Sighet Prison- Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance

One of the most memorable stops that we made during our trip to Northern Transylvania was the Sighet Prison, located only one mile from the Ukraine border.  The Sighet Prison, originally built in 1897, became part of the network of prisons used during the 1950's-1980's to incarcerate dignitaries and intellectuals deemed to be in opposition of the Communist regime.  Many of the political prisoners were Greek- and Roman- Catholic priests, former democratic party leaders, historians, artists, and academics, and were frequently males over the age of sixty.  The prison has been transformed into a fascinating and thorough museum, with each cell block featuring one aspect of Communism, Imprisonment, and/or the Resistance.

Exterior of the Sighet Prison; Shutters covered the cell windows to prevent prisoners from seeing anything outside other than the sky.

For additional information, here are some links:

http://www.memorialsighet.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=93&lang=en (The official website of the museum, including a description in the "virtual visit section" of each of the cell block exhibits.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighet_prison (An overview of the prison and list of some of the political prisoners incarcerated in the Sighet Prison.)

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g608955-d622822-r71790078-Memorial_of_the_Victims_of_Communism_and_of_the_Resistance-Sighetu_Marmatiei.html#REVIEWS (Reviews of the prison museum and logistics on how to get there.)

Perhaps the most fascinating exhibit in my opinion was a cell focusing on "Poetry in Prison."  Here's an excerpt from the website on the topic:

"Born without pencil and paper, transmitted from cell to cell through the Morse alphabet, this poetry was equally a mental gymnastics exercise, one of spiritual unloading, of human solidarity, of spiritual raising, of ascesis [self-discipline] through the acceptance of anonymity. The authors of some of the poems are still not known, for others famous authors have been found, but we preferred to mix them without names, as in the moment of their birth lacking vanity, when those who memorized them were as important and necessary as those who composed them."