Jandarmi, Cornova, Basarabia, 1931

Iosif Berman · 1931

The photo comes from the monographic research undertaken by the Sociological School from Bucharest under the direction of Prof. Dimitrie Gusti in Bessarabia, Cornova locality, jud. Orhei (today the Republic of Moldova, Ungheni district), from the hilly region of Codrului, on the valley of Cula, with 380 Romanian families. During the investigation we conducted the second sociological documentary of the School, “Un village basarabean, Cornova” (operator T. Posmantir, directors - Em. Bucharest-H. Stahl, At.GolÎn) resumed by the director Pompiliu Gâlopenu under the name “Cornova - goodbye after 60 years.” From the team that participated in the shooting in 1931 (25 June - 13 August) was present from the 55 researchers only Gh. Focsa, the first director of the Village Museum from Bucharest. Introduced after the union of Bessarabia with Romania from 1918, the institution of the gendarmerie had the role of preserving order, security and public peace. For this in all the settlements we set up gendarmerie posts. The photo depicts two gendarmes in specific uniform, probably in the courtyard of the local gendarmerie post. The one that immortalized the moment was Iosif Berman (1892 -1941), journalist and official photographer of the Royal Court, who accompanied Professor Gusti’s teams in almost all the village monography campaigns. One of his great qualities was the capture of the snapshots of the village life. He was also an uneventful portrait artist.