I can only speak to my own country, Bulgaria. Some things were worse, some things not as bad. Like we had to wait in line for bread every day but most people in my orbit never went without bread, at least that I knew of. I was a little kid so I’m sure they hid that kind of stuff from me. I got bullied a lot, my mom had ADHD and wouldn’t pick me up from school on time so the teachers beat me in retaliation. That kind of shit. I remember people coming in from overseas and sneaking me in a coke for Christmas. They’d sneak in western music and religious stuff. Some of my relatives were sent to camps as political prisoners, most came back eventually. It felt like there was much more solidarity between the people than there is now. Much of that remains.
I can only speak to my own country, Bulgaria. Some things were worse, some things not as bad. Like we had to wait in line for bread every day but most people in my orbit never went without bread, at least that I knew of. I was a little kid so I’m sure they hid that kind of stuff from me. I got bullied a lot, my mom had ADHD and wouldn’t pick me up from school on time so the teachers beat me in retaliation. That kind of shit. I remember people coming in from overseas and sneaking me in a coke for Christmas. They’d sneak in western music and religious stuff. Some of my relatives were sent to camps as political prisoners, most came back eventually. It felt like there was much more solidarity between the people than there is now. Much of that remains.
Romanian here, born in '94, but parents were in their 20s when communism ended. Your experience sounds very similar to theirs
I heard they tied onions on their belts, which was the fashion at the time.
I think the ADHD stuff was just the norm for that epoch everywhere, at least from what i know from people older than me