You could make money smuggling condoms. But I think it was much more profitable to transport ... medications for headache and bladder infections. What were desperate Romanians doing to them, who were deprived of their right to contraception?
Peerelowska Poland became a secret trade. When the store shelves were empty, like the wallets of many citizens, there was power. People were able to cover huge distances to buy cheaply and dearly sell scarce products. Among the directions they chose was also Romania, and one of the most sold goods there was ... contraception.
In 1966, at the behest of Nicolae Ceaușescu, an absolute ban on abortion was introduced in Romania. Moreover, criminal sanctions were imposed on persons who performed abortions, their partners and women who underwent this procedure or caused a miscarriage. This ordinance caused real hell, as we wrote about here. In addition, all contraceptives have disappeared from stores. Romanians were so desperate that as it was described by Jan Głuchowski in the book "Na Saksy and to Bulgaria ” :
[...] approximately 60 percent of women hospitalized in pregnancy emergencies between 1966 and 1989 were diagnosed with an unsuccessful private abortion attempt, completed in a hospital, and sometimes that and in the morgue.
Aspirin for headache and to counteract it?
During communism, trips to Romania were very popular in Poland. They were an opportunity to enjoy a holiday by the warm sea and… to earn a solid income. An exceptionally salable product was the drug Biseptol with antibacterial, antifungal and antiprotozoal properties.
Aspirin was considered a contraceptive by Romanians (photo 14 Mostafa &zeyad, license CCA SA 4.0 I)
According to the manufacturer, it can be used in the treatment of kidney and urinary tract infections, respiratory tract infections, gastrointestinal infections caused by salmonella and shigella, or skin infections. But Romanians believed that Biseptol had other, unreported properties as well. The Ceaușescu country was convinced that it was also ... an excellent preventive measure to prevent pregnancy. So is aspirin.
Therefore, in the luggage of tourists going on vacation, insane amounts of these drugs were found. As described by Jan Głuchowski in the book "Na saksy i to Bulgaria" , one of the ladies had 100 packages of the mentioned Biseptol in her suitcase. When the customs officer at the airport asked her what she needed so much for, she said with a straight face that it was for her husband and his colleagues who work in Bucharest on a business trip.
Medicines were distributed everywhere, even around the hotel's swimming pool. One of the Polish women visiting the Romanian resort, while taking a bath, watched her… stall from the corner of her eye. She spread out a towel and on top of it a pile of Biseptol. She relaxed, splashed in the nicely heated water of the pool, and when an interested customer showed up, she immediately appeared at the towel to serve him.
However, she did not expect the police to come to the hotel. When the enterprising trader noticed two women in uniform, she panicked. Instead of discreetly moving away with her goods, the Polish woman, terrified, climbed the steps of the pool, and then ran away in a bathing suit straight into the street. This chase took her so much that she didn't even think about covering herself with a towel.
However, not only pills were a marketable product, but condoms as well. Our enterprising compatriots set off on trips well-stocked with them. As described by Jan Głuchowski :
A lady from another group traveling in the same direction was carrying 1,000 condoms. The astonished customs officer invited a colleague from the neighboring post to see this "collection". When asked why he was exporting so much, she replied in one breath, without any embarrassment:
- For my own use, gentlemen .
We can only imagine the customs officers' faces. One thing is for sure - this trader cannot be denied any nerve. It was probably her insolence that allowed her to safely transport her cargo. When she got there, she still had to cash it in. One of the best customers was the hotel receptionists. By acquiring the appropriate supplies, they could then save the greedy guests while earning money accordingly. And business was going on.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on the book:
- Jan Głuchowski, For Saxons and Bulgaria , Bellona 2019.