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I listened to various radio stations under the communist regime, including [Radio] Free Europe [10]. I know my parents used to listen to the Voice of America [11]. I became a fan of the Communists at an early age. When I was just a girl, I was already a supporter of Petru Groza [12]. I wasn’t fully aware back then, because I knew very few things about how life had been before.
During Gheorghiu-Dej’s regime, I was very young, and didn’t know what had happened before World War II in Romania. My parents knew about these things, they had lived through them, and they could make comparisons, whereas I couldn’t. They told me that, a number of people who had been in politics were arrested during Dej’s regime.
My parents had nothing to do with politics – they were intellectuals. They weren’t arrested, like others were, for being members of the Peasants’ Party [13] or of any other party. As I grew up, I had my own moments of rebellion; but I wasn’t the only one who suffered under the regime of Ceausescu [14]. I reached adulthood in the communist period, and I can say that the last 10-15 years of Ceausescu’s ‘reign’ were the worst.
At the beginning of the 1980s, things changed dramatically. I don’t consider Communism to be a good thing and I couldn’t say what I agreed to. This is how laws were back then. I can’t adjust myself to today’s new reality, but the youth can. We, the elderly, are to blame, because we hold on to too many things that belong to the past. I had got used to Communism and couldn’t tell what was really good for our country. I have no regrets though – there is no point in that.
During Gheorghiu-Dej’s regime, I was very young, and didn’t know what had happened before World War II in Romania. My parents knew about these things, they had lived through them, and they could make comparisons, whereas I couldn’t. They told me that, a number of people who had been in politics were arrested during Dej’s regime.
My parents had nothing to do with politics – they were intellectuals. They weren’t arrested, like others were, for being members of the Peasants’ Party [13] or of any other party. As I grew up, I had my own moments of rebellion; but I wasn’t the only one who suffered under the regime of Ceausescu [14]. I reached adulthood in the communist period, and I can say that the last 10-15 years of Ceausescu’s ‘reign’ were the worst.
At the beginning of the 1980s, things changed dramatically. I don’t consider Communism to be a good thing and I couldn’t say what I agreed to. This is how laws were back then. I can’t adjust myself to today’s new reality, but the youth can. We, the elderly, are to blame, because we hold on to too many things that belong to the past. I had got used to Communism and couldn’t tell what was really good for our country. I have no regrets though – there is no point in that.
Period
Location
Braila
Romania
Interview
Cornelia Gatlan