The Romanian identity in Chicago is emerging as a sign of strength and hope to unite Romanians with their heritage and bring the culture into the midst of modern Western society. Many Romanian-Americans are finding pride in their ethnicity though the cloud of its uncertain history.
Romania was a country “completely torn to shreds by communism” according to Richard Longworth, author and journalist covering the Romanian revolution in 1989. He said of all the communist countries in Eastern Europe, Romania was hit the worst.
“We don’t know what actually happened because everybody lied,” said Longworth. He believes the reports from within Romania were lies and the reports from other countries were lies – the real truth was never documented.
Nicolae Ceausescu was the communist president of Romania from 1974-89 but started seizing power and casting misery as early as 1965. He banned imports and exported many of Romania’s goods for his own profit. Under his Russian-collaborated iron fist, Romanians faced hardships such as lack of food, scarcity of commodities, and heat and electricity periodically shut off for rationing– even in winter.
“People froze to death,” said Daniel Postelnicu, a Romanian-American immigrant from Bucharest who moved to the U.S. in 1990. “There was never enough food. No one starved to death that I know of, but you would go a day or two without food.”
This resulted in uncertain death tolls.
"Thousands fled the country for safety elsewhere. Many risked their lives and swam across the Danube River at night; despite authorization for the boat patrols to “shoot-to-kill” those leaving the country," said Postelnicu.
Some who escaped went to Yugoslavia where they were arrested and put into jail for a few weeks while awaiting documentation. Then they were given refugee status and sent to camps until they were relocated to a foreign country, usually of their choice.
Several thousands were able to relocate to the United States because of the Displaced Persons Act of 1947, which allowed the admittance of refugees as special immigrants.
Exact numbers of Romanian-born Americans or their descendents, are difficult to determine. Romania has had dramatic shifts in the country borders due to wars. Thus some people are Romanian, yet born in a different country, depending on where the border happened to be at the time of birth. Truth of the current U.S. population in government statistics are not necessarily accurate.
“It’s difficult to determine how many Romanians are here,” said Steven Bonica, a Romanian-American and founder of the Romanian Cultural Center in Niles, Ill. “They do not always admit they’re Romanian on surveys.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 2002 Statistical Yearbook states that 75,832 Romanians received asylum green cards from 1946-2001.
The U.S. has an estimated 367,310 people claiming Romanian descent in the 2000 census according to the U.S. Census Bureau, [2] and Chicago is estimated to have over 100,000 Romanians.[1]
There is no “Romanian Village” in Chicago as there is for some other ethnicities such as Polish and Ukrainian. They are scattered in small groups throughout the city and suburbs, yet some Romanian-Americans are determined to change that.
Bonica started the cultural center as well as various endeavors such as the Romanian Tribune newspaper written in Romanian, and a database phonebook of all the Romanian businesses and organizations throughout the U.S. He and his wife, Simona, also founded the Romanian-American Network, which advocates cultural education and business relations among Romanians and Americans.
The Romanian Cultural Exchange is run by five Romanian women: Andra Munteanu, Anca Paunescu, Ramona Mateiu, Liana Sava and Diana Dumitru. They host art and cultural events and meetings throughout Chicago to unite the Romanian community. Dumitru started a Romanian Meet-Up group to bring Romanians together to socialize.
Several businesses of various sizes in Chicago are owned by Romanians. Some offer a taste of the traditional foods of their homeland. Saravale Meat Market and European Deli is a family-run business started six years ago by Tudor and Maria Matiu. They offer many traditional Romanian meats and sausages made in their kitchen, as well as packaged goods from Romania. Tudor was a meat safety inspector in Timisoara, Romania until he fled communism in 1982. He spent over 20 years working as a supervisor at a medical supply company in Chicago.
“I wanted to be my own boss and have my own business,” said Tudor. “My daughter was finished with school so I returned to what I know – meat.”
Le Patisserie is a European-inspired bakery founded by Tania Averian one year ago. She was born in Constanta, Romania and offers many traditional desserts such as amandine, boema, dobos and cozonac.
A few restaurants are: Nelly’s Saloon, a restaurant/bar owned by Serbian-Romanians, offers many common dishes in Romania such as mamaliga, mici and schnitzel. Little Bucharest Bistro also has a few Romanian foods as well as American fare.
A Romanian Film Festival happens annually for the past three years, and a recent attempt to make the world’s largest gathering of Romanian and American businesses was thwarted by the volcano eruption in Poland. Many of the Romanian officials and businesses were stranded in airports, unable to make it to Chicago. This event is still in the rescheduling process and should be underway later this fall.
Though perhaps arriving from a tumultuous past, the Romanian community seems to be on a good start toward embracing its culture and emerging to create an identity of its own in Chicago.
Data from the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services – 2002 Statistical Yearbook
Years / Immigrants from RO
1820-1880 = N/A
1881-1890 = 6,348
1891-1900 = 12,750
1901-1910 = 53,008
1911-1920 = 13,311
1921-1930 = 67,646
1931-1940 = 3,871
1941-1950 = 1,076
1951-1960 = 1,039
1961-1970 = 2,531
1971-1980 = 12,393
1981-1990 = 30,857
1991-2000 = 51,203
1998 = 4,833
1999 = 5,417
2000 = 6,521
2001 = 6,224
2002 = 4,525
TOTAL 1820-2002 = 266,793
[1] http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Chicago
[2]http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on
