Russian women who are 100 years old now lived under the Czar, through the Revolution, endured World Wars I and II, suffered under Stalin, remember the Cold War, experienced glasnost, and now tell us what they think. English Russia has a translation of an article from Russian Esquire, with portraits and stories of seven centenarians, including Sarra Isaakovna Prinyakina:
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I do not remember the revolution quite well. News didn’t reach Siberia fast. We could not understand what was happening. A White ataman came to our village, we thought it was a revolutioner and all went outside to welcome him. But were only whipped.
When I grew older I moved to sister in Ulan-Ude. There I got married with one guy and had a daughter. But he went to the front and never came back.
I worked as a horse. Lived in a dugout, took care of cattle, fleeced, carried potatoes for 25 km away.. We had no bread and we ate only potatoes, it made children sick. But that was nothing. One man with his son, evacuated from Leningrad, lived nearby, they ate leather and glue.
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What an interesting mix of personalities and perceptions. The first woman just seems so defeated, but then there is another that is telling you to be elegant and always kind. Beauty fades but not kindness.
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