“ I was born on March 1, 1944 in a county village named Orevita-Mare in Rumania from a family of peasants. I was the second of three brothers and lived at home with my parents until the age of seven. My father had some education and this enabled him to work at the town hall of our village as a secretary. Around 1949 or 1950 the communists changed the old system and fired all the people with experience and replaced them with unskilled labor from the nearby industrial cities. My mother at the time was taking care of the house, children and also working the land.
“In 1951, I started primary school in my village. In about the same year or may it was in 1952. I saw the communists for what they really are, very heartless people. It was one summer night while my mother and I were sleeping and my father was away at work, that we heard shooting and shouting from the streets of my village. We were to frightened to investigate and in the morning we discovered that our village was filled with soldiers and they didn’t let anyone out of their homes. About midday they ordered all the CHIABURI ( Chiaburi are rich people who owned about 4/5 acres of land including their homes), to pack their clothes and what they could carry into small wagons. They said that the CHIABURI were exploiting the other people of the village and from now on there will be no more CHIABURI in our country. These poor people (CHIABURI) were loaded into small wagons and sent into the desert with very little food of water. They had to build their own village and work very hard in digging their own wells, cultivate the land. They were there for about 5/6 years. My father’s two sisters and their families were also sent to the desert called Baragan.
“In 1955, I started secondary school in another village called Vinju-Mare, because there wasn’t any secondary school in our village. This was about 3 ½ miles from my home. My father worked in the same village as a cashier accountant for the fire and construction wood deposit. My father and I would walk back and forth. During the winter the snow was to deep and to cold for me. My parents pay for me to live in a dormitory. The first year something happened at my father’s job to change all of this. My father’s boss stole 90,000 lei , he was caught at inventory time. But since he was a member of the Rumanian communist party, before and after the World War II. My father was not a member. The communist party in that village claimed in court that is was impossible to charge only one man, when there were two men working together. They had another inventory and found a pay receipt sighed by my father and his boss. This receipt was for 2,000 lei. So they charge my father alone with his boss for stealing. My father was charge for 2,00 lei and was sentenced to two years in jail. He also had to pay back the 2,00 lei and his had to pay 90,00 lei and was sentenced to ten years. My father had to pay all the 2,00 lei because they said that his boss had to much to pay. While my father was in jail, my mother had to work very hard to take care of us and our home.
“My grandmother lived with us at this time and she helped out by spending all her money for my father’s lawyers. I will never forget that year because it was so hard for my mother. We had nothing left in house to eat or money to buy anything with. My mother work like a slave to feed us and tried to send food to my father too.
“During this time my mother was still paying for my school. There were times we didn’t have the money and I was sent home. My father came home about three weeks before the end of secondary school. He was so weak he couldn’t help my mother much around the house. I didn’t finish my schooling because of this. I stayed home to help my parents.
“By 1958/60 the government had taken all the land and animals. They also took all the farm tools, at this time that called the farms COLLECTIVE FARMS. Now all the people had to work together for the state. The villagers had to work for the agriculture farms every day and at the end of the year, depending on how many days they work, they would get some grain.
“In 1960, I started a trade school at a city about 25 miles from home. There I lived with my mother’s brother family, staying with them for three years. In 1963, I finished trade school and was qualified as a locksmith mechanic. In Autumn of 1963, I started to work at a factory in Uzinell Mecanice Turnu-Serverin. Every weekend I use to ride my bike from Turn-Severin to my parents home. I word hard at my job and since it was a good job, I listened to the secretary of the communist party in my factory. He warned me that if I didn’t join the party I would be out of job. He also said that my family would probably be deported to Baragan like my father’s sisters. So after consulting with my father we reached the conclusion that communist party. That was in 1965, when I did that most terrible that in my life but I pray that GOD to forgive me this. In the winter of 1966 I went in to the service for 16 months. In the summer of 1967, I came home and started to work at my old factory job. Five or six moths later I was transferred to another factory in the city of Hunedora, where I had cousin working.
“In 1969, six months before our vacation my cousin Adrian Ariciu and I filled out applications for a vacation to Turkey. We didn’t know if the Rumanian police would approve them or not. All we could do was pray. On September 30.1969, my cousin and I started our vacation to Tyrkey from Bucharest, Romania. We passed thru Bulgaria and on the scone of October 1969, we arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. On the 3rd of October, my cousin and I ran to the Turkish police and ask for political asylum. Here we found three or four Rumanians who we thought at first were secret agents sent to take us back to the bus. But after a few minutes we found out they were there for the same reason as my cousin and I. After we were interrogated by the Turkish Police we were sent to safe place. We stayed in the Turkish camp for about a week. This camp was owned by a Orthodox and Catholic Organization. We were told by this organization to fill out forms for immigration to USA. But before we complete the forms my cousin return to Romania. Few years later I learn from my mother that my cousin Adrian was killed in a motorbike accident. I knew that my cousin as killed by someone for he did not like motorbikes.
"On March 6th of 1970, I was sent to Rome, Italy by the organization. Upon arrival we received enough money for food and renting a room. After waiting for 4/5 months I was called by an interview at the American Consulate in Rome, regarding my application to immigrate into the USA. I was refused because I was a member of the Communist Party of Rumania. After this bad news, I was told I could immigrate to Australia. My application was approved and on Feb 18th, 1971, I landed in Melbourne, Australia.
"Since I couldn’t speak English my first year in Australia, I had to work for General Motors Holden in Port Melbourne. After I had translated my Rumanian diploma into English and by then I had learn English. I went to work for Victoria Railways at the Joliment workshops. I work there until July 26,1974, when I got my visa for the USA. I flew to Los Angeles to visit a friend of mine name Dumitru Popita. My friend’s wife introduced my to my wife Janet. Janet and I were married in 1974. I thank God that I came here to lived. I pray that I may stay here always.”
James Dumitru Ariciu had to tell the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
