{"id":76641,"date":"2024-10-17T13:33:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T11:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/?post_type=magazin&p=76641"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:38:53","slug":"life-in-transnistria-a-state-without-recognition","status":"publish","type":"magazin","link":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/en\/magazine\/traces\/life-in-transnistria-a-state-without-recognition\/","title":{"rendered":"Life in Transnistria: a state without recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\n\tTraces<\/a><\/div>\r\n

\r\n Life in Transnistria: a state without recognition <\/h2>\r\n\r\n
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What is it like to live in a place that doesn\u2019t even exist on most maps? Young people tell their stories.
\nBy Anjou Vartmann,<\/a> Michael Hinz<\/a> (text), Serghei Duve<\/a> (photos)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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The striped, flower-patterned wallpaper in Grandma Tamara\u2019s house is reminiscent of an old black-and-white film from the 1950s.<\/strong> It looks grand and elegant, but also a little dusty. The house stands on a small street in Blijnii Hutor, on the outskirts of Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. The house next door belongs to an aunt. Familiar surroundings, old-fashioned furniture and the smell of home cooking fill the house. A feeling of home spreads, a feeling of safety and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photographer Serghei Duve was born in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Moldova, and has lived in Germany for more than 20 years. Since his childhood the family has travelled to Tiraspol, to his grandmother Tamara\u2019s house. \u2018When I think of home, I think of my grandma\u2019s house,\u2019 Serghei recalls. At some point he started taking his camera along and photographing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the process he became aware of the identity conflict again and again. When he met his cousin\u2019s friends, there were often loud discussions. \u2018What do we want to become? Who do we want to be?\u2019 The generational differences in Transnistria are complex. The older generation is strongly shaped by the Soviet era and values tradition. Most younger people, on the other hand, have a global outlook and want change and better prospects for the future.

Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, is a small region in Eastern Europe that has been the subject of political controversy since the early 1990s. Located between Ukraine and Moldova, Transnistria declared its independence from Moldova after the collapse of the Soviet Union<\/a>, but this was not recognised by the international community. The region is known for its complex political situation, its ethnic diversity and its role as an area where the tensions between East and West during the Cold War and beyond can still be felt.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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