During the late USSR, thousands of people from Soviet Georgia relocated to both Leningrad and the all-Soviet capital, Moscow. Many left Soviet Georgia to study in universities, for job placements or other career opportunities. Some of these people stayed, while others returned. Some went to Leningrad and Moscow as traders of fruits or flowers, using trade networks and access to desirable goods in Georgia to forge out comfortable livings for themselves.

We spoke with Jeff Sahadeo about his book “Voices From the Soviet Edge” which uses oral histories to explore the experiences and memories of these Soviet migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia. In particular he explains to us what the experiences of the Georgian migrants were, what their lives were like, what the Soviet experience meant to them, and how life in the Soviet Union was remembered as one of freedom, stability and better days.