In March, 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously declared that an Iron Curtain had fallen across Eastern Europe, referencing the recent Communist takeovers. From a Western perspective, the meaning of this change was obvious. But how was it experienced by Eastern Europeans? How did the Communists seize power so quickly, and what was life actually like behind the Iron Curtain? In this episode we’ll discuss some of the initial attractions of communism, as well as later efforts to reform it.

Image: Michail Jungierek, Honor Guard of the NVA in front of the Neue Wache in Berlin (1990); CC-BY-SA 3.0