On the night of 12–13 June 1941, the lives of thousands of families in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina changed forever. Among those who experienced the tragedy of Stalinist deportations was Tecla Cemirtan from the village of Cobilea.
Now 84 years old, she still remembers the night that took away her childhood. At just seven years old, as the eldest child in the family, she suddenly faced responsibilities far beyond her age after the world she knew was shattered.
Sitting on the porch of her home, Tecla Cemirtan recalls those events with undiminished pain. More than eight decades later, her memories remain vivid, and her voice still reflects the longing for the peaceful years before deportation, when her family was together and the future seemed full of promise.
“Before the deportation, I had a very happy childhood. My parents took care of us, people visited one another, talked, and helped each other. There was always food in our home; through hard work we had everything we needed and lacked nothing. Our daily life was guided by faith in God. We were happy, without knowing the hardships that awaited us,” she recalls.
Today, Tecla Cemirtan remembers not only the suffering that followed but also the life her family lost on that tragic night.