Within the framework of the “Home On The Border” project, our team has been creating multimedia stories about ethnic groups, communities and individuals for whom border areas became home. All members of our team were born and live in Transnistria – an unrecognized state that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. For 26 years it is formally been under the jurisdiction of Moldova, but in fact it is not controlled.

This region of South-Eastern Europe has been a border zone throughout its history and is characterized by multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity. We explore Transnistria, Moldova and the surrounding area from the viewpoint of ethnic and national minorities who came to the land border from both East and West, creating the current cultural diversity in the region.

Our project uses a variety of tools (picture, text, video, open archive data and family archives), trying to focus not only on the present day, but to raise the theme of historical memory. We try to follow the footsteps of the borderland residents, generation after generation.

Our project started with a history of the German colonists. This story is called “Glückstal”. Glückstal in German means “Valley of Happiness.” This multimedia narrative is about the Germans who in the early 19th century began colonizing and domesticating the wildlife of the prairie valley on the left bank of the Dniester River. We have tried to cover the 200 year history of Transnistrian Germans and show how the utopia of a happy, tranquil and prosperous life contrasts with the precarious new reality of the border areas.