Olga Romanovich was kidnapped and sold to gypsies [not pictured above] in exchange for a pair of gold earrings when she was just four-years-old.
Her mother, who had split from her husband, left Olga at home to go into a shop and buy a packet of cigarettes.
The little girl was abducted and sold on to a gypsy family in Ukraine, in exchange for a pair of gold earrings.
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Now Miss Romanovich - whose name was changed to Maria Preyda by her adopted family - has been reunited with her birth family in Belarus after Interpol helped her track them down.
She told newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that, despite being loved by her new family, she could never shake off the feeling she didn't belong.
Olga said: "I was loved in that gypsy family, they raised me as well as they could.
"Over time, I learned the gypsy language and gradually Moldovan. I went to a Russian language school, entered college, studied as a cook and hairdresser.
"Yes, you live by their customs, talking, behaving. But always I was asking one question: 'Who am I? Where I come from? How did I come here?'
"These questions always tormented and tortured me. I wanted to know the truth. Who were my parents, even if they sold me. I would like to know who I am, what is the blood flowing in me."
It was only when her adoptive grandmother fell ill before her death at age 73 that Olga decided to track down her parents.
Working with Interpol, Olga was able to track down her real family and is now living with an aunt in Minsk.
But her story doesn't necessarily have a happy ending.
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Speaking about meeting her birth mother, Olga said: "I cried. My mother is very ill. She doesn't live, she just exists. She lives in her own corner of the world, and I do not want to hurt her.
"I do not resent what happened. She also experienced a lot of things. I cannot judge her. She is not to blame for what happened, it was just fate."