Romania 2022
My Arrival in Romania, 2022
As I traveled on to Romania, Sammy returned to Canada back to high school as his spring break was over. I continued on alone to meet my cousin Emil (who is the President of the Jewish community of Piatra Neamt), and to investigate in the National Archives in Iasi and Piatra Neamt. I still had a focus in Romania of my search for my grandmother’s birth certificate. My first plan, however, was to travel directly to Siret, Romania at the border with Ukraine to deliver the much needed medical supplies. I wrote about my travels below in our Congregation Emanu-El synagogue newsletter to thank our membership for their rapid and generous contributions, the narrative of which in part follows in these next pages.
Taking the Supplies to Siret, Romania at the border with Ukraine
My flight went from Tel Aviv to Paris to Iași in the Northeast part of Romania to the town where Paulina and Marcu had lived with their three children (where my grandmother said she was born). When I arrived at the airport in Iași, which is a rather small airport , it was really quite heart-breaking, so different from the last time I was there in 2019. It had been a sleepy little airport with only a few business travelers. The airport was packed with Ukrainian families, small children running around, and also some boisterous American young men. When I picked up my rental car, the counter was full of donated food, diapers, bottles of water for the refugees. They had only one car left—a standard shift Renault, and my feet hardly reached the pedals. It was already late in the day, so the next morning I set out for Suceava, a town about 45 minutes south of Ukraine, so that I would have a quick drive the following day to the border.
I arrived in the late afternoon in Suceava. It is a bustling small city and I managed to get through traffic to a fading resort on the outside of town. Rusty showers, a comfortable bed and a great sauna were my reward. I find driving in Romania difficult as the roads are narrow and eager drivers like to speed on their way to wherever. However, the Romanians are extremely courteous and any time I have asked for directions or help they have gone to great lengths for me.
I had been checking in with Ery who is with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), on duty daily at the border assisting refugees who told me what they needed. Albert, (who I met in 2019 and who teaches B'nei Mitzvah in Iași) had given me the name of Ery as a contact at the border. It turns out that Ery knows my newly found cousin, Emil Nadler Nicolae quite well, whom I was to meet for the first time the next day in Piatra Neamt, Romania.