Viorica Agarici

Viorica Ana Ecaterina Agarici (February 24th 1886–1979) was a Romanian nurse, the chairwoman of the local Red Cross in the city of Roman during World War II and the Ion Antonescu regime. A protector of the Jewish population during the implementation of the Holocaust in Romania, she is one of the Romanians among the Righteous Among the Nations commemorated by the Israeli people at Yad Vashem.

Family Viorica Agarici was the daughter of a former mayor of Roman, himself noted for intervening on behalf of the Jews, and who helped establish the local synagogue and modern school.

Helping Jews on the 1941 "death train" On the night of July 2, 1941, after caring for the Romanian Army wounded coming from the Eastern Front, she overheard people moaning from a train transporting Jewish survivors of the Iași pogrom. The crowded deportees were being transported to Călărași without water or food. Many of them had died before reaching Roman, on the trip from Iași, which normally took two hours. In parallel, various local people and soldiers made attempts to sell the victims water at exorbitant prices, while troops, both local and German, attacked the prisoners with stones.

Agarici's actions were strongly condemned by the community of Roman, and she subsequently had to resign and move to Bucharest.

Recognition Alongside her Yad Vashem recognition, Agarici was the recipient of several local tributes: Roman train station houses her bust and a memorial plate, and, in summer 2005, her memory was honored through a ceremony hosted by local authorities and representatives of the Jewish community.