December 26th: End of the Soviet Union

Originally posted by Mosquito It is sad Maju that you dont realise the fact, that if the Basque people were living within the borders of USSR, most of them would end in Gulags, their culture and language would have been destroyed, but wait, they would have had free healthcare .... except those in Gulags ....

We have free universal healthcare now but that's a recent developement. Instead of living at the borders of the Soviet Union, where maybe we would have been assigned an autonomous republic or at least an oblast, we were suffering the fascist ditatorship of France who indeed killed many, exiled more and destroyed our culture and autonomy a little bit more than before, if that was possible.

We have also to bear the republican French nationalism with its artificial homogenizing nature, which is as unhealthy and anti-Basque that they don't even allow us to have a department of our own, having forced the union with Bearne since the French Revolution.

I can tell you we are not happy with our capitalist neghbours and opressors.

Actually I have an own personal opinion because my grandfather was impromised. However life in Hungary was better than in other Communist countries it doesn't make me happier.

Edited by Nagyfejedelem

Originally posted by Richard XIII But not dead like members of my family.

Or yes. Don't talk so fast: I know enough people, not necessarily, Basque who lost their grandfather in the fascist ideological cleansings. It's not something that is spoken about too much because Spain prefers to ignore its past but mass graves and individual ones from the behind-the-front cleansing operations are still being found - many in the Basque Country. Whole areas were simply cleansed from any "red" (read republican or nationalist as well) element who didn't manage to escape (and most didn't). It's estimated that about one million people died in all Spain in the war - and most were killed behind the lines.

But in the subsequent darkest period of fascist regime (almost 40 years!) violent control by the state was total. My aunt, who is from near the border with Portugal and was teacher in Ondarroa in the francoist era witnessed how one of her kids, who dared to call "txakurra" (dog) to a Guardia Civil (military police corps), was arrested and went out of the police station dead. Inccidents like that one were common... till one day Basques started retaliating and soon: Voil�! Here you have a flamant military tuitioned democracy... but watch out paramilitary gangs were active till the 90s. The uncle of my neighbour was one of the many killed. So many others have been impunely tortured, threatened...

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE EARLY SOVIET YEARS:1918-1945

YOUR EXPERT ON RUSSIAN HISTORY WILL HELP AS BELOW:

I basically lived there for 4 years (until i was 4 years old), and remember the red 10 ruble bill with Lenin picture on it, but my ancestors gave a good overview what was going on with us under USSR and how the happy family of the bretheren republics lived.

true indeed

yep ,or pluto or anyway else. i only want to say , you belive in  the excistence of the mars ,without beeing there ever, do you ? i mustn't have been in the ussr ,to have an opinion about that , right ?
i din't live in nazi germany ,but i know a lot of it . i'm able to read ,watch ,hear and taste.