Last Word....
I am often asked why we stayed in communist Hungary when so many aspects of life were uncomfortable, frustrating and difficult. Others ask whether I would turn the clock back and want, once again, to live in an 80s-style Hungary.
The truth is that there were many facets of life then that we enjoyed in spite of their difficulty. Many of these disappeared along with the red stars and statues; large numbers of Hungarians who remember the 80s miss those same things. This answer is often greeted with surprise by people who did not experience life in Hungary during those years: it doesn't mean we want to return to communism, but it would be a gross over-simplification to say everything was terrible then and that society was full of miserable citizens - or that everything is better now and everyone is happier.
This website - like my books - is an attempt to show that the truth is far more complex.
I am often asked why we stayed in communist Hungary when so many aspects of life were uncomfortable, frustrating and difficult. Others ask whether I would turn the clock back and want, once again, to live in an 80s-style Hungary.
The truth is that there were many facets of life then that we enjoyed in spite of their difficulty. Many of these disappeared along with the red stars and statues; large numbers of Hungarians who remember the 80s miss those same things. This answer is often greeted with surprise by people who did not experience life in Hungary during those years: it doesn't mean we want to return to communism, but it would be a gross over-simplification to say everything was terrible then and that society was full of miserable citizens - or that everything is better now and everyone is happier.
This website - like my books - is an attempt to show that the truth is far more complex.
March 1990: Soviet troops begin to pull out of Hungary
Brave new world: post-1989 Images
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or from Stanfords in London
and Bestsellers in Budapest.
and here for details of how to buy my book on Amazon Kindle,
or from Stanfords in London
and Bestsellers in Budapest.