ABSTRACT
In order to be successfull, the proposed eastern enlargement of the European Union will have to overcome substantial differences between the current Member States and the new applicants in many areas. The Iron Curtain that divided Europe for almost half a century was not only of economic and military significance. It also separated two political and social systems. On either side, children were raised, educated, and socialised according to the norms and standards of the respective part of the political ideology. The respective ‘other side’ was either completely neglected or misrepresented by a set of stereotypes and biased reference to selected defects that just re-emphasised the superiority of the own system.
