(2022-05-14/15) "За Родину! За Сталина! / Za Rodinu! Za Stalina! / For the Fatherland! For Stalin!" we read on the rocket in the garden of a whimsical house on the Gypsy Hill in Soroca - yes, that's what it's called, see Google Maps. We suspect to whom the sympathies of the local Roma are directed in the current war in Ukraine. The fact is that this Roma community has achieved world fame.
This alone would be reason enough to visit the Gypsy Baron from Soroca, in civil live Artur Cerari. He studied at an elite university in Moscow, speaks Russian, Romanian, French, Roman and Yiddish. Leaving aside his more than questionable positions on the Ukraine war and the Corona pandemic, he is a fabulous guy, hospitable and very likeable.
It looks like I planned all this, but to be honest the interview with him was a „collateral benefit“. Actually, I was just looking for the old Soroca Synagogue, of which the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad writes: "Constructed in the beginning of the 20th century, the former synagogue is currently owned by municipal authorities who have turned it into a fire station." The fire department has long since found a new home, proudly presented to me by Pavel. He is also who shows me the way to the old synagogue on the Gypsy Hill and who resides next door to it? We guessed it already: The Gypsy Baron of Soroca!
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