Romanian city of Iaşi in 1988, one year before the fall of Communist regime. The photos were furtively taken by David Hadaller, one if the few Westerners to witness the final moments of Ceauşescu’s dictatorship.

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1c26yqh

by ArthRol

30 comments

  3. You could just refurbish those pictures slightly and pretend it is Russia 2024… But at least the fat guys at living on yachts in St. Tropez.

  4. Looks great. Do you know if they offer retirement visas?

  5. Putin said “USSR fall is a biggest geopolitical catastrophe of 20s century”, and a lot Russians think that too (40+ generation). This is what he wants return

    For my opinion, this was a jail for humanity

    I think only in future people will understand that communism/fashism/monarchy is a sames terrible mistake

  8. Should this disgust me so much? It just seems like a very humble and sad country, not even a really poor one.

  9. Would be interesting to have the same spots and photos of today.

  10. Something these photos doesn’t capture is the hunger everyone went through in the latest 80s in Romania.

  11. Now, you guys go to google, and search pictures of the city now.

    How it looks like now.

    That’s what happens where there’s no Sovet Union but there’s a European Union.

  12. Looks like very average late USSR city. Very typical. This is what Put-in wants to Europe become.

  13. Yes, but everyone had a job and an apartment.you didn’t have to worry about tomorrow. you knew right away it was going to be shitty too.

  16. Lovely photos!

    I would love to see a RPG/Adventure game or TV show created with the captivating aesthetic reminiscent of Simon Stålenhag’s world-building style.

  17. What a change has happened in Romania to this day and damn communist evil.

  19. look at the amazing achievement of communism and socialism, fantastic landscape.

  20. I was a kid in a neighboring country then. I remember they stopped the movie on the TV around 9pm to show some images after the Romanian power couple was executed. The transition from communism in my country was more peaceful. The dude in charge even got a trial. 🙂

  21. Looks like any Eastern European town at that time. Just replace Dacias for Skodas or FIAT 125p or Ladas. Imagine living in place like that and suddenly in 1989 system collapses. I was a kid at that time but oh boy, was I ready for new future..

  22. I’m so happy that things have changed for the better. Iași has also developed so nicely.

  23. Screw Causescu, screw commies and especially tankies.

    I live on the border with Romania, my grandparents would often smuggle things into Romania and witness so many horrors, seeing people trying to flee the regime by swimming over the Danube to Serbia, being shot while attempting so.

    Never let the red plague into Eastern Europe again. The way Romania dealt with Causescu is how every country should deal with dictators.

  24. This is all that prosperity that Russians think they were exporting to the counties they were oppressing during Soviet times.

  25. Recently spoke to a family friend of my wife who was at the forefront of the revolutionizing Bucharest: Motherfucking Christ, this was the best history lesson I’ve ever received 😧

  28. Man, commie economies really were such weak garbage. I’ll admit that as a left-winger.

  29. How did you get a permission as a westerner to enter Romania at the time?

  30. My late father – a Latvian exile – had 7 months to live when these photos were taken. He didn’t live long enough to see his homeland freed from the Soviet yoke. I was in my twenties when he died of cancer. We were with him. A year and a few months later, the SU collapsed. Unlike Russia, the Baltic states embraced European life, with a new sovereignty and openness. They, along with Romania, became true democracies.

    I wish my father had lived long enough to see that.

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