My Parent's Experience During the Cold War

Even though my mom was only about five or six years old, she has a few memories about learning about the Cold War in school. She recalls that in school they were taught about the freedoms banished within the Soviet Union. Specifically, the bans on religion and rights. She recalls that they were also taught about the fear that the US had of the Soviets having an atomic bomb. She remembers that some buildings had signs that read "Fallout Shelters" a place that one was supposed to reside if an atomic bomb was dropped. She also remembers that people were most afraid of Cuba because it was right off the coast of Florida. This was because Cuba was communist and its weapons were supplied by the Soviet Union. She remembers having Civil Defense Drills in school twice a year in which they had to practice walking home from school. This was to prepare for a time that children couldn't contact their parents and streets weren't open because a bomb was dropped or an air raid occurred. My mom also remembers at the age of about 30, watching the Berlin Wall fall on tv. 

        My dad recalls his trip to the Soviet Union in 1979-1980 in an exchange program. He visited Moscow and Leningrad. He met other college students that said that they occasionally got to read Newsweek and Time which surprised my dad. He remembers seeing few cars on the street because of their poverty. And he remembers the gross food that they fed him because of their lack of money. He recalls that his friends traded his Levi jeans for a bunch of collectables because the Soviets were unable to buy jeans. When he returned from his trip, they were warned that the Soviets were going to check their luggage to make sure that they didn't take anything that they weren't allowed to. He and his friends got nervous that they were going to take some of things they had bought. While they were in the Soviet Union, the Soviets had invaded Afghanistan and my father or no one else on the trip had learned of this until they had returned home. When my father was a kid during the Cold War, he remembers through his temple, sending Russian Jews religious items to celebrate their religion and money to help them get out of Russia and go to Israel.