Understanding Communism/Fascism

Gdansk, Poland?

The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Their lives have been completely altered since 1989. They also have a very unique set of opinions on the Russians.

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is fascinating as it went from being part of a puppet state of the Soviet Union in 1948 when it was part of Czechoslovakia, to being free when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989. It then became the capital of a newly-independent Slovakia in 1993 when Czechoslovakia peacefully separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Today Bratislava is booming economically as European companies— such as Volkswagen— have opened offices and manufacturing plants there.

Wow, thanks for the quick and great responses

Berlin for sure.

Bulgaria! I visited there on the RS tour in September 2022. Previously I had been to most of the places the prior respondents noted above. All wonderful and fascinating cities and countries. Would recommend all of them. But Bulgaria, at least to me, seemed somewhat different. It seemed less westernized than the other places I had been to in the old eastern bloc. Somehow the presence of the communist past seemed less removed, not as far in the past as I felt elsewhere in the East. A fascinating and delightful place to visit. There seemed to be a lingering interest in the “good old days”, especially among the older generation.

Also, Bulgaria is quite inexpensive as compared with the other parts of Europe. Very economical.

Berlin is a must see, both for the Nazi history and East/West history. I visited a divided city in 1969 and again in 2023 to a vibrant unified city. I recommend he take a city tour to separate the history of the eras.

I share your grandson's interest.

All the former Iron Curtain capitals (including those of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) now in the EU seem to have at least one serious historical museum documenting many aspects of their Communist-era history, including suppression of dissent. (I am not certain about the former components of Yugoslavia or Slovakia.) I never knowingly skip one of those museums, but a steady diet of them can be rather depressing. Be sure not to overdo it; there's a lot of commonality in museums of that type, because what the locals experienced didn't necessarily vary a great deal, so you really don't have to visit all such museums. Those government-run museums--unless very new--will probably be mentioned in any guidebook and in the city's Wikipedia entry.

The Holodomor (Famine) Museum in Kyiv is one of the best-documented and most shocking museums I've ever seen, but now would not be a safe time to visit it, and the Holodomor was a pre-WWII genocide.

There are a number of opportunities to tour prisons that held political prisoners of the Communist regimes. I've done that in Berlin, Warsaw, Lviv and Sighetu Marmației (northwest Romania). The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial has some of the most detailed explanatory information.

Some cities also have a "Museum of Communism"--usually privately run, and not necessarily under that name--that takes a more populist approach with exhibits about topics such as the poor quality (or lack) of consumer goods. The one in Berlin allows you to handle examples of Communist-era clothing and gets into problems like the heavy dependence on private gardens to supply sufficient food for the population. Other cities with museums of that type include Prague and Warsaw. There was one in Vilnius last summer, but I'm not sure whether it is to be open permanently.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin (one of the private ones) documents a great variety of escape attempts after the Berlin Wall went up.

I don't think there's any single city that's an absolute must for someone interested in the Cold War period, because the topic is well covered in so many cities, but it's true that Berlin seems to have more and larger related museums.

In addition to the very sad museums and historical sights described above, there are opportunities to visit sights related to efforts to save those discriminated against--in most cases Jews during WWII. Those can be found in Krakow, Riga, Budapest and Warsaw, among other cities.

Three movies your grandson might like to seek out are "Balloon", a somewhat fictionalized account of an escape from East Germany by balloon; "The Lives of Others", about the intense spying on the populace conducted by the East German secret police; and "Goodbye Lenin", which takes an often-humorous look at what it was like to live under Communism--again in East Germany.

The above indicates the answer to your question is "EASTERN EUROPE" in general. Its what you do, where you look and who you talk to once you get here that will have the greatest impact. When your grandson is ready to travel, if Budapest is on the list, I can send him to the right places locally and in a few of the neighboring countries. If nothing else I hope he learns the definition of facisim and applies it properly in life.

I don't know if actually visiting Prague would add too much but if your grandson wants to go a little deeper then try these:
1) Understand the circumstances on the 1948 Communist Coup.
2) Understand the circumstances of the 1950s sham trials and persecution of public figures (use Milada Horakova as an example)
3) Understand the "Federalisation" of Czechoslovakia in 1961
4) Understand the circumstances of the Prague Spring
5) Read a Vaclav Havel biography
6) Read the Charter 77 document
7) Understand the purpose of the Civic Forum
8) Watch "Kolya" (1996 Oscar for Best Foreign Film) - some of the things that went on towards the end of communist rule

The Museum of the History of the Federal Republic in Bonn, Germany is an excellent museum that tells the story of the creation of Western Germany, and by extension Eastern Germany. In fact, for a while within the museum, you actually walk two separate but parallel sections -- one telling the West's story; the other the East's. The DDR Museum in Berlin is another good one.

I know your post is specific to Central Europe, but also references Fascism...The San Telmo Museum in Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain (Basque Country) does an excellent job of documenting the rise of Franco, and life in Fascist Spain under his regime.

My direct, personal experience with Bratislava is that while you may learn something about Bratislava and Slovakia from the literature, you certainly won't gain a single knowledge advantage by visiting the place - it is bereft of any historical consequence.

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These books provided me with all I needed to know about Czechoslovakia, both past and present -

Prague Farewell - Heda Margolius Kovály

Gottland - Mariusz Szczygiel

HHhH - Laurent Binet

if I respond to the comments on Bratislava the thread will go off track.

So here, if the grandson is ineterested the life living under communism this might be interesting to him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMIz_hUvAj0

These are things you can see and touch to supplement the reading

Underground Bunker and Hospital: https://www.sziklakorhaz.eu/
Bunker F-4 https://www.urbextour.com/en/urbex-travel/urbex-budapest-exploring-f-4-rakosi-bunker/
Retro museum: https://bpretro.com/en
House of Terror: https://www.terrorhaza.hu/hu
Bunker Tour: https://www.budapestscenes.com/bunker-tour/
And as luck would have it, I happen to own a Cold War Bomb Shelter in Pest .... free for the looking.

Thank you for all the comments and sources of information. I did wonder about Bulgaria. I have some work in figuring out how to use all this information

Bulgaria? Here is something interesting: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/bulgaria-buzludzha-monument/index.html#:~:text=In%201981%2C%20after%20nearly%20eight,in%20its%20closure%20in%201989. And I know a very excellent gide in Bulgaria for when the time comes.

"The immediate aftermath of the Second World War saw Fascism and its ideological successors discredited as the ideologies of the defeated Axis powers, with eradication of Fascist ideologies a stated goal of the victorious Allies, culminating in processes like the Nuremberg trials and de-Nazification."

Communism in Eastern Germany/Eastern Europe is tragic and fascinating. Our RS guide Peter grew up in communist Hungary and witnessed first hand the changes when the wall came down. He told personal stories of traveling to Czechoslovakia to buy boots and then have to scuff them up so he could cross back in Hungary and not be caught buying them. He regaled us on the opening of McDonalds and how people would keep their McDonald's cups for weeks to show off they had dined there. He told us of the idealogical divides within his own family where some were (even today) somewhat sympathetic to days of communism.

Mr E's advice is wonderful. His list of places to see are excellent.

David, I still run into people who wish things hadnt changed. "We all had jobs ....." is usually what i hear. And the place still drips of the results of the times. My home here once belonged to a lovely elderly woman. She "inherited" it when the collapse occured. The commies assigned housing and if you were in one when the collapse occured, you inherited it. Doesnt matter that you couldnt afford the upkeep on the 100 year old building or the utilities or ..... So the buildings deterioated rapidly and the home owner associations (not really what they are called here) went into debt trying to keep the places up. That sweet old woman got a lovely place in the country for what she sold her flat for.

Outside my front door I can look up at the 4th floor of the buildig across the narrow street and see the bullet holes in the brick around two of the windows. 1956 or WWII, no idea.

I met a sweet woman a few months back whos mother put her in boys clothes and cut her hair short to protect her from the Russian rape gangs. She went on to tell me that one of the russians is still in the front garden (were mom burried the body). Like I said, this part of the world drips with stories.

And the McDonalds is an ainteresting story. Its off Vaci utca. Opened in April 1988 after the independent democratic movement had begun, but prior to the decleration of the Republic of Hungary in October 1989. Believe i got the dates correct, have the grandson check me.

ANd if you look at the video up above, you can see that not all communisum was the same. Here is something from Wikipedia

Goulash Communism (Hungarian: gulyáskommunizmus), .... Kádárism or the Hungarian Thaw, is the variety of state socialism in Hungary following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. János Kádár and the Hungarian People's Republic imposed policies with the goal to create high-quality living standards for the people of Hungary coupled with economic reforms. These reforms fostered a sense of well-being and relative cultural freedom in Hungary with the reputation of being "the happiest barracks" of the Eastern Bloc during the 1960s to the 1970s. With elements of regulated market economics as well as an improved human rights record, it represented a quiet reform and deviation from the Stalinist principles applied to Hungary in the previous decade.

And two good books, then I let this rest (for a while)

The Forbidden Sky: Inside the Hungarian Revolution
by Endre Marton

Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America
by Kati Marton

The first by a Hungarian reporter about the time of the end of the war and what happened to he and his wife as a result of being to connected to Western sources. The second a book by their daughter based on research out of the government files released after the collapse. So two views on a period.

May I suggest a fascinating book, although it covers a broader time period than the 20th Century. Goodbye, Eastern Europe. The author is Jacob Mikanowski. I chose the audio book which he narrates. He gives tremendous historical context to the events of the 20th Century. It’s quite detailed and not a light read but definitely worth it.

If your grandson really wants to live the period, he can spend a week in my bomb shelter.

Seriously though, I asked why in the hell does my apt building have a bomb shelter with blast doors and a decontamination room? The answer was for the unprovoked American first strike. And the kids did duck and cover drills. Sound familiar?

And yes, through a series of unwanted circumstances, I own it now.

I know in Warsaw and Krakow, there were "communist themed" restaurants, that were supposed to have some throwback features to remind folks of what it was like (with better food, however). That might be too whimsical, but they might have similar places and tours in most large soviet-bloc cities.

There are a couple in Budapest too. Life style is always interesting to me.

Again, I thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. Still a bit up in the air about the best approach. He will have to weigh in on what his goal for the trip is.

There are all sorts of ways to touch on the changes in society, from fascism and other forces. Here is an interesting one I ran across. The full article is here: https://xpatloop.com/channels/2024/02/poets-politicians-and-saints-budapest-changing-street-names.html but a summary of a part:

Andrassy ut named in 1886 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Budapest_andrassy_ut_1875.jpg/390px-Budapest_andrassy_ut_1875.jpg
During early Soviet Occupation: Stalin Street
During 1956 Revolution: Avenue of Hungarian Youth
1957: People’s Republic Avenue
1990: Andrassy ut

The Oktogon intersection on Andrassy ut was
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Ter%C3%A9z_%28Lenin%29_k%C3%B6r%C3%BAt_-_Oktogon_%28November_7._t%C3%A9r%29_sarok._A_szovjet_csapatok_ideiglenes_kivonul%C3%A1sa_1956._okt%C3%B3ber_31-%C3%A9n._T-54-es_harckocsi._Fortepan_23557.jpg/1920px-thumbnail.jpg
Built and named in the 1870’s: Nyolcszögű (means Octagon)
1920 Oktogon
1936 Mussolini Square
Post WWII 7 November Square (named after the Russian October Revolution).
1990 The Oktogon

The Körönd intersection on Andrassy ut
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Andr%C3%A1ssy_94_-_1895.tif/lossy-page1-1280px-Andr%C3%A1ssy_94_-_1895.tif.jpg
Originally Körönd (Circus in English)
1938 Hitler Square
Post WWII back to Körönd
1971 Kodály Körönd after a composer