“As I was unfamiliar with what had happened in Suceava. at first I thought this was a joke in bad taste. I had never heard such an impertinence. not even from the most fanatical men of the prison administration. I never was one of the ‘strong’ ones. and to this day I cannot understand why I was selected among the first ones to be worked on. You can imagine the answer I gave together with all those who had been brought with me phone number list into Room Four by the chief of our section. A sane man. we thought. could not utter such stupidities. So we took his speech as a joke. and began to jest.
“Turcanu expected such a reaction
for he knew quite well the student mentality and convictions. That is why he was prepared. All those who were with him in the room when we arrived. remained quiet. waiting. All of them had handy. hidden under the nearby bunk blankets. a bludgeon. cudgel. post. belt. or board. supplied naturally by the administration. for it would have been impossible for anyone to procure them otherwise.
“Our reply gave Turcanu the life down here in the cumberland mountains realizes opportunity to start. He furiously raised his cap. and then at once. at that signal. the bludgeons and cudgels were brought out from under the blankets. Every one of them was armed and. without warning. struck the one of us nearest him.
As a matter of fact they had so placed
Themselves by prearrangement that each had a victim handy. Taken by surprise. we were confused. But we came to our senses immediately and began to defend ourselves — each as best he could. In desperation. we started to attack. We were at an advantage. in fact. for we were defending our own skins while the others struck by command. As they later admitted. they really had not expected that matters would go so far. We began to disarm them.
In the room one could hear only the whacks
Of the bludgeons and the groans of those stricken. In the confusion one could not distinguish the original groups. All were striking to defend themselves. and the fight turned into a life and death struggle. in which each man fought fax list furiously to overcome his antagonist. After a while the situation became less confused. Although they were twenty against our ten. all those who had attacked us were sprawled on the floor. Turcanu included. This was definitely not what the devisers of the experiment had expected. so intervention was needed to prove to us that all opposition was vain.
