Dejid Juurai
Dejid was born in Ulaanbaatar in 1953. She lives with her husband and three children. She graduated from Kiev’s Institute of Technology with a specialty in clothing engineering and technology in 1977. Since her graduation, she held a variety of high profile positions in the Ministry of Economic Development and Public Service as a lead engineer and head of the laboratory, and as a vice-director for “Best Design” company, for which she is currently a consultant.
Dejid has done over seventy interviews for the Oral History of 20th Century Mongolia project. In addition to Ulaanbaatar, Dejid travelled to various corners of Arhangai, Dornod, and Sühbaatar aimags. She also interviewed people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including Halha, Üzemchin, Barga, Dariganga, Buryat and others. As someone who grew up during socialism, Dejid was keen to learn the details about the country’s modernization and especially achievements in industrial and technological spheres. Many people put their best efforts in building the country’s infrastructure, for instance, installing the central heating, plumbing, and waste management systems in the sedentary parts of the country, building light and heavy industry centers, and implementing the state of the art technologies in agricultural sector and animal husbandry, and building from scratch the mining sector of the country. However, Dejid regrets that under the name of privatization all these achievements were wiped out. All the factories and industries that people built during socialism had been destroyed and invalidated. As a result, large segments of the working population as well as professionals who received expensive education in Eastern Europe and other countries also lost their value and had to find employment unrelated to their expertise in the aftermath of socialism. Such histories are extremely important to record and to remember for individuals and for the country.
Many thanks to the team of the Oral History of the 20th century of Mongolia.
Click here to see all the interviews Dejid has conducted.
