Romanian survivors of the GULAG : a video testimony

Includes bibliographical references (pages 102-106)This project explores the use of video testimony as anecdotal evidence in\ud documenting the deportation to Siberia, between 1941 and 1950, of more than 100, 000\ud Romanians from the ex-soviet republic of Moldova. They were among the millions of\ud inhabitants from 60 nationalities, victims of Stalin's criminal plan for people's deportation\ud in the USSR. At the same time this project offers itself as a case-study in the use of video testimonies as a model for the collection of oral histories and as a tool to enhance\ud historical inquiry. Although there is an abundance of literature on the Soviet concentration camp system (GULAG), in general, I was unable to locate any scholarly inquiries dealing with the oppression of Romanians in Moldova, in particular. After searching through\ud numerous film and documentary databases, I reached the conclusion that no tele-visual\ud production dealt with this issue. Therefore, "Romanians Survivors of the GULAG - A\ud Video Testimony" is meant to fill this regrettable gap. The video testimonies in this thesis are offered as case studies in the acquisition of video testimony and as a first attempt at documenting the experiences of the remaining survivors of the GULAG with eight survivors of the GULAG. In front of the camera, they testified, for the first time in their life, how they were seized from their homes in Moldova, put in cattle trucks, shipped to Siberia where they were forced to slave labor in extremely harsh conditions. Their testimonies are narratives about humiliation, extreme human pain, massive psychic trauma, death and survival