Selected text
1932-33 was a hard period of famine. There were Torgsin [9] stores where people could exchange gold or other valuables for food. People were willing to give away their valuables for bread. My classmates’ parents sold everything of value they had to get food. The only valuable we had was my mother’s wedding ring that she exchanged for food products. She brought home bread and some flat cookies. I remember my mother giving me and my brother Zachariy oval sugarplum candy with one pink and another yellow sides. My mother divide one candy in halves: one for me and another for my brother. I was 10 and my brother was 2 years old. We threw lots for which color we would get: it was important for us at that time. Everything was sold on coupons then.
Period
Interview
Bertha Isayeva