Elena Bobocel (neé Butoi)

Elena Bobocel was born on August 6, 1928 in Florești, Mehedinți County. She married Costică Bobocel, who worked as a driver and secretary of an enterprise, and was a member of the Communist Party. They had two children together: Monica, born in Florești, and Nelu, born in deportation. In the night of June 17-18, 1951, the head of the local militia station came to inform them they would be evicted from their home. At that time, only Elena Bobocel, her father, and daughter were at home; her husband was on duty as a driver in Baia de Aramă. Costică Bobocel was stopped on his way back, and had to choose between freedom, (thanks to his party membership), and deportation together with his family. Without any hesitation, the man chose to stay with his family. With only few personal items and supplies, the Bobocel family was put on a truck and taken to the train station. The deportation order was then issued to the parents of Elena Bobocel, Ion and Ana Butoi. They were left in the Bărăgan Plain in Rubla, on a plot of land with no buildings, where cotton was cultivated. From the first moment on, they began making a shelter to protect themselves from rain. While Elena Bobocel had a restriction order, having been allowed to move only within a radius of 15 kilometers and having to work at the village farm, her husband benefited from his older statute because of his good references from work as a truck driver, and could therefore move around the country without supervision. A year after arriving in Bărăgan, pregnant with her second child, Elena Bobocel lost her father, and her husband died a few weeks later. Costică Bobocel was only 29 years old. Elena Bobocel was left there with two little children and an elderly mother to care for until the end of 1955, when they were given permission to return home. Back home, Elena Bobocel realized that her home and the family's courtyard were occupied by the authorities and converted into an agricultural cooperative, (Romanian: CAP). With the help of her brother-in-law, she managed to get one room and the kitchen back, and then eventually the whole house. Even after returning home, Elena Bobocel's life was not free of problems and worries. The deportation file haunted her for a long time; she could hardly get a job, and was subsequently often forced to depend on the support of the neighbors and her brother-in-law. She finally managed to get a job as a cleaning lady at the village clinic, and then worked in the mine where her son was an engineer, until she retired.

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