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Originally Posted by gualbert
Too bad you were quite young back then (for information issues)
Still, did you notice significant changes in everyday life?
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oh absolutely. From what I recall, those were the parts of everyday life before 1989:
- stores almost empty - queues in stores whenever they got supplies of meat, toilet paper, fruit and the like
- everyone had just the same stuff - you went to an apartment and EVERY family had the same furniture, the same TV set, the same chairs, kids had the same toys. Absolute uniformity
- closed borders - we could not travel anywhere else than Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. Even travelling to Yugoslavia was a nightmare back then (because their regime was more laid back, and hence, less trusted).
- any media (TV, newspapers, radio) was about success of friendly socialist countries, and about disasters, diseases and warmongering of the Western world
- every kid had to have a penpal in the Soviet Union, I also had one
- there were agents everywhere - colleagues were reporting other colleagues of any suspicious actions and everything was under strict control of the Communist party