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Q and A with Olga Shaw

 

Olga Shaw. Photo courtesy of Olga Shaw
Olga Shaw. Photo courtesy of Olga Shaw

My interview subject, and mother, Olga Shaw, was born and raised in the USSR, migrating to Australia in 1989. She was born in Grozny, Chechnya in 1965, before moving to Moscow for further education. Olga is of Russian descent, her ancestors had moved to Grozny as a result of the Russian Revolution. There she spent her childhood, and teenage years. The information outsiders often received about Soviet Russia, and the tumultous region of Chechnya, did not always reflect the reality of life there. I decided to interview Olga to gain some insight about a native’s experience growing up during the Cold War in the Soviet Union, as it was something that interested me both politically, and personally. Interviewing my mother about her childhood seemed logical, as her answers were unrestrained and she felt comfortable talking to me about her early life.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in Grozny, in Northern Caucus. I was born there, in 1965, and I stayed there until I was 19

Q: What was the atmosphere like during your childhood?

A: Well, we always knew we were Russians, and not just Russian-Russians, and not just Russians, but also Ukrainians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and because we were Christians, we were on one side, and on the other side there were Chechens and Ingush, but we knew each others customs and traditions, and cultures, and when we worked together, went to school together, lived together, everything we do we would respect their ways, we knew what was appropriate and what was not appropriate when dealing with them.

For example, if I was at a Muslim friends house, and if she had guests that came suddenly, I knew I would have to leave because she would have to immediately go and help serve them, and wouldn’t have time for me.

Q: What did you do for fun?

A: Everything that you do, we go to the movies, we go the disco, we go camping, walks with friends. Hang around, sports, lots of sports. In all of this, our Muslim friends were all with us, they were not restricted to do all these things with us.

There were also Children Palaces, cultural centres, where the government ran all sort of choirs, art, music, sport, whatever you can think of. They were all free, the government paid the teachers there, and we had a big choice of things to do after school that would keep kids busy and entertained.

Q: What were birthday celebrations like?

A: Just like here, you invite your friends for dinner, and when you were at school, you’d invite your friends over, but as we lived in flats we couldn’t have that many. We would set the table, have dinner, and maybe dance.

Q: Where there clubs that you went to?

A: I wouldn’t say we had a club system, but we had discos that were organised by organisations. There was another taboo, were women wouldn’t be able to go to restaurants by themselves. Café’s were fine, but café’s were what we might call Restaurants here in Australia, and Restaurants were places where there was live music, posh places, where you could dance as well.

Q: What is one of your most memorable experiences?

A: I reckon I had so many really good friends, and I’m still really good friends with them! I think the relationships between the people, were so deeply open and honest, at school, at university. Thirty years have past, that if I call my friends, or visit them in Russia, that I don’t feel as though so many years have past, and we still have the same feelings to each other.

 

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