At the Polygraphia Printing House next to the Military Blocks of Flats

I have never known what the quarter we lived in was called, my parents, my sister and I. To me it was “at the Poligraphia, next to the military blocks of flats”, I even thought at some point that it belonged to the extended central area or Kamenitsa 2. I only found out about this Gladno pole [Hungry field] business in August this year. I did not like the neighbourhood when I was little. What is there to like, the cemetery on the one side, the barracks on the other. I was afraid. There were drug addicts and homeless people, it was dark, my parents did not let my sister and me out very often, the entrance door was not locked. There were no playgrounds for us to play, not many children, and nowhere to walk to. I do not know many residents either: the neighbour on the left and the neighbour on the right, as it were. The military barracks are right there, vis-à-vis our balcony, you can see the Parachute Division, which is still there. Back then it was a functional military base. They would get up at 6 am to sing “Tih bial Dunav” [The still, white Danube] and on leaving the service they would shout all night long. It was pretty noisy. It is only recently that the quarter has grown on me, it is much more cultivated now, the garage sheds are gone, everything felt dreadful and rundown with them, and there are new playgrounds. In the past quite a lot of military personnel lived in these blocks of flats, now it is no longer the case. All the same, the blocks of flats were built for the military.

Let me tell you a story. I recently met a young man, it turned out he used to live around there too. The next entrance really. I didn’t know him. As we got talking who comes from where I told him I was from the nastiest of neighbourhoods, and he said he was from the coolest. It is a question of one’s point of view, I suppose.

Maria’s story, 33 years old,

from the Gladno pole [Hungry field] neighbourhood, moved out 11 years ago.