The design of the museum made it a very moving testimony to a troubled time in Romania. It is similar to the museum in Cambodia where just seeing all of the photographs of ordinary people tells the story in a very dramatic way.
It's a must visit in Sighetu Marmatiei. There are many tourists from other countries who come to visit this place and also people from Romania who want to understand more about communism. It just helps us all realize what it was, how the communists were able to take control and oppress so many people for such a long time. Worth spending some time there.
What an emotional transport back in time. The muesum is HUGE, prepare to spend an entire day seeing, reading and really experiencing what those who were there felt. Quite sobering to see what happened in the middle of town as people went on about their daily lives. A must see and can never forget.
I'm not sure if it makes sens for foreigners but for me as local, this place is very very meaningful. Lots of history lessons and as visitor I feel facing the truth about unwanted part of the history.
This was a real surprise. We wished we had had more time to spend at the site. We have seen similar exhibits elsewhere in Europe, and this is as good as any. We would consider it a "must visit" site.
It is a museum where you can understand a small part of what our parents and grandparents have lived for over 40 years.
A very well organised museum that gives you some ideas about the communism's crimes. There are the pictures and names of many Romanians who sacrifices themselves for freedom and democracy.
This is a very moving experience to visit the cells of so many victims. I saw the map of all the political prisons in Romania and wanted to cry. There are no guides. You are given a few pages in English and told to wander around.
A very organized museum ! It is a must visit !One can truly realize that freedom came for Romania with a great cost ! One can see how long the people have suffered so that we can enjoy freedom !
I've been there a few times and each time the sensation is terrible. If you read and watch carefully everything inside the Memorial you will understand more about human nature rather than communism. It is difficult to understand how mankind can treat itself in such a disgusting and unacceptable way. Inside the former prison you can see the very small cells where the former rulers or intellectuals where brought by the newly installed communist regime just in order to kill them slowly. Prisoners where expected to die slowly, suffering as much as possible, being humiliated beyond any imaginable limit. All measures were taken in order not to allow prisoners to commit suicide, you can still see the nets between the floors, so that it was impossible to hope to die throwing yourself down.If you read (please take a guide if you don't understand Romanian) the histories of prisoners and their guardians you probably won't understand how all this could happen, how human nature can be so degenerated and hopeless. Some stories are absolutely terrible.I don't think that the Memorial is just a matter about the communist regime in Romania, no, it's about human nature and its perversity. The same things happened in many other places in the world and also in our countries but in different periods of history. This is why everybody should go there, to see what can happen when new people come to power just in order to destroy an entire society and its dignity. Those people can be anyone around us: our neighbors, our friends, the bus driver, the baker, the general, the doctor, the teacher. All of them can become the worst enemy when human nature gets distorted by collective political and social hallucinations, which cost humanity millions and millions of innocent lives.