Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.

I asked my dad a few times, and he said up until 8586, they thought that this would never end,

that this would go on for even our lives.

Maybe it would be a bit better and things would get better. But socialism and the

Soviet Union, it's so strong and it's so big that there's no way that anyone can or anything

can bring it down. This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the

right place to listen to first-hand Cold War

history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join our emailing list

at Cold Warconversations.com. Balant grew up in Hungary right next to the border with Austria. Part of his family escaped in

1956 and went to Australia and Ballant's grandfather survived four years in a Gulag camp.

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slash donate. So back to today's episode balance home village was a hot spot for escapes being so close to the border the locals knew the area well and helped many people across for money he tells the story of father, who used to play right next to the fence,

with his friends often messing with the border guards. They could see tractors on the opposite

side in Austria working in the fields. One quick note before we start, Ballant now lives in

Ireland, hence the strong Irish accent you will hear in the recording. I'm delighted to welcome Ballant now lives in Ireland, hence the stronger Irish accent you will hear in the recording.

I'm delighted to welcome Ballant to our Cold War conversation.

Living close to the border and also living in Hungary in early 80s what what sort of family

stories are there that you can that you can share just first just about life in that region it by the

80s it was it was not nowhere near as strict as it used to be, like in the 70s or even further back in the

60s. So obviously the system was crumbling and they probably couldn't afford to have the border

...