Checking into Romania
The monument on the left is approximately half way along the 64 km long canal.
It is to commemorate the building of the canal by the communist regime in power in Romania at that time.
The Canal was notorious as the site of labor camps in 1950s Communist Romania when, at any given time, several tens of thousands political prisoners worked on its excavation. The total number of people used as a workforce for the entire period is unknown, as is the number of people who died in the construction. Work was completed in 1984-1987, more than three decades after camps were disestablished.
It is not visible from this angle but part of the bottom of the monument was missing. We were told later the Gypsies had stolen some of the panels.