The Iron Curtain Countries

THERE are thousands of cities and towns in the World that neither you nor I have ever heard of, yet millions of people call these cities and towns home. These same people probably have never heard of the town or city where you yourself live.

Between Russia and the rest of Europe are nine little countries, some of them not very important, but all of them most important to the people who live in them; and yet many people may live their whole lives and perhaps never hear of some of these places—unless they collect postage stamps. Six of these countries end in “ia” and two end in “land.”

The two countries next to Russia that aren’t run by Communists are Finland and Austria. Finland is the largest of these in-between countries. It lies between Russia and the Scandinavian Peninsula. Finland means Marsh Land, for it is a land of marshes and lakes. It is like Norway and Sweden in some ways—it has fiords and it makes paper and matches. It is a republic with a president.

The other “land” country is Po-land, which means Flat Land. It is almost as large as Finland. Poland has much farm land and there are iron and coal mines. Many famous musicians have been Poles.

Are you a good speller? How would you spell a cough or a sneeze? South of Poland is a long thin country with a name which sounds funny to us—something between a cough and a sneeze—Czechoslovakia. I have a set of china dishes that has stamped on the bottom MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, for there they used to make a great deal of china, and glassware too.

There used to be a country called Austria-Hungary. Now there are two countries—Austria and Hungary. Through Austria and Hungary runs a famous river—almost as famous as the Rhine. It is called the Danube; and, like the Rhine, the Danube has castles overlooking it, castles in which once lived robber barons.