City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

The lost world of communism, written & produced by Peter Molloy

eng

The lost world of communism

written & produced by Peter Molloy

1989 marked the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people. Having lived through those extraordinary times, they now tell their stories of life behind the Iron Curtain, looking beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political repression to reveal an astonishingly rich tapestry of experience : 1. A Socialist Paradise : looks at the 'socialist paradise' of communist East Germany ------ 2. The Kingdom of Forgetting : In Czechoslovakia, attempts to reform communism were brutally crushed in an invasion by Warsaw Pact allies in 1968. Hard-line rule, known as 'normalisation', was reimposed, where reformers were removed, reforms reversed and history rewritten. The country became known as 'The Kingdom of Forgetting' ------ 3. Socialism in One Family : looks at communist Romania where Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu ran a personal dictatorship for nearly a quarter of a century. Romanians jokingly called it 'Socialism in One Family.' Abortion and contraception were banned as the Ceausescus' rule reached far into the private lives of every Romanian. When communism collapsed, the self-styled 'mother and father of the nation' met a bloody end in front of a firing squad

not applicable