The Authoritarian Experience

Personal narratives from those who have lived under authoritarian regimes and later escaped provide powerful insights into the realities of life under oppressive rule. The following vignettes share the experiences of four such individuals, illustrating the importance of freedom and democracy.

Semyon Shimanovich, The Soviet Union

Semyon grew up in post-World War II Moscow, where his father Abraham was arrested and sent to a Siberian gulag for conducting Jewish prayer services. Raised largely on his own amid discrimination, Semyon earned a Ph.D. in Engineering and filed over a dozen patents. In the late 1980s, the American Jewish community secured his family’s release from the Gorbachev government, and they resettled in New York. There, Semyon continued his scientific career, earning additional patents. Reflecting on his experiences, he offered a vivid metaphor for Russian governance:

“The Russian government is a thief that you catch with his hand in your pocket, and he says, ‘That's not my hand.’”

Victor Szovati, Hungary

Victor was a food science student in Hungary during the early 1940s when he was drafted into the Hungarian army and captured by the Russians. Nearly starved in captivity, he used his knowledge of nutrition to survive. After the war, he lived under a Soviet-dominated puppet government behind the Iron Curtain. During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Victor was among 250,000 who fled, eventually gaining asylum in the United States and building a successful career. When he returned to visit family decades later, he was dismayed by their acceptance of the regime, telling them:

“First you hate them because they stole your clothes, now you love them because they gave you back your pants.”

Tang Jinhe, China

Tang was a student and engineer during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), a decade marked by chaos and persecution. The Red Guards sought to destroy the “Four Olds” — old ideas, culture, customs, and habits — leading to the destruction of cultural sites and the deaths of millions. She told the following story to the New York Times in 2016, which illustrates how propaganda permeated even family life under authoritarian indoctrination:

“When my second son was 3 years old in 1976, the sun was going down. He watched it going from the balcony and asked his father, who’d come out from cooking in the kitchen, “Baba, what’s the sun?”

His father answers: “It’s a giant ball of fire.”

He sat there and thought for a long time and then went inside and said, “Baba, you’re a reactionary.”

His father said: “Hey, why did you call me a reactionary?”

He answers: “Because the sun is Chairman Mao, but you said it was a giant ball of fire.”

His father said, “Oh. I get it, but saying that Chairman Mao is the sun is a metaphor.”

He said: “What’s a metaphor?” And his father said: “How can I explain to a 3-year-old what a metaphor is?”

The boy said: “Baba, you’re a reactionary.”

His father said, “I was wrong. The sun is Chairman Mao. You don’t understand what a metaphor is, so forget it.”

The boy said: “That’s still wrong. I heard you say that the sun is a giant ball of fire.””

Nonie Darwish, Egyptian - Gazan

Nonie’s father was a high-ranking Egyptian intelligence officer who founded Palestinian fedayeen units in Gaza conducting raids against Israel. After her father’s assassination in 1956, Nonie eventually moved to the U.S., became a journalist, and converted to Christianity. She has spoken extensively about the culture of hatred and martyrdom she experienced growing up:

“I was born and raised as a Muslim in Cairo, Egypt, but I grew up as a child in the 50s in the Gaza Strip. Gaza at that time was part of Egypt. I attended Gaza Elementary School, where we learned hatred, vengeance, retaliation.

Peace was never an option. The concept of peace was something foreign. Actually, the word peace was never even mentioned in the services of any mosque.”

Nonie argued that anti-Jewish and anti-Christian sentiment predates the Israeli occupation and is deeply embedded in the culture:

“…it's very convenient to blame all of this terrorism on… the occupation. If it wasn't for the occupation of Gaza, if it's not for the occupation of the West Bank, we wouldn't have a problem. The problem all is because of Israel. That's what they want to give the impression. And this is a big lie, because I lived in Gaza as a child, and I witnessed the terrorism against Israel before the occupation of Gaza and before the occupation of the West Bank.

So people who are Arabs, who claim that they are doing terrorism now because they want freedom, democracy? No. There is no freedom and democracy in any Arab country, let alone the West Bank or Gaza.”

Her experience attending American Christian and Jewish religious services in America was eye-opening:
“They were praying for everybody. They were praying for peace on earth. It was the opposite of what I grew up with.

And that's when I went to a mosque here… in Los Angeles… And I thought that because we allowed women, that it was gonna be different. Hey, we live in America.

And I heard anti-Semitism again in the mosque. And I was told, “Don't assimilate in America. We're here to Islamize America.” They were looking down at this society, and I felt very uncomfortable.”

She concluded:
“The Arab world will never have freedom and democracy when hatred is number one, when jihad is number one, when killing your enemy is number one, when you're fixated on lies and slander. You will never have peace and democracy. Nobody asks this question. Why all these lies and slander against the Jewish people, against America?

I was told horrific things about the Jewish people. It took me years to extract it out of my mind, my heart, and my consciousness.”

These personal stories reveal the pervasive fear, indoctrination, and absence of freedom under authoritarian regimes. They also show the resilience of individuals who escaped oppression and became advocates for the preservation of freedom and democracy.