What was behind the Iron Curtain?

p_deep_map_iron_curtain.jpg pbs.org

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, school children in the US, only learned about The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. "The Iron Curtain" separated what we knew as Europe from the USSR, and we didn't know what was behind The Curtain.  At ages eight or nine we speculated about what the iron curtain looked like - was it like the Berlin Wall or was it more like the curtain on the stage in the school auditorium but made out of iron stretching for hundreds of miles through farms and villages.  You might laugh now, but it just was something that wasn't talked about.

 Iron‑Curtain‑Map.jpg

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Once every four years during the Olympics, we'd hear about gymnasts, swimmers and great athletes from Georgia and Slovenia, and Slovakia, and then never hear of those countries again for another four years.

For the majority American children who didn't have ethnic roots in these countries, these places didn't exist in the 50's, 60's, and 70's.  They weren't in any text books and it was almost as if the government or text book publishers thought that if they didn't tell us about them, they didn't exist. 

So for those of us who grew up in that period, we have a lot of catching up to do.....and lots of beautiful places to visit.  Yes, the countries in Eastern Europe do have Tourist Boards. I have no favorites, but here is the link to  Croatia's tourist board:  https://croatia.hr/en-GB/Homepage. 

Here's a little quiz to test your knowledge of the geography of Eastern Europe.

Travel Eastern Europe with this Eastern Europe map game.   

 http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/eastern%20europe.html