On the 3rd of March 1949, most of the Transylvanian aristocracy were arrested by the Romanian Workers' Party, deported, imprisoned, tortured, and dispossessed. They were the ultimate class enemies. They were forced into hard labour in steelworks, quarries and the like, but secretly maintained connections and rituals. Jaap Scholten travels extensively through Romania and Hungary, meets survivors of the Romanian Gulag, and the next generation, and relates what happened to them, and how the process of restitution of assets is now under way. Inspired by Patrick Leigh Fermor, this is a very enjoyable and moving book about a world and a history I didn't know existed. There are so many stories here, tragic and humiliating, but engrossing and powerful.