My life laid bare through secret police files (242)

Cold War Conversations

Ian Sanders

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 758 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2022

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is it like to be under secret police surveillance? On 10 March 1983, 12-year-old Carmen Bugan returned from school to find Romanian secret police in her living room. Her father’s protest against the regime had changed her life forever. In recent years Carmen gained access to the files of the Romanian secret police. She herself is surprised by the intimacy of the surveillance. Forgotten conversations, love letters, and arguments are all laid bare via the detailed notes taken by the Securitate. We hear the sadness of discovering friends and family members were involved in informing on them too. Carmen and I discuss the “language of oppression”, the subtle and not-so-subtle methods used to try and ensure a compliant population but still thwarted by humanity even in the darkest recesses of the Romanian prison system. It’s a warning from history and the meaning of freedom in current times. 0:00 Introduction of guest Carmen Bugan and her experience with the Romanian secret police 4:08 Carmen's first experience with the secret police at the age of twelve 10:55 Initial reactions to reading the secret police files and seeing recorded intimate details 18:28 Carmen's discovery of surveillance files and their impact 24:12 Carmen reads out a transcript from the files 33:57 Carmen on the conflicts stirred by the files 41:17 Carmen elaborates on why the secret police needed justifications for arrests 49:21 Carmen discusses how family members justified their involvement with the secret police 1:02:28 Carmen talks about the power of language to harm and inspire 1:13:33 Ian Sanders introduces Carmen Bugan's book and previous episode Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Buy the book here Carmen Bugan Books UK Listeners Carmen Bugan books US listeners Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation me will keep this project going and allow me to continue preserving these incredible stories. You’ll join our community, get a sought-after CWC drinks coaster as a thank you, and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show. I am delighted to welcome back Carmen Bugan to our Cold War conversation… Episode notes here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode242/ Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Don't miss Carmen's previous episode " A Childhood under the eye of the Secret Police" here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode147/ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.9	I knew there were a lot of performers and I thought, oh my God, what am I going to find?
0:11.1	Could I find people from the family? Could I find the names of my friends?
0:17.7	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:21.7	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:28.7	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss a single episode.
0:35.2	What is it like to be under secret police surveillance? On the 10th of March 1983, 12-year-old
0:41.9	Carmen Bougan returned from school to find Romanian secret police in her living room.
0:47.9	Her father's protest against the regime had changed her life forever. In recent years, Carmen gained access to the files of the Romanian secret police.
0:57.9	She herself is surprised by the intimacy of the surveillance.
1:02.9	Forgotten conversations, love letters, arguments are all laid bare
1:07.1	via the detailed notes taken by the Securitate.
1:11.0	We hear the sadness of discovering friends and family members were involved in informing
1:15.9	on them too.
1:17.9	Carmen and I discussed the language of oppression, the subtle and not-so-suttle methods used
1:23.1	to try and ensure a compliant population, but still thwarted by humanity even in the darkest recesses
1:30.7	of the Romanian prison system. It's a warning from history and the meaning of freedom in
1:36.8	current times. Cold War history is disappearing but a simple monthly donation will keep this project going and allow me to
1:46.3	continue preserving these incredible stories you'll join our community get the sought after
1:53.7	cold war compensation's drinks coaster as a thank you and bask in the warm glow of knowing that
2:00.0	you're helping to preserve Cold War history.
2:02.7	Hi, this is Tree from Berlin. I decided to support Cold War conversations with a monthly subscription for a couple of reasons.
	...

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