Eastern Europe in the Late 1980s Through an American Student’s Lens

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These beautiful photos were taken by Eesomest that show street scenes of Eastern Europe in 1989.

“After a school year in France, I took the opportunity of location to visit parts of eastern Europe. I have relatively few photos from the trip, as film and developing were expensive on a student budget, but those I have depict a seemingly distant place, both in time and politics. One can’t see the Berlin Wall anymore, not as it was, nor cross through Checkpoint Charlie with East German guards running mirrors under the bus. Those days are gone.”

“The end of the Iron Curtain, which came just a few months after these photos, may have been the defining event of my generation. It removed the existential threat of total nuclear war. Of course, strife and conflict go on, but it’s useful to remember sometimes how it was, all those scary theories of mutually assured destruction and the possibility of a doomsday exchange of ICBMs. Nowadays, these thoughts seem like a quaint relic of history.”

“I don’t have much commentary on these photos. I can’t even remember where some of them were taken, much less why I decided on this view or that. I do remember being thoroughly relieved when I finally boarded the Air France flight headed from Moscow to Paris. The flight attendants looked so beautiful, perfumed, clad in crepe de chine, and they served us Evian water and such delicious bread. Water and bread, the little things in life.”