ABSTRACT
By contrast to scientists in my home country, the scientists of the Western world have had the great advantage of a free exchange of information in the last 50 years. For half a century, the Iron Curtain and linguistic barriers have made open contact impossible and have allowed scientific and cultural life to wither for two generations. Even today, in the post-Communist era, we still suffer the consequences. For example, the Communist regime suppressed the acquisition of foreign languages-above all, the bilingualism that was common in our country and had linked us to the history of Austria. This is why the young scientists now have impeded access to the information that was barred to them for so long.
