Ana Cerbu left Romania in October 1980. Life in Romania was very hard during the Ceaucescu regime. There was little food in the stores.
“I had to stand in line for five or six hours to buy eggs or flour.
Everything was sold in limited amounts; you could only buy 10 eggs at a
time, and if you wanted more, you had to stand in line a second time.
In 1979, my husband was sent by the Romanian government to Tripoli, Libya,
to work for Kadafi he told me that he was planning to escape and not return
to Romania. I was very afraid because I did not know what would happen
to him.
Right before my husband's contract was over, he requested permission to
go to Italy. He lied to the authorities saying that he wanted to buy some
Italian gold. Once he got to Italy, he took a train to Austria. In Vienna
he gave himself up to the Austrian police and asked for political asylum.
He was placed in one of the refugee camps from where he wrote to a Romanian
church in Chicago.”
Ana did not find out that her husband had escaped until he had arrived in Austria.
“He called me and said that he was safe and that he was staying in a refugee camp. The next night I was awakened by hard knocks on my door and I knew it was the secret police coming to talk to me about my husband. They had received a message from his job that he had not reported for work. They already knew that I had talked to him on the phone and told me that my husband was a traitor and a criminal. Then I was ordered to report to the secret police station the next morning for interrogation.”
Ana was very afraid.
“I had heard stories about women whose spouses had escaped being beaten
and raped by the police. Full of fear, I went to the police station the next
morning. They did not hurt me physically, but I had to endure hours of interrogation
and accusations. After that visit I was asked to come to the police station
many more times. I went, but nobody would let me come inside. They would tell
me they wanted to see me and then make me wait for hours outside until they
let me go home. This was an intentional manipulation to scare me and keep me
worried. It worked very well because I did not know what to expect and why
they wanted to see me twice a week. I told my son where I had hidden the money
in the apartment, so he could use it in case I did not come back. Women were
disappearing at that time, so every time I left the house, I did not know whether
I was ever coming back. It was a very difficult time for their family.”
The situation was hopeless for Romanian families who could not reunite.
“Finally my husband with some other Romanian men went to Washington.
They decided to go on a hunger strike and were hoping that the United States
government would help them bring their families to America. The timing
was perfect. There was an International Monetary Fund annual meeting and
a meeting of the World Bank. One of the Romanian representatives attended
the meetings and his mission wanted to borrow money for Romania from the
United States. One of the people attending the meetings was Senator Charles
Percy. Senator Percy made it clear that the money that Romania was to be
lent was tied in with the hunger strike situation. He said the families
had to be reunited. That incident made it possible for our family to be
reunited. My husband called me from Washington, and he told me that I would
be able to see him soon.
In the next two days I was visited by the secret police again. They were
very nice to me. For the first time they called me Mrs. Cerbu. They told
me to make all the necessary arrangements for they would be going to America
soon. My brothers and sisters were not very supportive of me at that time.
Today I understand that they were afraid. The secret police had threatened
them. They did not want to lose their jobs or family members because of
us. They had to think about their future in Romania.
When all the documentation was ready, we began to pack. After 20 years
of marriage, and 40 years of my life, I left the country with two large
and two small suitcases. I packed four pillows, one wool blanket and some
clothes. Before I left Romania, the government officials took away our
Romanian passports to punish us for leaving the country. We were nothing!
I felt like a piece of paper flying in the wind.
The meeting at O'Hare International Airport was a very happy one. My husband
passed our son by and did not recognize him. He had not seen him in three
years and my son had grown and matured so much during this time. We were
all crying, even some other families standing next to us were crying with
us. It was a very happy moment. My husband had a job, car, and was renting
an apartment. We could not earn these things in Romania in twenty years,
and he had managed to get it all in two years.
The first few years were very difficult. We had to learn the language and
adjust to the new lifestyle. We were all working very hard. Today we own
a big building in Chicago with a few apartments that we rent out. My husband
works in our building as a handy man, and I works for a cleaning service
company. My son graduated from High School and went to the police academy.
He is a policeman, and he works at O'Hare International Airport. Today
I feel that I am free and very happy. I never want to go back to Romania
again and neither does my son. I feel like the Statue of Liberty with a
torch in my hand. God bless America! "
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| Ana Cerbu |
