Watch full video with Olga on Youtube
Short video – coming soon
Olga has seen a thing or two! Born in 1933 she has survived WW2 and the Communist regime. She tells her story with a resilient smile that only the peaceful and the victorious wear. Her love for life, her ability to adapt and survive are inspiring.
She grew up in the shadow of King Carol 2 of Romania who abdicated at the start of the war. Later she saw the Russian soldiers trod over her beloved country. She talks about “davai ceas, davai sotie, multumim de tovarasie,” the effective model of the Russian army toward their friends. translated it means: “give me your watch, give me your wife, thank you for the friendship.”
Later her first and second husband were both thrown in jail for being against the socialist state. For helping a jailed poet who was jailed, for hiding some gold coins and such trivialities. She has seen corruption on systemic and epic systemic scale.
In her professional life she worked as a medical lab technician, then as an accountant. She saw the corruption first hand. She tells how coper and aluminium wires were traded for color TV – when those were new and you had to spend time on a wait list to get one. If you brought “bakshish” in the form of some wires you were able to move to the top of the list. It was a win win for you and for the shop keeper – the wait list … what list. That was the attitude during communist times.
Her’s is truly an inspiring story of survival, of serenity, and ultimate triumph. She lives with her daughter and her family close by and encourages us to remember what happened and learn from history.
Reflection Questions
- What keeps you going when “the system” is rigged and corrupt? How do you keep your hope up?