Viorica Ana Ecaterina Agarici (February 24th 1886–1979) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n nurse, the chairwoman of the local

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

in the city of Roman during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the Ion Antonescu regime. A protector of the Jewish population during the implementation of the Holocaust in Romania, she is one of the Romanians among the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

commemorated by the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i people at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

. Eva Galambos, , in '' Realitatea Evreiască'', Nr. 233-234, June–July 2005, p.4; retrieved October 4, 2007 Petre Iancu
"«Drept între Popoare»"
in '' Dilema Veche'', October 7, 2005; retrieved October 4, 2007

Family

Viorica Agarici was the daughter of a former mayor of Roman, himself noted for intervening on behalf of the Jews, and who helped establish the local

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

and modern school.

Helping Jews on the 1941 "death train"

On the night of July 2, 1941, after caring for the Romanian Army wounded coming from the Eastern Front, she overheard people moaning from a train transporting Jewish survivors of the Iași pogrom. The crowded deportees were being transported to

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. It is one of six Romanian county se ...

without water or food.Ion C. Butnaru, ''Waiting for Jerusalem: Surviving the Holocaust in Romania'', Praeger/Greenwood, Westport, 1993, p.204 Many of them had died before reaching Roman, on the trip from

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, which normally took two hours. The transport they were on, supervised by the

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

, has been described as a "death train".''Final Report'', p.287 The Gendarmes, instigated by Second Lieutenant Aurel Triandaf and the

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

Anastase Bratu, prevented passengers access to water and shot several of those who attempted to procure it.David Cesarani, ''Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies'',

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, London, 2004, p.498-499 In parallel, various local people and soldiers made attempts to sell the victims water at exorbitant prices, while troops, both local and German, attacked the prisoners with stones. Taking advantage of her position, Agarici asked and received permission to give food and water to the passengers, to allow them to wash, and to remove the dead bodies. This

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

operation was accomplished with assistance from Romanian Red Cross and local Jewish volunteers, and effectively stalled the transport a full day. According to one account, Agarici actually ordered the authorities to obey — a Colonel Eraclide possibly complied due to the respect he may have had for Agarici's son, military pilot Horia Agarici. On July 4, all Jewish prisoners were moved to another train, where they received some food and water (despite the improved conditions, 75 died during the subsequent trip and 69 shortly after). Of 2,530 people forcefully embarked in Iași, only 1,011 were still alive in Călărași. It is possible that the original number was higher, and that losses were under-counted by officials, who did not keep evidence of all the bodies thrown out of the train. Agarici's actions were strongly condemned by the community of Roman, and she subsequently had to resign and move to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. Reportedly, she was instantly seen as a hero and rumors about her actions spread throughout the country. In 1947, three years after the 1944 Romanian coup d'état toppled Antonescu, Aurel Triandaf was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

and hard labor for

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

and crimes against peace.

Recognition

Alongside her Yad Vashem recognition, Agarici was the recipient of several local tributes: Roman train station houses her bust and a memorial plate, and, in summer 2005, her memory was honored through a ceremony hosted by local authorities and representatives of the Jewish community. She was also publicly praised by ''

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

'' Alexandru Șafran, the Jewish community leader during World War II, who cited her among the "humane people in inhumane times" (Șafran's list also included Queen-Mother Elena). Carol Iancu
"Alexandru Șafran: o viață de luptă, o rază de lumină"
in '' Revista 22'', Nr. 857, August 2006; retrieved October 4, 2007

Notes

References

''Final Report''
of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania; retrieved October 4, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Agarici, Viorica Female wartime nurses Red Cross personnel Romanian Righteous Among the Nations Romanian nurses Romanian women in World War II Romanian philanthropists Romanian women philanthropists 1886 births 1979 deaths World War II nurses 20th-century Romanian philanthropists