Author Archives: Eric Sorlien

Cris from Cluj-Napoca, who runs the Etsy store of artisan goods called BohemianesqueDesigns, has written me several times about her insight into collecting in the 1980s and some other things you will find interesting. Here are some quotes from her personal communication: Oh, the porcelain figurines! 😊 There were ones that nearly everyone had! TheContinue reading “Collectibles 2”

Romanians collected many things that American teenagers wouldn’t have thought worth collecting or were collected more by previous generations here. One thing I haven’t come across is soccer or other sports cards. Instead people collected the tickets. Not much LEGO, very few Walkmans (tapes weren’t sold in stores) no Gameboys or Nintendo (no batteries inContinue reading “Collectibles”

Here is my collection of books of dissident authors, poets, playwrights and journalists. Some are banned writers publishing outside of Romania or emigres living in such places as Hungary, Germany, France, Spain and the U.S. In Romania from the late forty’s until 1989, intellectuals and writers were imprisoned, sentenced to hard labor, had their worksContinue reading “Book Censorship”

My friend MIrcea from Brasov told me the following jokes in 1990. There must have been a high degree of risk in telling jokes like these. In the morning the sun greets Mr. Ceausescu with “Good Morning Mr. Ceausescu, you look wonderful. In the afternoon, while eating lunch, the sun greets Mr. Ceausescu with “GoodContinue reading “Subversive Jokes”

This is a continuation of yesterday’s blog entry showing the “new” phone models. The excerpt here from Pacepa’s 1987 book shows the connivance behind the introduction of the colorful phones. The extent of the control over Romanian’s daily lives is mind blowing. From Ion Mihai Pacepa’s “Red Horizons” Pages I35-137 “ “Approved [Ceausescu speaks] StartingContinue reading “Phone (and TV) Tapping”

These are a few examples of telephones developed by the intelligence service to listen in on room conversations even when the handset was in its cradle. The innocuous looking phone had three wires, as opposed to our two in the U.S. I can only guess that the third wire was a microphone wire? To listenContinue reading “Three Models in Five Colors”

These are resettable fuses that my friend MIrcea in Brasov let me take from his apartment in 1990. One is 6.3 amps and the other is 10 amps. These two fuses would cover the entire apartment. During the eighties these two fuse breakers were of sufficient amperage because everyone in Romania was allowed only blackContinue reading “Theater of the Absurd”

This entry is shortened from a CIA report dated 3/85 and was declassified in 2010. It goes into good detail about the cause and effect of the exporting of products that were desperately needed by the Romanian people. These severe shortages were the result of the “vigorous pursuit of debt reduction” and the energy crises.Continue reading “CIA: Prospects for 1985”

Here is a memory shared with me by Codrut from Bucharest, He was 11 years old in 1989. We (me and my family) were not usually eating three meals a day, but most often only one. My mother was a chemistry teacher and she was giving private lessons, during the late 80’s, in exchange forContinue reading “Fruit on Holidays”

New Years Day during Communist Party times was the only day during the holiday season that workers had off. While the workers were at their jobs December 24th and 25th, the kids and the elderly could attend church, but no official celebrations of Christmas were held. It wasn’t until December 31st that Mos Gerila broughtContinue reading “Icy Old Man”