The Other Europe [antikvár]

PrefaceAlthough written to coincide with a television documentary (broadcast at the end of 1988) this book is not a reportage. It tries to provide a background to, not a detailed chronicle of, the spectacular changes under way. Since the introduction and the last chapter were written in May 1989, a Solidarity government has taken office in Poland; die Hungarian Communist Party has changed its name and is run by a man who claims to be a social democrat; tens of thousands of East Germans voted with their feet and fled for the West via Austria and Hungary (or Austria-Hungary?), which became a transit zone between East and Westa metaphor for a new Central Europe in the offing.The updating had to stop, but the task remains: to treat the present as a problem of history.This book was written after extensive travel to the countries of the 'Other Europe' with a film crew (known as the 'merry gulag'). My thanks go to Michael Jones and Nicholas Eraser from Panoptic Productions for their generous act of faith in taking me on board; to Tom Roberts, the director, for never taking no for an answer from a Soviet bloc official; and above all to the many Central Europeans who offered their insights and their help. I hope that they recognize themselves in this book. My thinking about the 'Other Europe' owes a great deal to two friends and colleagues in Paris, Pierre Kende and Pierre Hassner. Special thanks are due to Cara Morris, who agreed to be the first reader of the manuscript, for her helpful hints and suggestions.JR