A weekly creche in which children stayed from Monday thru Friday while their parents worked. They went home on the weekend.

The Gothic/Renaissance Corvin Castle built in the 15the century was in disrepair during the communist period, as seen in the gaps in the wooden bridge over the moat. Since then it has been restored. It is said to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s castle Dracula. Facing the other direction, with one’s back to the castle, one sees iron and steel works overshadowing the historical castle.

The steel and iron works crowd out the 15th century Corvin Castle in Transylvania, Romania.

This man was the cantor in the old Jewish synagogue adjacent to the cemetery where this picture was taken. He had worked as an x-ray technician which caused radiation to damage his hands.

Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan is a city of wide boulevards, 2600’ high on the fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountain range. In 2010 its factories poured 14,400 tons of pollutants into the air, exceeding maximally allowable levels especially in the center of the city where this photograph was taken. Ironically, the pollution enhanced the rainbow of colors in the sky.

During the transition from the Soviet system, garbage was not collected at a housing project on the outskirts of Dushanbe, the capital. This young man was walking his bicycle through the garbage dump.

A bomb shelter behind a school. Enver Hoxha, the ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, broke relations with the west and also with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries. He subsequently broke relations with China in 1972 when Nixon visited that country. Isolated from almost all countries, he feared invasion on many fronts. Beginning in 1967 he had 700,000 bunkers built throughout the country to protect the population from invasion. The bunkers were never used for their intended purpose. They continue to litter the countryside.

In the bathroom of an institution for children with moderate disabilities. The children did not have their own toothbrushes.

This child is living in the state-run orphanage. Too young to read, the children identify their towels and toothbrushes with numbered playing cards.

During Soviet times these horses belonged to a collective farm. They now roam the countryside, their stables in the background, destroyed with the collapse of the Soviet system.

A U.S. donor provided wood chips to heat Boarding School #5 after the 1987 Armenian earthquake. The wood chips were incompatible with the school’s furnace and sat in front of the school for years.

The bathroom in Boarding School #5

A swaddled baby in an Infants Home (Leagen). Swaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants in blankets or cloth so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted to calm the baby. The medical and psychological effects of swaddling are in dispute.

During the communist period and during the early transition, stores had few goods, lines were long and crime was very low. People placed their shopping bags to hold their place in line while they did other things until it was their turn to shop.

The Green Bridge, spanning the Neris River, is the oldest bridge in Vilnius. The statues on the bridge, built during Soviet times, depict soldiers, workers, farmers and students. Although the statues remain standing as of 2015, there is controversy whether Soviet era statues should remain.

During Soviet times and during the early transition, the government posted newspapers for the public to read.

A museum was build to honor Enver Hoxha, the ruler of Albania from 1944 until he died in 1985. During the early phase of the transition, children used the museum’s steep, sloping walls as a slide.

The home of a Kalderash Roma family

Gypsies, or Roma as they prefer to be called, live in different groups or tribes. These are relatively prosperous Kalderash Roma who live in large tin-roofed houses in permanent villages or towns.

Every year thousands of Roma from across Romania and beyond, gather in one location for socializing and celebration. This man declared himself Emperor of the Roma. Another man, his cousin Florin Ciorba, declared himself king of the Roma. Their self-declared positions were based on their significant wealth and power.

This pig’s head was part of the feast prepared by the self-declared Emperor of the Roma, Julian Radulescu, for his followers at the annual Roma gathering.

Every year thousands of Roma from across Romania and beyond, gather in one location for socializing and celebration. This Roma woman was offering a game of chance.

Every year thousands of Roma from across Romania and beyond, gather in one location for socializing and celebration. This a Kaldersash Roma at the celebration.

Gorge Costache, a member of a sedentary Roma community on the outskirts of Bucharest, is an accomplished violinist.

In the early phase of the transition, when borders became more porous, Roma migrants came to countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This young girl spent her day begging on the streets of Krakow.

A shepherd moving his flock through the streets of Cluj, a city of 300,000 in the northwestern part of Romania.

The shepherd

A Romanian Orthodox church is in the background.

Mid-Summer, June 21 is the longest day of the year. It is celebrated in the Baltic States with people in native dress, partying and celebrating all night. This picture was taken about midnight.

A foster mother. Foster care was rarely used during the communist period in Romania or in other countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Instead children who could not be cared for safely in their families were placed in large residential institutions. During the transition, countries began to rely less on large institutions and more on foster care and small group homes to care for vulnerable children.

This large market, built during Soviet times, sold food and a wide range of dry goods, furniture and housewares.

This woman read the newspaper at her stall in the market as she waited for a customer.

An outdoor market in Hisor District of about 50,000 people, 6 miles west of Dushanbe, the capital.

Three people waiting at the station in Deva for the train to Bucharest.

The railway gauge built by Imperial Russia was wider than the gauge in western countries. Trains traveling between western and eastern countries (during the times of Imperial Russia, communism, and the transition to capitalism) have to change the wheels to fit the wider gauge. It is widely and incorrectly believed that the wider gauge was designed by Stalin to prevent invasion from the west. Imperial Russia chose a gauge broader than standard gauge which remained in Soviet times, to prevent potential invaders from using the rail system. The difference in gauge did play a role in hindering invading armies, especially in World War II.

A swastika and a hammer and sickle were painted on this Jewish center. Many people in Eastern Europe associated Jews with communism.

Inside a Romanian Orthodox Church, a painting with lilacs on the side.

The Mother Superior of a Romanian Orthodox convent.

Fishermen on the Neris River which runs through Vilnius.

This child was unaccompanied, hanging like a Christmas ornament on this bare tree.