'East Bloc' included the Asian parts of the Soviet Union, so it has little to do with position on continents...
Work on pioneer/childrens' railways isn't forced, and they don't act for parents but 'play' for themselves ;-) Think of a life-size model railway. (I missed out of this myself. But a colleague brought along his teenage daughter, who was there a few years ago and regularly comes back to visit -- depot staff knew her by name --, and who knew better how to handle 50-year-old Siemens-Halske switching/signalling equipment than anyone else present.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
SBZ Sowjetisch besetzte Zone. Soviet occupied zone. The name the GDR had, before it became GDR in 1949.
And on another note, while it was not necessarily compulsory to be a member of the Young Pioneers in the GDR, it entirely depend on local circumstances and it also changed fundamentally over time. Until 1954/55 a parallel education of Christian and Atheist youth indoctrination (aehem) took place. After that it was made "compulsory".
This gives a reasonable summary (in Engish)
Actually not reasonable, no, very good, (It quotes one of my favourite Professors....)
Including the Soviet Union itself? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
and those Zones were called ABZ, BBZ, FBZ and SBZ.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besatzungszone
When the German states became 'independant states' in 1949 those names were 'officially' dropped, but not by some people...
And no, she only applied it to the GDR - interesting thought though.
