Struggling with freedom in the former Eastern Bloc | In Europe (full episode) | VPRO World Stories

Freedom is of great value, but what if you've never learned how to deal with it? Countries of the former Eastern Bloc are now members of the European Union. Citizens are more free than before, but that also means unfamiliarity and insecurity, especially among the older generations.

This episode starts with Radi Ivanov, Yagoda's last bear tamer. For years he made his living with his bear Gosjo, until he had to hand in the animal. Gosjo was stripped of chains and nose ring and placed in a special nature park, where he had to learn to be an ordinary bear.

Just like the dancing bears never learned to take care of themselves, Eastern Europeans didn't learn how to deal with the newly acquired freedom. Coal mines were closed, but nothing came in return. That explains the nostalgia for communism, according to the Polish writer Witold Szabłowski.

Many Bulgarians now leave their country to make a living elsewhere in Europe. Radi's daughter Ivanka, for example, who worked in Lesbos for the past few months, but now travels on to Rhodes again. In search of a better life.

The VPRO is touring Europe and European history. The series 'In Europe, History caught in the act' picks up the thread where the previous one ended: in 1999. Optimism at the turn of the century gave way to fear and confusion following the attacks on the Twin Towers, the credit crisis, an increasing flow of refugees, and an increasingly troubled relationship with Russia. But can you recognize history if you are in the middle of it? If nobody knows how it will end?

The series speaks with witnesses, that without realizing it, ended up in the middle of an important historical event. Every week we publish new videos from the new series and previously broadcast seasons.

In Europe, history caught in the act is a series with Geert Mak by Stefanie de Brouwer and Roel van Broekhoven.

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