The Volunteers Who Revived 'Romania's Life Magazine'
A group of visual historians have launched an open-access website that resurrects the Romanian photo journal Új Élet (New Life), offering new insight into the country's 20th century.
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This image, of Romanian youngsters walking on stilts, is one of more than 5,000 photos published online in early November from salvaged archives of the Romanian photo journal Uj Elet.
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The interior of Bucharest’s Caru cu bere (The Beer Wagon) photographed in 1965.
Uj Elet, meaning "New Life" was a Hungarian-language publication targeted at the approximately 1 million Hungarian speakers in Romania. The magazine began publication in 1959.
Uj Elet, meaning "New Life" was a Hungarian-language publication targeted at the approximately 1 million Hungarian speakers in Romania. The magazine began publication in 1959.
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An aerial view of Bucharest’s Gare du Nord train station
Edgar Szocs, who created the online archive, told RFE/RL that the idea came after he learned about dozens of boxes of photos taken by Uj Elet photographers languishing in a library in Romania’s Transylvania region.
Edgar Szocs, who created the online archive, told RFE/RL that the idea came after he learned about dozens of boxes of photos taken by Uj Elet photographers languishing in a library in Romania’s Transylvania region.
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Workers inside a musical instrument factory in Reghin, Transylvania, in 1980
“I contacted them and they were glad,” Szocs recalled of the thousands of images he discovered in the rural library. “They said, ‘Oh wow, you’re interested in those?' Because they’d just been sitting there for years.”
“I contacted them and they were glad,” Szocs recalled of the thousands of images he discovered in the rural library. “They said, ‘Oh wow, you’re interested in those?' Because they’d just been sitting there for years.”
