Approaching this guest lecture I attempted to prepare myself by completing a
couple of the post-communism quests, as well as reading up on different aspects
of the exchange between fascism and communism in the Eastern Bloc. Although I felt prepared going into this class,
I now feel as though you cannot truly understand the life under totalitarianism
unless you were present during those times.
This guest lecture allowed for growth on the subject of post-communist
experience that I would otherwise not have.
In general I assumed that I knew quite a bit about the happenings in Eastern
Europe, after all we have been learning about Stalin, Hitler, Lenin, etc. since
middle school. However emphasis is never
given to the emotions of the people. You
learn about how the people starved, how they were afraid, but never hear the
experience described as “boring, cold, and dark”.
I do not believe that I gained further knowledge of structure of the
communist political, but I did find some aspects interesting. First of all, I
had always assumed it would much more difficult to depart the country. It was
also interesting to hear about her struggle whether or not to return to Romania
for her family.
In conclusion, I am very grateful for having this experience. I knew that the situation was bad, but to see
the everlasting effects on someone who left 40 years ago is very moving. Thus far, I can say without a doubt that this
was my favorite part of the course.
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