Agarici Viorica

Agarici, Viorica Viorica Agarici, president of the Romanian Red Cross (Crucea Rosie) in the city of Roman, spent the night of July 2-3, 1941 in the city’s train station to serve refreshments to soldiers on their way to the eastern front. During the night, she heard moans and calls for help coming from sealed railway cars parked far from the station. These sounds came from surviving Jews of the Iaşi (Jassy) pogrom, in which thousands of Jews perished. After the massacre, carried out on June 29-30, about 5,000 Jews were loaded onto two trains, to be transferred to internment camps in Romania. The cars of the “death trains” were sealed, and for several days, the cars were moved back and forth between stations, while the Jews closed up in them were left without food, water or medical supplies. The train headed for Târgu Frumos with about 1,000 passengers was held up at the Roman station, and some of the Jews on it had died during the trip and the bodies had not been removed. When Agarici heard the shouts, she demanded that the Romanian guards open the railway cars so that help could be given to the pitiable Jews. Thanks to Agarici’s insistence, the Jews were allowed to leave the train to regain some strength before continuing their journey. The bodies of the dead were taken off the train, the deported Jews were given food and drink, and owing to Agarici’s intervention, some of the train’s passengers were alive when it reached its destination. Immediately after her act of rescue, Agarici was discharged from her job at the Roman branch of the Red Cross. After the war, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania (Federaţia Comunităţilor Evreieşti din România) supported Agarici for many years. Following her death in 1979, the Association of Jews from Roman in Israel applied to Yad Vashem to have Viorica Agarici honored. On January 3, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Viorica Agarici as Righteous Among the Nations.