Moldavia minority / produced by William Mandel

Interview done in U.S.S.R. in September 1977, with Maria Vasilievna Marievich, a female anthropologist of a Turkic-speaking tribal minority the Gagauz, living in Soviet republic, Moldavia, bordering Romania. She is the assistant head of the anthropology sector of the Academy of Sciences of Moldavia, which at the time, was in the Republic of the Soviet Union just east of Romania. First we discuss the changes in the life of her minority, as experienced by her personally, in Soviet times. She is 40, but her area was held by Romania 1920-1940 but for one year, so the "Russian Revolution" occurred for her after World War II. Then we turn to her personal autobiography: 1 of 9 children of peasants who had too little land to make ends meet and had to work as laborers on the side before the Soviets came. Two children died essentially of starvation, one of hardship-caused illness. Interview portion contains Russian spoken in low volume in right channel, Mandel's English translation in left channel. The interview is approximately 28 minutes long, followed by listener call-ins.