Nostalgia For Communism In Eastern / Central Europe, Explained

What You Need To Know:

✓ There is not one moment of realization in a society that it is living under authoritarianism;

✓ Communism provided a certain security that plays into today’s nostalgia for it;

✓ "When people are given choice between freedom and security, they will choose security";

✓ Croatia was an independent fascist state between 1941 and 1945, but in 1991 the Croatian government stopped mentioning that fact 

“People pretty much know that they are living under a totalitarian regime. Everyone is more or less aware of limitations. They realize that they don’t have freedom of expression, freedom of movement, human rights etc. but when Communism fell it happened unexpectedly, from the sky… and people were very much shaken and very much afraid," says Croatian writer and journalist Slavenka Drakulic. "There was this fear of what is new, what is coming… When people are given choice between freedom and security, they will choose security. “

Drakulic believes nostalgia plays a big part in memory of Communism, “In private memory it’s a feeling of security and being taken care of. It’s a tradeoff. I would reduce that feeling of nostalgia to that feeling.”

She says that when Croatia was independent between 1941 and 1945, it was a fascist state, but in 1991 the Croatian government stopped mentioning that fact which has resulted in many young Croatians today not believing Croatia was a fascist state at all.

Hromadske International's Angelina Kariakina spoke to Slavenka Drakulic in November, 2015.