Generation Next: Mother and son

Documentary by Karin Wells and David Gutnick

Krystof Cislerova and his mother Zdenka in Prague, Czech Republic. (CBC/David Gutnick)

David Gutnick interviewed Zdenka Cislerova and her 13-year-old son Krystof late one afternoon in Oct., 2009 in their Prague apartment. This is a text transcript from the CBC Radio Sunday Edition documentary "Generation Next: Young Minds, Bodies and Souls after Communism. From Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary"

Krystof is 13, and has blonde hair down to his shoulders. Krystof is a good student and a typical teenage boy, he drives his parents a little crazy because he spends so much time playing fantasy games on the Internet. Krystof agreed to step away from the computer for a little while to sit down on the couch with his mom and me because I had brought over an illustrated book I want him to take a look at.
It is by Peter Sis and it is called "The Wall." It is about what it was life was like for children who grew up in what was then communist Czechoslovakia. The clerks in the Palace of Books Luxor—Prague's biggest bookstore—told me "The Wall" is the only children's book they sell on the topic.
It didn't take long for Krystof to read it from cover to cover. He had lots of questions for his mom about what her life was like when she was little, and what the demonstrations were like during November 1989. Until this conversation, Zdenka and Krystof had not talked about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism.

Transcript

Zdenka

It was quite tough because there were quite a lot of policemen they were very young and they had their helmets, but they were scared. You could see it in their eyes, and when I was standing opposite of them and I saw that they are scared, I told to myself, it couldn't take long. They are children; they don't want to go against their own people in fact. They had mothers and fathers and maybe they are thinking as the rest of the nation.

We are not talking as much as we should about the former times. We say that the nation has a short memory. And I think that it is true. You will find many people who will say that it was so great in former times, we have our jobs, and so on, but they don't remember that we couldn't speak freely, that we couldn't travel, all these things which are not material. But to feel comfortable in your soul it is more important.

Krystof

It must have been horrible because there was almost no freedom and there was not enough food, I do not mean the basic food, but the special food, when they want to buy tropical fruit it was impossible. I can imagine a bit of what life was like because when I got to boy scouts camp, there are also things I cannot do and sometimes that is tough.

Zdenka

I told Krystof that that is different because you know that in a week or in two weeks and you are free. But we didn't know when the regime would fall down. We didn't see the end of the tunnel. How can you understand this because he didn't feel it?

Krystof

I don't think that [Czech] society is taking care of children very well now days. Maybe really a lot of older people just forgot the past. They became rich and they don't want to think about former times.

About the radio documentary

Stone cold: statue of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin looks into a democratic future for Ukraine. (CBC/Karin Wells)

On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was smashed. That marked the beginning of the end of a dream — for communists. For many people who lived under Soviet domination, it signaled the end of a nightmare.

Almost overnight, capitalism bloomed. Whole economies were redesigned. Free speech flourished. Unemployment soared. So did interest in organized religion. Billionaires popped up. Social safety nets were shredded. Neighbours found out who had been spying on whom. Real elections were held. Here was democracy, or something like it.

Now, from the ashes of the old — still warm, still combustible — the young are building new worlds in Eastern Europe. Theirs is the first post-Soviet generation. They carry the weight of the past, its secrets and lies. And like the young everywhere, they dream about a different future.

This is the third of three CBC Radio Sunday Edition documentaries that bring us the sounds, experiences, ideas and dreams of a special generation in a series called "Generation Next: Young Minds, Bodies and Souls after Communism, from Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary" produced by Karin Wells and David Gutnick.

Listen to the CBC Radio Sunday Edition documentary (Runs 51:06) | AUDIO