Tusica, Fundata

Tușica was the last woman I spoke to on my trip. She grew up in Fundata, with her mother and brothers. She pointed out to me the caves that women and children would hide in when Russian and German troops passed through their village during the Second World War, sometimes hiding out for weeks to avoid being raped or killed. She told me about the famine after the Second World War, and how her mother would be gone, traveling for weeks across the country to get food for her kids. One aspect of her oral history particularly stuck with me: Fundata was never subject to collectivization by the Communist Party. Thus, Tușica's experience and relationship with her land and with her small farm is vastly different from that of other Romanian villagers.