“Because A Lot Of You Have Been Asking”

“Because A Lot Of You Have Been Asking”

PART ONE:

I grew growing up under a Communist regime in Czechoslovakia (today’s Czech Republic). I am part of the Czechoslovakian baby-boom of the 1970s, the so-called Husak generation. Husak was the president from 1969 to 1987. 

When you live in a dictatorship, there are certain things that are going on. Everything was owned by the government, the schools, hospitals, restaurants, farms and everything else belonged to the government.

At school, if a girl came to school with long nails, the teacher would take a scissor and cut it all off. Because we were occupied by Russians we had to study the Russian language at school starting at the 3^rd grade. They would continuously talk about communism at my school, they used to brainwash the children, and  it’s very obvious everywhere you go. When we were young, there were children’s books, but when we were older, we had to read a lot of communist and anti-capitalist books. If a journalist wrote what he thought about the communist regime, the next day he would be on a plane straight for Siberia. There was no freedom of speech or freedom of press or anything like that. It was very difficult, many died in Siberia.

One of the rules in Czechoslovakia and any other Communist country was that every male that graduates from high school had to attend the army before they attended a university. Let’s say they wanted to go straight to school and become a doctor, they first had to go to the army for two years, and then they could attend school again. The communists were people that did not believe in religion or God. They used to teach us in school that there is no God and that the human being was created from monkeys, and that’s why they prohibited for the school children, especially, to go to church. At home, my parents did not like to talk about it too much, but they did tell us that there was a God. My MOM and DAD knew that if we were to talk about God outside, the communists could use it against us, it was very dangerous. It was the communist regime, people were afraid of everything they were doing.

I don't think the things we did as children were significantly different from kids in the West, apart from having to go to the Pioneers. This was a weekly club we had to go to. We played games. Of course, there was a strong political emphasis. We had to wear the uniforms. When there was a major event like the 1st of May, the best ones [pioneers] were chosen to accompany the politicians. We had to stand guard in front of the flag or wave." Apart from the Pioneers, kids had to attended summer camp where they played sport, went on trips, played music and learned camping skills, among other things like army training.

"I remember one morning at our summer camp when we were woken up by gunfire. The militia came, were standing outside and firing blanks. We were really scared. They were laughing saying it was a joke. When we calmed down we had practice to shoot at the targets, learn how to use guns and more….

Growing under the communism was the complete opposite of America. There was nothing in the stores, and that was very difficult. The store workers would bring some food and everybody would rush and stay in big lines to be able to buy something, and they would just sell it to you, little bit at a time, or one piece per person, per buyer. The western world were envisioned as some kind of paradise where the grass is greener and you can get everything you want. There were many things we couldn't get including chewing gum -- and bananas. Four times a year, each family could get one banana for each member of the family.

They used to tell us that America is a capitalist country and um anything capitalist is not good. And there is a lot of discrimination in America and all bad things. We knew that what they were telling us was really not true. We were afraid to talk about the communists, even at home. We felt like the walls even had ears, it was very scary to talk. Even though we obviously did not like communism, we had no other choice, we had to live with it. We wanted to see the west. We wanted to travel there, but we couldn't. Our  borders were surrounded with fence, trained dogs and solders that were ready to kill you anytime you wanted to cross the border or emigrate.   We were behind an iron curtain, we couldn’t go anywhere without permission, and that permission was never given to us. So, a lot of people wanted to escape the iron curtain.

I remember like if it was yesterday the day when it collapsed. I had a very good childhood i, even though there was a lot of suppression going on. I had enough to eat. I had a home and loving parents. Before the revolution, I was not really aware that something would change. The first information we received was not much of course because television and radio were still censored. Nobody knew how accurate the information was or what to expect from it. University students who had been involved in the demonstrations made trips out of Prague to inform people. It took days for people to realise what was happening. A couple of days after the November 17^th 1989 my parents tried to explain the situation to us. I had the feeling something important was happening but I couldn't understand the change. This was one of the first times my parents spoke with us about the regime. Later that month, in Prague (our capital) people stopped for one minute and jangled their keys. It was a grey November day. The sky was grey; the buildings were grey; the clothes were grey, and people were smiling. This is the first time I remember seeing people looking happy. 

More next time……………..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j_BW6gDv5I