Emily,
Do You know that You ask for something almost impossible - to tell in 2-3
words how the life's been behind the iron curtains. Who knows, perhaps I'm
able to write a novel (at least I have translated some books of such
volume), but dear fellow-forumists, my feeble pen is all inadequate to
such a task here and now :)
First of all I'll reveal a big secret to You - people are so much alike
everywhere all around the world. If the governments or circumstances make
us do things, or - what's more likely - prohibit us doing some other
things, then noone can prohibit us thinking, caring and creating.
Soviet occupation in the Baltic states was on a rather thin ice - it
started after organized coups when the military bases contract was
confirmed and considerable army forces were brought to our countries. The
change was staged in 1940. My parents were both born in the 1st Republic
and they knew what was going on. They also told me about how thing are and
were earlier. They still did not give any directions, but raised a person,
disposed to doubts ifever possible, instead.
And - be now careful - not only ordinary people, but also our officials
had the so-called double morality - one for public situations and the
other for their (our) private selves. We were called "radishes" - thin red
skin outside, but deeply white inside :)
Books were translated, especially after the 1958 "thaw". There were
problems, but in every publishing house or editorial office there was
someone on high position (usually the editor himself) who had to take the
responsibility for "faults" (i.e. suspicious books, articles, translations
etc.). Usually they were on high positions in the Communist Party and
often everything ended with bare call on the carpet or reprimand at the
party bureau. There were people who knew how to walk on the razor's edge.
Of course there were also lots of opposite cases or instances, but such
was the life. BTW my mother worked in a leading newspaper's editorial
office and writing about higher education and information was heard at our
home.
I was put to an English language declined special school, i.e. sort of
elitary school where lots of children of "red bosses" were attending to
get slightly more proper education. A son of a journalist was then sort of
lower league, but people were then much-much more equal than now. It was
the common situation we all had to take (and in fact nobody then believed
things would ever change again).
We started learning English language from the 3rd semester of the 1st form
(I was 6 then), although some of us had started in the kindergartens
already (you know - good morning, good afternoon, door, window, cupboard
etc.). Now - Russian language were started to learn only from the 2nd form
and almost for a year they did not have any proper methodology or
methodics. They tried to make us pronounce all these "hissing and
fizzling" phonemes (for me these never were any problem, but some kids had
real hard time). Later we had also some specialities in other languages
(geography in English and in Russian, History in English, British
literature in English for 3 years throughout the high school years (9 - 11
forms). This last syllabus was the most useful one (and now it seems, that
also the most enjoyable). We started with Beowulf and King Arthur's
Legends; we read lots of excerpts starting with Shakespeare (even by
heart!), Pope, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Maugham, Thackeray, Bronte sisters
(our teacher was a single old maid :), Longfellow, ending with the Angry
Young Men.
But also in Russian we read all kind of stuff. So I could speak russian
rather well, although no chances in the recent time. But watching movies
or TV is very OK.
Perhaps it is not so easy to describe the life we lived here, but
generally people all over the world do their jobs and deal with hobbies
(if not active wartime), they do not speak about politics every day.
The fact that newspapers or TV were overwhelmed by propaganda was somehow
similar to how newspapers and TV are now overwhelmed with equally
poisoning and personality-killing commercials (that were almost missing
earlier days).
We didn't earn much money these days, especially young scientists 10-15
years after graduating were getting slightly more that the official
minimum. But food was cheap and there was nothing to buy anyway. Only film
and chemicals :)
(Then again nowadays it has changed better, but not SO MUCH. Lots and lots
people are earning 4-5 thousand EEK per month (= about 300 EUR), nature
conservation workers therein. That's why I left the Reserve 2 years ago
and now am eating the bitter bread of a freelancer. Not much better, but
more freedom and choices. For comparison - official average salary is less
than 10 000 EEK, that makes about 600 EUR per month), while prices are
smoothly equalizing with those in the EU. Well ... OK, there is still some
room for improvement :)
Back to the 70-ies and 80-ies.
Photographic materials were of very sporadic nature those days, but usable
after making some tests and buying film with the same serial production
number. Cameras could be very OK, if you were lucky to get a good one. I
have used Zorki, Kiev and Zenit and medium format Ljubitel, Kiev and Iskra
for both B&W and colour slides (ORWOCHROM and AGFACHROM). In the beginning
of the 80-ies my uncle in the United States (who was not a very wealthy
man) heard about my photographic activities and sent me a simple manual
Nikon and 3 lenses through some frieds' friends in Finland.
I shot myriads of B&W pictures those days, working in the Matsalu Ramsar
site in West-Estonia.
Much later I read that 70ies and 80ies were the golden days of stock
shooters and found out how I had missed my opportunities :(
In my university days I sent pictures to Pardubice, Chechoslovakia, to the
contest named Fotografia Academica. Didn't won anything, but was up on the
contest's exhibition wall several times.
I also performed with slide programs as often as I could, but those days
only some top professionals could publish in the very few magazines and
for others photography was a quite "harmless" hobby - as they used to say
in the papers: "Socialist by the content and ethnical by the form".
And we were reading, reading, reading these days. Plenty and plenty of
books were printed. Usually 1 good foreign author was translated amidst of
2-3 russian or other soviet nationality authors (that could be splendid as
well). We were reading, for there was no other options (drinking of
course, or in the countryside working out on your vegetable field).
Business did not rob any time from people then, as it does now, although
some people were wealthy enough to build private houses. People earned
well in some collective farms, building companies, amelioration and on
fishing ships on the sea. They could earn about 5-7 times more than me
(junior scientific collaborator, later monitoring specialist). In farms
people were allowed to keep some cows (don't know the exact number, but I
think it was 2 cows + some calves and pigs; for some years I tried to keep
some sheep, while living amidst seminatural wooded meadow and coastal
meadow landscapes in Matsalu Wetland Park, but had no proper shed and was
financially and professionally unable to build one. I was also most of the
time out on the field works, photographing in the nature or fishing. I was
a (geo)botanist, I had a motorboat and I was encouraged by our scientific
director to plan my monitoring sites and schedules myself, as long as I
could produce reasonable annual report and some articles for the Reserve's
proceedings and yearly collection of scientific papers.
I was into multivariate methods these days and was using several
classification and ordination techniques on Apple II and mainframe
computers in the middle 80-ies. The software was from the best scientists
of these days, sent personally on floppy disks from different parts of the
world and nothing happened to these disks in the international mail. These
were arriving from Cambridge, Sheffield and Cornell Universities and
elsewhere and the funniest thing was how I received an invitation to a
very prominent conference of phytocoenology, which arrived here just in
the crazy week of 1992 military coup in Moscow when tanks were attacking
Tallinn TV tower. During the same week we had the 2nd European Renewable
Energy Seminar here in the reserve, in Puhtu Ornithological Centre, where
lots of foreigners were attending. I was one of the organizers and have
the most hectic memories from that week. And no fear, as much as I
remember.
It was in the middle of August and walking home in the middle of the night
after an event I saw huge Northern Aurora light show in the Northern sky
as a sign of something. Had neither any camera nor even a tripod with me :)
Now I have very sporadically written lots of stuff here, that won't tell
anything particular, but some hectic memories of mine, but everyone is
happy in his/her childhood or youth and I was no exception. If you could
find interesting activities (very possible) the life could be really
enjoyable. There was much (mental and spritual) freedom in the middle of
the Walls. And of course Nature was then the refugium of the "different"
people and we recognized each other by washed light green colour of the
worn tarpaulin storm jackets and a worn Zenit SLR camera over the shoulder
:)
Do not hesitate to ask more questions, if interested. I even promise to
respond briefly once in a while :)
Take care!
Peeter Vissak
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:26:01 +0200, Emily L. Ferguson
<elf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Peeter,
For years now you've been part of this forum and from time to time I've
wondered about how you found the forum but mostly about what assumptions
you grew up with over there on the other side of the Curtain.
Your English is really good. What brought you to the opportunity to get
it that good? Is your Russian as good? Were you able to study both in
school? Do you need them for work?
How many years did you survive behind what we call the Iron Curtain?
Were you able to take photographs during those years? Were you able to
travel west from Estonia? Was the world really different in Estonia
before the end of the Cold War? Or was it just life, the way things
were?
Or did you grow up somewhere outside the Curtain and return to your
family's homeland once the Curtain came down?
So amazing, to me, to be a 20th Century person spanning those 60 years.
I'm curious about how people on that other side experienced it.
Would you tell us about it?
--
Kunstiline foto näitusteks, koju ja interjööri: www.fotovissak.com
