The Communist totalitarian system of oppression that
operated in Romania during the period between 1945
and 1989 produced severe atrocities and crimes
against humanity. Through extended imprisonment in
the Romanian Gulag, this totalitarian system
traumatized its victims. Experiences from a traumatic
event, lacking temporal organization, and evaluative
systems, cannot be narrated in a way that accurately
communicates the victimizing experience (Barclay, 1995).
The purpose of my book is to show how Romanian
Gulag's imprisonment experiences produced trauma,
which is reflected in the narrative texts generated
by the participants in my study. I examine how the
incarceration conditions affected victims'
psychological well-being.
Using a multiple case study approach based on tape
recorded interviews, I collected interviews from six
victims of Communist imprisonment and analyzed the
content using two variables indicative of
difficulties of integrating experiences, namely,
density and coherence (Barclay, 1995). I also examine
how thematical units can express control versus autonomy.