20 years of FREEDOM? memories from the golden age...
This is the question, "To be or not to be... free!"
I was lucky, compared with my parents generation to have the chance of having more opportunities, to be able to dream further than the communist limits.
20 years ago we had revolts in Romania which was presented as a popular revolution. We said good bye to the communist regime in a unique way, being the only country in the Eastern Block where 1600 people died for that. The majority were innocent people, true heroes who died to achieve our generation's freedom!
Anyway... here are some random memories I have, from 20 years ago…
At school:
-we had to sing "Tricolorul", the National Anthem those days, every single morning. The teacher was checking our ears to see if everybody has the correct hygiene. If anyone was dirty, he/she was sent home and had to come back together with the parents and was humiliated in front of the hole class. Physical punishment was allowed.
-the classrooms’ walls and hall ways decorated with Communist Party elements, logos, quotes, Ceausescu & Elena pictures, etc…
-At the break-ends in the courtyard we had to make (each class) 2 columns boys-girls rows, like a little army and the teacher brought us inside.
- we (the boys) use to have fights between the Romanian Classes and Hungarian Classes, just because... we were different.
- I was advanced as "pioneer" in the first group - the elite!!! :)) and I was really proud that I had the right to use the pioneers uniform, not like the majority, the regular one. That felt good! :)
- we had mandatory visits to the puppet theater, to some mini propagandist movies with Ceausescu, where he was presented as the most beloved Romanian, a kind of God.
-I remember the old books having as the first page Ceausescu’s picture and a message from him, communist poems instead of real literature, many communist songs at the Music Classes. At the history classes we were told that we were the best, that our leaders were great heroes, that other mean people occupied our territory and steal our resources.
-we had to go on Saturday at school as well.
At home:
-we had 2 hours TV program in the evening, mostly news and sometimes a selected movie. I remember the show “Asa Da! Asa Nu!” – “This way Yes! This way No!” where were presented some study cases and at the end was the conclusion: this way –Yes! Or This way - No! On Sunday morning we had a program for children: 5 to 10 minutes cartoons and sometimes also several minutes a part of movie for kids (a full episode could be viewed in a month). And I almost forgot… my favorite, “Teleenciclopedia” show, a kind a show like Discovery Channel where you could find fascinating things from different domains!
-we had ratio for food, which meant that every family was entitled to receive (buy) bread, butter, milk, etc. according to the number of persons. For example for the bread we had tickets and sometime, if we kindly ask the seller, we could receive today also the portion for tomorrow, in advance. Sometimes we had to be at the cue at 6AM to be sure that we will receive the product, if there were 2 wanted things we (my mum & I) had to split because it could last 2-3 hours. I remember the big box for milk at the entrance of the block where everybody who had the monthly milk ticket should receive it fresh every morning. Every family had the milk box under the locker.
-I remember the fridge, with very few products, always the same. Most of the time we had products from the countryside, from our relatives living in the villages, majority being small farmers. It worked like that: we helped them at farming and they gave us part of the harvest or meat. A nice thing was the family reunions, mostly when we had to split the products…
-“Nu te supara frate” game… the most popular board game
Outside, in the city:
-the public transport, you needed to buy the ticket from offices and mark it yourself in the bus. There were some buses adapted to consume natural gas instead of diesel, and the buses had to refuel at end of line. They looked weird with 2 or 4 big gas cylinders on top.
-on the national day we had to go in the city center with a mini flag and each block of flats had to have a big national flag
-when you went to the doctor, you needed to give him a present, Kent cigarettes or some foreign coffee was OK, but everyone gave whatever they had…
-“Fructo” & “Bem Bem” soft drinks, “Fortuna” beer
-there was a general fear about the Police and Secret Police “Securitate”
-there was the general idea that you don’t need to worry about anything, you don’t have to think too much, there are people in the Communist Party who will take care of everything. The only thing you were recommended to think about was how to make your job better, a kind of excellence but in a ridiculous way. This is one of the propagandist messages: “We are working, we are not thinking!”
And many others…
I was lucky, compared with my parents generation to have the chance of having more opportunities, to be able to dream further than the communist limits.
20 years ago we had revolts in Romania which was presented as a popular revolution. We said good bye to the communist regime in a unique way, being the only country in the Eastern Block where 1600 people died for that. The majority were innocent people, true heroes who died to achieve our generation's freedom!
Anyway... here are some random memories I have, from 20 years ago…
At school:
-we had to sing "Tricolorul", the National Anthem those days, every single morning. The teacher was checking our ears to see if everybody has the correct hygiene. If anyone was dirty, he/she was sent home and had to come back together with the parents and was humiliated in front of the hole class. Physical punishment was allowed.
-the classrooms’ walls and hall ways decorated with Communist Party elements, logos, quotes, Ceausescu & Elena pictures, etc…
-At the break-ends in the courtyard we had to make (each class) 2 columns boys-girls rows, like a little army and the teacher brought us inside.
- we (the boys) use to have fights between the Romanian Classes and Hungarian Classes, just because... we were different.
- I was advanced as "pioneer" in the first group - the elite!!! :)) and I was really proud that I had the right to use the pioneers uniform, not like the majority, the regular one. That felt good! :)
- we had mandatory visits to the puppet theater, to some mini propagandist movies with Ceausescu, where he was presented as the most beloved Romanian, a kind of God.
-I remember the old books having as the first page Ceausescu’s picture and a message from him, communist poems instead of real literature, many communist songs at the Music Classes. At the history classes we were told that we were the best, that our leaders were great heroes, that other mean people occupied our territory and steal our resources.
-we had to go on Saturday at school as well.
At home:
-we had 2 hours TV program in the evening, mostly news and sometimes a selected movie. I remember the show “Asa Da! Asa Nu!” – “This way Yes! This way No!” where were presented some study cases and at the end was the conclusion: this way –Yes! Or This way - No! On Sunday morning we had a program for children: 5 to 10 minutes cartoons and sometimes also several minutes a part of movie for kids (a full episode could be viewed in a month). And I almost forgot… my favorite, “Teleenciclopedia” show, a kind a show like Discovery Channel where you could find fascinating things from different domains!
-we had ratio for food, which meant that every family was entitled to receive (buy) bread, butter, milk, etc. according to the number of persons. For example for the bread we had tickets and sometime, if we kindly ask the seller, we could receive today also the portion for tomorrow, in advance. Sometimes we had to be at the cue at 6AM to be sure that we will receive the product, if there were 2 wanted things we (my mum & I) had to split because it could last 2-3 hours. I remember the big box for milk at the entrance of the block where everybody who had the monthly milk ticket should receive it fresh every morning. Every family had the milk box under the locker.
-I remember the fridge, with very few products, always the same. Most of the time we had products from the countryside, from our relatives living in the villages, majority being small farmers. It worked like that: we helped them at farming and they gave us part of the harvest or meat. A nice thing was the family reunions, mostly when we had to split the products…
-“Nu te supara frate” game… the most popular board game
Outside, in the city:
-the public transport, you needed to buy the ticket from offices and mark it yourself in the bus. There were some buses adapted to consume natural gas instead of diesel, and the buses had to refuel at end of line. They looked weird with 2 or 4 big gas cylinders on top.
-on the national day we had to go in the city center with a mini flag and each block of flats had to have a big national flag
-when you went to the doctor, you needed to give him a present, Kent cigarettes or some foreign coffee was OK, but everyone gave whatever they had…
-“Fructo” & “Bem Bem” soft drinks, “Fortuna” beer
-there was a general fear about the Police and Secret Police “Securitate”
-there was the general idea that you don’t need to worry about anything, you don’t have to think too much, there are people in the Communist Party who will take care of everything. The only thing you were recommended to think about was how to make your job better, a kind of excellence but in a ridiculous way. This is one of the propagandist messages: “We are working, we are not thinking!”
And many others…
posted by Ovidiu Suciu at 9:56 pm
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