Years ago. the Ceausescu regime sought to portray itself as the Eastern bloc government that was independentthinking. progressive. and open to the West. Today. this imagebuilding effort has failed. and Romania is regarded as the most oppressive and economically backward Communist nation in Eastern Europe. For Romanians. the reality of daily life includes harassment by the secret police. curtailment of religious freedom. destruction of ethnic identities. bulldozing of rural villages and houses of worship. food shortages. lack of heat and light. difficulties in seeking to emigrate. and the everpresent Ceausescu cult of personality. The bulldozing of ethnic Hungarian villages in Transylvania and the campaign to destroy the cultural identity of the Hungarian minority have forced thousands to flee to neighboring Hungary. It has been an amazing and unprecedented spectacle: Citizens from one Eastern bloc nation fleeing to another in search of more freedom.
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emigrate