In 2012-13, as part of an Open Society Foundation fellowship, I re-interviewed many of the people I talked to in 1990 when I traveled for seven months through East-Central Europe. Twenty-three years later, I also interviewed a wide range of additional people in order to get as broad a picture as possible of what has changed (and not changed) in the region since the transformations of 1989.
I send out a periodic newsletter. You can subscribe in the box in the right-hand column. I will be updating this list as I add the latest interviews from my four trips to the region.
Fred Abrahams, A Child of 1989 (Berlin)*
Judit Acsady, The Flowering of Feminism in Hungary (Budapest)
Mariusz Ambroziak, From Solidarity to Business (Warsaw)*
Milan Antonijevic, Human Rights in Serbia (Belgrade)
Tanase Barde, Romania’s Resort Tourism (Constanta)
Robert Basch, The Czech Culture of Corruption (Prague)
Johannes M. Becker, Heading East (Bonn)
Bill and Anne Beittel, Rebirth of the Countryside (Brodowin)*
Javor Benedek, Rebuilding Hungary’s Green Politics (Budapest)
Irfan Besirovic, Becoming Erased (Ljubljana)^
Andras Biro, Democracy without Democrats (Budapest)
Sonja Biserko, Serbia’s Future: Back to the Past? (Belgrade)
Miroslav Blazek, Doing Business in Eastern Europe (Prague)
Bogdan Bobolea, What Happened to Romania’s Irrecuperables? (Bucharest)*
Adam Bodnar, Human Rights in Poland (Warsaw)
David Bohm, Making the Best Food in the Czech Republic (Marianske Lazne)
Tatjana Bohm, Countering Sexism in East Germany (Berlin)*
Jelena Bojovic, Courting Capital (Belgrade)
Philip Bokov, A Tale of Two Reforms (Ljubljana)*
Laszlo Borbely, Avoiding the Yugoslav Scenario (Bucharest)
Luchezar Boyadjiev, Curating the Curators (Sofia)
Andras Bozoki, Hungary’s U-Turn (Budapest)
Petr Bratsky, All Politics is Local (Prague)
Robert Braun, Focusing on Inequality (Budapest)*
David Brown, Occupy Slovenia (Ljubljana)
Daniel Bucan, Croatia on the Brink (Zagreb)
Ryszard Bugaj, Poland on the Economic Periphery (Warsaw)
Goran Buldioski, The Populist Reformation (Budapest)
Martin Butora, Slovakia’s Pendulum Swing (Bratislava)
Magda Carneci, The Revolution Came Too Early (Bucharest)
Mariana Celac, An Architect of Change (Bucharest)*
David Cerny, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Provocateur (Prague)
Andrei Chiliman, Playing Party Politics (Bucharest)*
Rossitsa Chobanova, State v. Market (Sofia)
Oleg Chulev, The Same Mistake as Solidarity (Sofia)
Petru Clej, The State of Romanian Extremism (London)*
Bob Cohen, The Hungarian Horseradish (Budapest)
David Crawford, Dealing with the Stasi (Berlin)*
Gabor Csillag, Making Green Cool Again (Budapest)
Anna Csongor, Funding Roma Autonomy (Budapest)*
Jacek Czaputowicz, Challenging the Warsaw Pact from Within (Warsaw)*
Zuzanna Dabrowska, Organizing the Disappointed (Piaseczno)*
Kasim Dal, Challenging the Movement (Sofia)
Gareth Dale, The Fall of Utopianism (London)
Mijat Damjanovic, Yugoslavia Could Have Been a Leader (Belgrade)
Janos David, The Mechanics of Change (Budapest)*
Ales Debeljak, The Fragility of Federalism (Vienna)^
Pavol Demes, The Slovak Example (Bratislava)
Snezhana Dimitrova, The Perpetual Crisis (Sofia)
Predrag Dojcinovic, Addressing War Crimes (Amsterdam)
Helmut Domke, Closing Doors, Opening Doors (Berlin)*
Miroslav Durmov, Inside the Movement (Lexington)*
Smaranda Enache, The Puppet Masters of Targu Mures (Targu Mures)
Iskar Enev, Bulgaria’s Political Future (Sofia)
Katalin Ertsey, Can Politics Be Different? (Budapest)
Peter Fiedler, Workers Fight Back (Budapest)*
Tamas Fleischer, The Dam (Budapest)*
Istvan Forgacs, Roma as Consumers (Miskolc)
Branko Franceschi, High Times in Yugoslavia (Zagreb)
Rudiger Frank, The Costs of Reunification (Washington, DC)
Boris Fras, Going Organic (Ankaran)^
Ferenc Fruhwald, Eating Healthy in Hungary (Budapest)*
Zygmunt Fura, Poland’s Uncivil Society (Krakow)*
Maros Gabriel, Ensuring Free and Fair Elections (Bratislava)
Agnes Gagyi, Growing Up in Transylvania (Budapest)
Daria Gajic, Finding a Normal Path in Serbia (Nis)
Vihra Gancheva, The Bulgarian Turn (Plovdiv)
Pavel Gantar, Punks and Professors (Ljubljana)*
Charles Gati, Regime Change in Hungary (Washington)
Rayna Gavrilova, Losing My Illusions (New York)
Tin Gazivoda, Defending the Underdogs (Zagreb)
Maciej Gdula, What Happened to the Red Capitalists? (Warsaw)
Konstanty Gebert, Solidarity after Solidarity (Warsaw)*
Daniel German, Participatory Environmentalism (Budapest)
Nicolae Gheorghe, Toward a Roma Cosmopolitanism (Budapest)*
Ivo Goldstein, The Spread of Tolerance (Zagreb)^
Agnieszka Graff, Poland’s Feminist Genealogy (Czarna Bialostocka)
Marina Grasse, Fighting for Equal Opportunity (Berlin)*
Yonko Grozev, Religious Freedom in Bulgaria (Sofia)
Krzysztof Hagemejer, Poland’s Unplanned Transition (Warsaw)*
Gabor Harangozo, The Countryside Strikes Back (Budapest)
Tom Harrison, Regretting the Region’s Right Turn (New York)
Judit Hatfaludi, Lobbying for Women (Visegrad)
Dagmar Havlova, Monarchy as Metaphor (Prague)*
Tamas Hegedus, Jobbik: Looking East (Budapest)
Paul Hockenos, Following the Magic (Berlin)
Jaroslav Hofer, From Greens to Guns (Prague)*
Stanislav Holec, Expanding the Fourth Estate (Prague)
Ryszard Holzer, The Three Mistakes of Transition (Warsaw)
Milan Horacek, Inside Outsiders (Prague)
Aladar Horvath, More Malcolm X (Budapest)
Istvan Horvath, The Failure of Nationalist Politics (Cluj)
Marko Hren, We Were So Close to Preventing Genocide (Ljubljana)*
Florentina Hristea, The No-Complex Generation (Bucharest)*
Tomas Hrustic, Bridging Social Distance in Slovakia (Bratislava)
Renate Hurtgen, What Happened to East Germany’s Workers? (Berlin)
Zoltan Illes, The Green Minister (Budapest)*
Razvan Ion, Promoting Molecular Revolution in Romania (Bucharest)
Rita Izsak, Working on Behalf of All Minorities (Budapest)
Adam Jagusiak, The Persistent Gap (New York)
Roland Jahn, The Largest Human Rights Movement in the East (Berlin)
Adam and Anna Janeczek, Pig Farming in Poland (Wyborow)
Gordana Jankovic, Reviving Local Media in Serbia (London)
Leszek Jazdzewski, Poland’s Luckiest Generation (Warsaw)
Csaba Jelinek, Hungarian Students Resist (Budapest)
Lech Jeziorny, The Risks of Doing Business in Poland (Warsaw)*
Dusan Jordovic, Serbia’s Truth-O-Meter (Belgrade)
Mladen Jovanovic, The Center Holds (Too Much) (Nis)
Violeta Jovanovic, Courting Capital (Belgrade)
Zeljko Jovanovic, Roma as Game Changers (Budapest)
Petya Kabakchieva, Remembering the Calm Life (Sofia)
Zsuzsa Kadar, Working Women (Budapest)
Vasil Kadrinov, The Politics of Memory (Plovdiv)^
Dariusz Kalan, Recreating Central Europe (Warsaw)
Mary Kaldor, Detente from Below (London)
Tsvetelin Kanchev, Roma Politics (Sofia)
Krassimir Kanev, Human Rights in Bulgaria (Sofia)^
Anton Karagiosov, The Ghettos of Eastern Europe (Plovdiv)^
Biljana Kasic, Staying Critical (Zagreb)^
Jan Kavan, Trial upon Trial (Prague)
Tchetin Kazak, Representing the Movement (Sofia)
Tomasz Kazmierczak, The Problem of Trust (Warsaw)*
Kinga Kerekes, Speaking One’s Tongue (Cluj)
Csaba Kiss, On Red Mud and Other Messes (Budapest)
Thomas Klein, Life Underground (Berlin)*
Pal Kochis, Hungary’s Independent Peace Movement (Budapest)*
Leszek Konarski, Poland’s Uncivil Society (Krakow)*
Maria Koreck, Resolving Conflicts in Romania (Targu Mures)
Ferenc Koszeg, The Disappearance of the Political Middle (Budapest)*
Alina Kozinska-Baldyga, Rescuing Rural Schools (Warsaw)*
Maciej Kozlowski, The Church as Opposition (Warsaw)*
Ivan Krastev, The Goldilocks Generation (Vienna)
Vihar Krastev, Escape from Ignorance and Chalga (Varna)*
Miroslav Krupicka, Pushing Boundaries (Prague)*
Hieronim Kubiak, Reforming the Party (Krakow)*
Ewa Kulik, Solidarity Underground (Warsaw)
Andreja Kuluncic, The Artist as Bullhorn (Zagreb)^
Daniel Kumermann, Tales of the Fantastic (Prague)*
Pavol Kustar, Sixty Seconds of Art (Bratislava)
Rasto Kuzel, Reviving Slovak Civil Society (Bratislava)
Deyan Kyuranov, The Regime Changer (Sofia)*^
Marie Landsberg, Germany’s Third Generation East (Berlin)
Joanne Landy, Regretting the Region’s Right Turn (New York)
Bogdan Lapinski, The Leap into Business (Warsaw)
Attila Ledenyi, Starting Out with Fidesz (Budapest)*
Vera Lengsfeld, The Stasi’s Long Shadow (Berlin)
Marin Lessenski, Playing Catch Up (Sofia)
Sonja Licht, The Oracle of Belgrade (Belgrade)*
Jan Litynski, The Disappointment of Fulfilled Dreams (Warsaw)
Michal Luczewski, Church and State in Poland (Warsaw)
David MacBryde, Swords and Ploughshares in Germany (Berlin)*
Srdjan Majstorovic, Serbia’s Strategic Ambiguity and EU Integration (Belgrade)
Gyongyi Mangel, Hungary’s Green Wave Crashes (Budapest)*
Konstantin Markov, Rocking the Regime (Sofia)
Tomaz Mastnak, The Future of Social Movements (Ljubljana)*
Vasile Mathe, A Commitment to Children (Cluj)
Alexander Matus, Ensuring Free and Fair Elections (Bratislava)
Elzbieta Matynia, The Remarkable Round Table (New York)
Georgi Medarov, Bulgaria’s New Left (Sofia)
Joze Mencinger, Slovenia’s Gradualist Transition (Ljubljana)
Maria Metodieva, The Persistence of Discrimination (Sofia)
Katalin Mezey, The Republic of Writers (Budapest)
Kristina Micanovic, Starting Over Again in Croatia (Motovun)
Petar Milat, Challenging Gentrification (Zagreb)^
Mariana Milosheva-Krushe, Organizing the Public (Sofia)
Nevena Milosheva-Krushe, Bulgaria: The Next Generation (Sofia)
Bojana Milosevic, Serbia’s Truth-O-Meter (Belgrade)
Ognyan Minchev, Where Bulgaria Went Wrong (Sofia)
Maya Mircheva, The Pinnacle of Pessimism (Sofia)
Balint Misetics, Housing Is for All (Budapest)
Ruth and Hans Misselwitz, The Pankow Peace Group (Berlin)*
Dirk Moldt, Squat Paradise (Berlin)
Veronika Mora, Ecotopia (Budapest)*
Marian Munteanu, The Accidental Activist (Bucharest)
Thibault Muzergues, Training the Next Generation (Bratislava)
Seung-Hee Nah, Cement (Washington, DC)
Balazs Nagy Navarro, Protesting Media Control in Hungary (Budapest)
Julieta Nagy Navarro, Cultivating Empathy in Hungary (Budapest)
Rasa Nedeljkov, The Future of Serbian Civil Society (Belgrade)
Irina Nedeva, Voice to the Voiceless (Sofia)
Dragos Negrescu, Romania’s Missed Opportunity (Brussels)*
Aryeh Neier, Helping from Outside (New York)
Iordan Nihrizov, The Decline of Social Democracy (Sofia)*
Michaela Novotna, To the People (Prague)*
Wanda Nowicka, Shaking Up Politics (Warsaw)
Piotr Ogrodzinski, Public and Private in Poland (Warsaw)*
Eva Ohrablova, Running Political Campaigns in Slovakia (Bratislava)
Mira Oklobdzija, Guilt as Destiny (Trieste)*
Larry Olomoofe, The Rubik’s Cube of Roma Rights (Warsaw)
Michael Otrisal, Televising Religion (Prague)*
Kurt Paetzold, Confronting History (Berlin)
Liliana Pagu, Empowering Women in Romania (Bucharest)
Alena Panikova, Creating an NGO Culture (Bratislava)
Borka Pavicevic, Catharsis! (Belgrade)
Julius Pecha (plus Stano and Anicka), Roma Youth Get Organized (Kecerovce)
Marie Perinova, The Czech Culture of Corruption (Prague)
Robert Perisic, Life in Fast Forward (New York)
Kamara Peter, A Migrant’s Story (Budapest)
Dimitrina Petrova, The Lost Treasure of Revolutions (London)
Marcin Piotrowski, Modernizing the Polish Military (Warsaw)
Sara Pistotnik, Occupy Slovenia (Ljubljana)^
Florin Poenaru, LeftEast (Budapest)
Agnieszka Pomaska, The Politics of Youth (Warsaw)
Stefan Popov, Taming the Wild East (Sofia)
Dragoslav Popovic, Speaking Openly in Serbia (Belgrade)
Gerd Poppe, Creating a Parallel Society (Berlin)
Tomas Pospiszyl, Public, Private, and Political Art (Prague)
Vladimir Prchlik, Addressing Nuclear Power (Prague)*
Wojciech Przybylski, Poland’s Politics of Dissatisfaction (Warsaw)
Zarko Puhovski, Democracy Is Not Enough (Zagreb)*^
Eva Quistorp, Bridging the East-West Divide (Berlin)
Bela Racz, Becoming a Leader (Budapest)
Slawomir Rakowiecki, The Land of Junk Contracts (Warsaw)
Zsuzsanna Ranki, Managing the Economic Transition (Budapest)*
Alice Pop Ratyis, Roma and Local Politics (Bucharest)
Janusz Reykowski, Negotiating the Transition in Poland (Warsaw)*
Costi Rogozanu, Romania’s Fragile New Left (Bucharest)
Stefan Roloff, Them (Berlin)
Mihai Florin Rosca, Romania’s Fraying Social Safety Net (Cluj)
Rudiger Rossig, YU-Rock! (Berlin)
Philipp Rotmann, Germany’s Post-Reunification Foreign Policy (Berlin)
Marcel Rotter, The File (Fredericksburg)
Irene Runge, Pushed to the Margins (Berlin)*
Vukosava Crnjanski Sabovic, Serbia’s Truth-O-Meter (Belgrade)
Jeffrey Sachs, Returning Poland to Europe (New York)
Neza Kogovsek Salamon, Restoring the Erased (Ljubljana)^
Gottfried Schleinitz, The Monday Demonstrations (Leipzig)*
Matthias Schwerendt, An Inclusive Germany (Berlin)
Milena Dragicevic Sesic, Life under Sanctions (Belgrade)
Volen Siderov, The World According to Ataka (Sofia)
Slawomir Sierakowski, Reinventing the Left in Poland (Cambridge)
Jirina Siklova, Engendering Change (Prague)
Michal Simecka, Rethinking Democracy in Europe (Bratislava)
Marta Simeckova and Martin Simecka, The End of Claustrophobia (Bratislava)
Michael Simmons, Roma and the Civil Rights Movement (Philadelphia)
Rastislav Sipos, The Sound of Music (Bratislava)
Svetlana Slapsak, Women against Nationalism (Ljubljana)^
Ann Snitow, The Energy of Delusion (New York)
Ladislav Snopko, Creating a Spectacle (Prague)
Taskin Tankut Soykan, Islamophobia in East-Central Europe (Warsaw)
Daniel Srb, Croatia’s Unpopulist Party (Zagreb)
Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, The Misrule of Law (Washington, DC)
Krassen Stanchev, The Green Marketeer (Sofia)*
Jan Filip Stanilko, Reinventing Republicanism in Poland (Warsaw)
Stephan Stoyanov, Both Sides Now (New York)
Michal Sutowski, The Strange Non-Death of Polish Neo-Liberalism (Warsaw)
Ilona Svihlikova, Building a New Economy (Prague)
Marcin Swiecicki, The Market Before the Market (Warsaw)
Zbigniew Szawarski and Dorota Szawarska, The Moral Revolution (Warsaw)*
Katarzyna Szymielewicz, Challenging the Surveillance Society (Warsaw)
Orhan Tahir, The Failure of Funding Roma Integration (Sofia)
Gaspar Miklos Tamas, The Boomerang Intellectual (Budapest)
Yanina Taneva, The Ideas Factory (Sofia)
Malgorzata Tarasiewicz, Building the Women’s Movement (Sopot)*
Mark Thompson, Passions v. Interests (London)
Vladimir Tismaneanu, The Commission (Washington, DC)
Vaclav Trojan, Behind the Velvet Revolution (Prague)
Thomas Tschirner, Growing Up during Die Wende (Berlin)*
Ulrich Tschirner, Being Quaker in East Germany (Wittemberg)*
Mircea Tuglea, A Sad Country Full of Humor (Constanta)
Jan Urban, And Justice for All? (Prague)
Laszlo Urban, Hungary’s Economic Leap (Budapest)*
Viorel Ursu, The Race from the Bottom (Brussels)
Tibor Varady, This Is Not a Transition (Budapest)
Szilvia Varro, From Journalism to Activism (Budapest)
Judit Vasarhelyi, Toward Local Resilience (Kapolcs)*
Michal Vasilko, Sixty Seconds of Art (Bratislava)
Tana Keleova Vasilkova, Becoming a Bestseller (Bratislava)
Julia Vass, Making Green Cool Again (Budapest)
Ivan Vejvoda, Making the Leap Together (Washington, DC)
Viktor Vida, Making Green Cool Again (Budapest)
Ovidiu Voicu, Making the Castle Transparent (Bucharest)
Vojko Volk, Reconnecting the Balkans (Zagreb)*
Danilo Vukovic, Two Cheers for Government (Belgrade)
Wojciech Waligorski, Making It in Lowicz (Lowicz)*
Jamie Walker, Conflict Resolution and German Reunification (Berlin)
Reinhard Weisshuhn, Maintaining a Moral Politics (Berlin)*
Danuta Wiewiora, Working with the Marginalized (Rowy)*
Karolina Wigura, Rescuing Polish Liberalism (Warsaw)
Kuba Wygnanski, How to Launch People (Warsaw)
Roumen Yanovski, One Step Forward and… (Sofia)^
Rachel Zacharia, Rebuilding Poland’s Jewish Community (Warsaw)
Mitja Zagar, Could the Yugoslav Wars Have Been Avoided (Vrsar)*
Jacek Zakowski, The Revolution Devours Its Children (Warsaw)*
Ilona Zambo, The First Roma Feminist (Budapest)
Aleksandar Zograf, Lucid Dreaming in Pancevo (Pancevo)
Ryszard Zoltaniecki, The Fetishism of Economic Growth (Warsaw)*
Jelka Zorn, Erased and Forgotten (Ljubljana)^
Imre Ungvari Zrinyi, Game of (Nationalist) Cards (Targu Mures)
* Includes previous interview from the 1990s
^ Includes previous interview from the 2000s