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Some women dream of vacations filled with romantic walks, glowing sunsets and sandy beaches. For me, the idea of a Soviet prison and gas masks seemed more intriguing. With this in mind, I made a stop at Karosta Prison in Liepaja, Latvia during the autumn Eastern European journey. It's difficult to determine the greatest threat in the modern world, but at one point it was nuclear annihilation, with the Soviet Union and America being the culprits of tension. I grew up at the end of the Cold War and never really experienced the neurosis associated with the threat of a nuclear attack, but my parents who were young children at the height of the Cuban missile crisis recall "duck and cover" drills at school. Alarms sounded and school children were trained to take cover under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack. It looked something like the photo below, and Americans also were indoctrinated with films, posters and cartoons explaining safety procedures during an atomic blast.
It seems unthinkable that hiding under a desk could prevent the drastic consequences of a nuclear blast, but one Hiroshima official claims he trained local policemen to duck for cover after an atomic flash, and as a result not a single Nagaskai policeman died in the initial blast. Perhaps this is an urban legend, but in any event for me there's great curiosity about this period of history. I'm certain Soviet children were also trained about nuclear attacks, but I don't know the specific procedures. Perhaps some of you went through the drills?( Read more... )
