much! A little grief of the heart. That’s what it does when I go up and down the stairs. – Well, in that case, wouldn’t it be better if you stayed somewhere upstairs and didn’t […]

“The whole colony was shocked by what had happened”

I had detained Father Șerban during a call to the colony office. We were often summoned to this makeshift registry, where all sorts of personal information was recorded, probably because somewhere up there they were constantly studying how to organise and reorganise this huge mass of prisoners. Father Șerban happened to be called in front of me and I unconsciously listened to his answers to the guard’s questions. I found out that he was a priest somewhere in Dobrogea, that he belonged to a resistance organisation, etc. When asked what his wife’s profession was, he answered quite naturally: – Priestess! […]

“Father Șerban was sympathised by the whole colony”

… I must say that I had worked the night shift and was in my bedroom when I was awakened by a gunshot, along with the other prisoners who were asleep at the time. We went outside to see what had happened. Before we came out, we heard another gunshot. Although the guard on duty, Gheorghițǎ, who had come out of the kitchen, shouted to the guard on duty to stop shooting, he fired again, killing him on the spot. Father Șerban was ill and asked that he not be sent to the mine, as he could not work in […]

“Forgiveness, forgiveness” – Last words of the martyred priest Radu Șerban

The camp was surrounded by a 4-metre high wooden fence. There were a few rows of barbed wire on top. From place to place there were watchtowers, where there was always a guard with an automatic weapon. One could observe the totality of the concentration camp effortlessly. That day we were taken to the dining room – the barrack where the kitchen was – to peel potatoes and greens. With us was the priest Radu Șerban. Originally from the commune of Topraisar, in the county of Constanța, he had been sentenced, along with a group of villagers from Dobrogea, for […]

Priest Gheorghe Șerban – a gentle and wise man

A murder that shook the whole camp was the shooting of priest Gheorghe Șerban[1] from Constanța, inside the camp, in front of our eyes, on a sunny morning at around 10 o’clock. Priest Gheorghe Șerban was a gentle and wise man. With calm words, an exceptional memory and a great sense of friendship, he often woke us from our after-hours slumber with stories of great humour. We called him Elder Creangă, so much did his memories and stories delight us. A few months after entering the mine – as far back as I can remember – in the spring of […]