When Captain Cârnu tied Elisabeta to the hook in the ceiling
When Cârnu beat me the worst, he took me to a room with the militia. He pulled out a table. There was a big hook in the middle. (…) And Cârnu pulled a chair next to the table, tied my hands behind my back with a rope, like this, then he put the chair on another chair and put the chairs on the table and tied my ponytail up there on the hook. And there was a chain and he put the chain here behind the rope when I was tied at the hands.
And I was afraid because I was fat then, not too fat, but I wasn’t fat like I am now, and I was sitting there screaming and saying, “Sir, shoot me, cut off my head, cut out my eyes, cut out my tongue, I don’t know, don’t ask me, I don’t know! Don’t torture me, don’t leave me without hands, just shoot me! (…)
When he got me all the way up there, he let go of my ponytail, untied my hair and left me with only my hands. But I still didn’t snitch… And then he took me down, untied my hands, there was a bucket of water on the stove and he dipped a bag in the water, squeezed it out, took the shirt off me and put it on me. And he put one of those rubber things on his right hand, like this, with a string, and he made strip marks all over me, as thick as my hand. How can I forgive him? I can’t forgive him! Four soldiers carried me home. (…) They took me and put me on the bed. I stayed at home for ten days. I still had some bruises on my eyes, like this. But from here down I had black stripes and like this blouse I am wearing. And I had stripes, stripes as long as your hand. What could I do? I’ve waited and waited patiently.
(Elisabeta Rizea – The Story of Elisabeta Rizea, edited by Irina Nicolau and Theodor Nițu, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 1993, pp. 53-54)