As we toured Romania northern region of Maramures this summer, looking for the wooden churches WHS, we found ourselves in Sighetu Marmatiei (“Sighet”), a border town where we visited the Memorial of the Communism victims and Resistance. The place is a former prison, built by Austrians at the end of the 19th century and re used by Communist authorities to jail their opponents, mainly between 1945 and 1955 at the time of “sovietisation” of the country, and until 1977. Prisoners here were mainly intellectuals and politicians (a former prime minister of Romania from interwar period died there).

Cells have been turned into exhibition rooms, each of them covering one aspect of prisoners life but also Romania history after WWII, how Communists came to power and the impact on the whole country. There are two courtyards still guarded by miradors. A modern, underground round chapel was dug in the first one ; the second one hosts a group of modern statues (“the procession of the Sacrificed”) which has now became the symbol of the Memorial.

You can really spend hours there and learn a lot through all the gathered documents and testimonies. Information is in Romanian but you can get a booklet in other language at the reception when you buy your tickets. We got one in French, which was very comprehensive, clear and written in excellent French. Above all, there is a right balance between History and Remembrance. Things are clearly told without exaggeration or “revenge” spirit. While Romania is full of castles, old churches and even Roman sites, nowhere else in the country could we find such good information about that most recent part of country’s history. The website is good as well and will provide up-to-date information for your visit. The Memorial is in the very centre of the city, with a public car park just 100m away.

If you go as well to nearby Sapanta (what you will probably do if you have travelled as far as Shiget already), you can also stop along the road at the “paupers cemetery”. This is an old burial place that Communist kept using as well to bury (usually at night) dead prisoners. Now the place still has a few crosses and is surrounded by a hedge in the shape of Romania map, with a white stone cross at the location of Shiget – better seen from the nearby observation platform / bell tower. That place is managed by the Memorial as well, there is a small car park, entrance is free and you will be given a leaflet to help you understand the meaning of that place.

Romania submitted a total of five locations to make up this TWHS in 2024. As far as I know, three of them cannot be visited at the moment, while a fourth one, the memorial prison in Pitesti (where young people were “re-educated”) is closed several days a week and forbidden for visitors below the age of 12 – two reasons for which we could not visit. Bottom line, the Memorial in Shiget was our best option for ticking that TWHS. This is anyway a not-to-be-missed visit to fully cover the history of Romania when discovering that country.