A Hungarian childhood in Cold War Romania (230)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zsolt Akos Pall was born in a small town in the Hungarian speaking part of Romania. For ordinary people, life in Romania in the 1980s was very hard and it could be even worse if you were a part of the Hungarian Szekler minority since the Communist government persecuted the Hungarian minority. They even made them change their Hungarian names into Romanian. Zsolt's brother was renamed Istvan to Stefan. However, Zsolt was baptised Zsolt, since there was no Romanian equivalent to it. Zsolt describes the shortages, his schooling and many other stories of life in Romania during this period. We end the episode with Zsolt’s plans to escape to Sweden. Don’t miss Part 2! Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You’ll get a sought after CWC coaster as a thank you and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show. I am delighted to welcome Zsolt Akos Pall to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode230/ If you can’t wait for next week’s episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations on Facebook. 0:00 Introduction and early life in Romania 2:36 Life under communism and experience of the Hungarian minority in Romania 15:56 Impact of shortages on daily life and industry 18:47 School life, propaganda, and societal structure under the regime 27:02 Cold War hobbies: Young pioneer experience and photography 32:59 Brother's journey out of Romania and Western influences 38:35 Zsolt's escape attempt and first love 41:12 Life goals in Hungary, brother's journey to Sweden, and pivotal decision 44:27 Closing remarks, acknowledgments, and sponsor mentions Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.8	We knew that we won't be able to leave the country. I mean, we know that we have to be here for all our lives.
0:13.1	Didn't foresee any changes to the regime. It seemed so rock-solid.
0:21.9	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:26.6	If you knew here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War
0:31.5	history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss out
0:36.3	on future episodes.
0:38.9	Salt Acos Powell was born in a small town in the Hungarian-speaking part of Romania.
0:45.2	For ordinary people, life in Romania in the 1980s was very hard,
0:50.0	and it could be even worse if you were part of the Hungarian Zekla minority since the communist
0:55.2	government persecuted this Hungarian minority. They even made them change their Hungarian names
1:02.6	into Romanian. Zolt's brother was renamed from Istvan to Stefan. However, Zolt was baptized
1:09.3	Zolt since there was no Romanian equivalent to it.
1:12.6	Zolt describes the shortages, his schooling and many other stories of life during this period.
1:20.6	We end the episode with Zolt's plans to escape to Sweden. Don't miss part two.
1:26.6	Now Cold War history is disappearing. However, a simple monthly
1:33.3	donation will help to keep this podcast on the air. You'll get the sought after Cold War
1:38.8	Conversations coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing that you are helping to preserve
1:45.7	Cold War history.
1:47.1	Hi, I'm Andrew, and I'm very proud to support Cold War conversations with a small donation
1:51.8	each month, because Ian's put together such a brilliant range of interviews.
1:55.7	If you want high power, there's the son of Nikita Khrushchev, that are cross-border romances, old-fashioned spy stories and the bizarre world of East European football.
	...

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