Manipulation on social media regarding life under communism is being disproved in Arad County directly at the museum, through open lessons held for secondary school pupils, aimed at dismantling myths circulating about the era of Nicolae Ceausescu.

Photo: (c) MARIAN BUGA / AGERPRES
The Arad Museum Complex has launched, for the first time in the county, a campaign intended to debunk myths surrounding Romanian communism and show what nostalgia for that period really means and what the actual facts were, given that young people increasingly obtain information online.

Dozens of pupils from the 'Moise Nicoara' National College attended the first open lesson, held at the county museum. Museum curator Bogdan Ivascu spoke to the students, presenting historical facts and encouraging them to think critically about the communist period and the cliches present in public discourse.

Myths discussed included 'guaranteed employment,' 'a strong industry,' 'we had everything' and 'quality education.'

While some pupils said the lesson had given them a different image of communism from what they had seen online, others said that they already knew much of it from their families.

Photo: (c) MARIAN BUGA / AGERPRES 
'I understood that people could not make decisions for themselves, but I already knew that from my parents. For example, my uncle, who owned a farm and land, had problems with the regime, he was imprisoned and beaten... It is important to have lessons like this so that we know the truth about those times,' one of the pupils attending the lesson said.

One of her classmates described the lesson as 'honest and one that dismantled certain myths.'

'I think life is better without communism and I will never believe otherwise. Many young people allow themselves to be manipulated by the idea that things were better because they have not formed their own point of view and have not read about the subject,' said the 17-year-old pupil.

Photo: (c) MARIAN BUGA / AGERPRES 
The museum curator who addressed the young people said that people tend to remember only the pleasant aspects, especially in the current context of social and political tensions.

'Of course people are dissatisfied with the present situation, but they falsely construct, from carefully selected elements, a past linked to the Ceausescu era and the communist regime that in reality never existed,' Bogdan Ivascu said.

The Museum Complex will organise such lessons regularly.

Photo: (c) MARIAN BUGA / AGERPRES
'It is a necessary campaign because we have found that more and more young people hold inaccurate information about the communist period, and we thought the museum was an ideal space to make pupils aware of the realities of those times. We want to offer young people an answer to the frequent question of whether life was or was not better back then, especially since they get their information online and do not always verify it,' Deputy Director of the Museum Complex Bogdan Blaga told AGERPRES.

The institution also plans to organise several educational programmes developed in partnership with schools, 'intended to bring history closer to pupils through participatory methods and open debates.' AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Marian Buga; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)