Why Russians Live in Ugly Soviet Apartments
Nastya Abroad
1,463,866 views
In this short documentary I take you room by room through a genuine USSR apartment. It's part personal story, part history - how the Soviet Union built housing for 84 million people in just 8 years, what a "kommunalka" was, and why these "temporary" buildings still cost $200,000 and refuse to die.
0:00 Inside a Soviet apartment
0:23 The grey blocks & the babushka watch
1:22 Getting in: keys, stairs & green paint
2:30 The doors, the locks & the domofon
3:24 Coats, tapochki & the fake blue sky
3:53 The kommunalka: why this felt like freedom
4:56 How you actually got an apartment
6:12 The tiny bathroom & no hot water in summer
8:43 How the USSR built housing for 84 million
9:49 The kitchen — the most important room
13:38 Stalinka vs Khrushchyovka vs Brezhnevka
14:40 The room where the whole family celebrated
15:52 Why this place still breaks my heart
16:45 The foldout couch, carpets & linoleum floors
18:01 Why these neighborhoods beat American ones
20:57 A 25-year building that became a 60-year joke
22:02 The dacha & the rest of the Eastern Bloc
24:21 The radiator you can't turn off
25:48 The courtyard where I grew up
26:30 Now worth $200k - and being demolished
🇷🇺 In this documentary you'll learn:
Why the tiny kitchen was the most important room in every Soviet home
What a "kommunalka" was - and why a 30 m² box felt like freedom
How families waited 10+ years (or used "blat") just to get an apartment
Why the hot water gets switched off for a month every summer
Why Russians sleep with the windows open at minus 20
If you like documentaries about real life in Russia - the parts they don't show you - subscribe and come along.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Follow for more of the real Russia. ❤️
#documentary #minidocumentary #russiadocumentary #SovietUnion #Khrushchyovka #USSR #LifeInRussia #SovietApartment #ColdWar #PostSoviet
20 Comments
In Poland external walls of these buildings are insulated and colorful, entrance doors and staircases are beautifuly renovated, and very clean.
These furnitures and carpets you showed in this video and your grandma apartment, are memories from my childhood, such a sweet memories of my grandma's house.
All the best wishes ❤
Why Russians Live in Ugly Soviet Apartments
Nastya Abroad
1,463,866 views
In this short documentary I take you room by room through a genuine USSR apartment. It's part personal story, part history - how the Soviet Union built housing for 84 million people in just 8 years, what a "kommunalka" was, and why these "temporary" buildings still cost $200,000 and refuse to die.
0:00 Inside a Soviet apartment
0:23 The grey blocks & the babushka watch
1:22 Getting in: keys, stairs & green paint
2:30 The doors, the locks & the domofon
3:24 Coats, tapochki & the fake blue sky
3:53 The kommunalka: why this felt like freedom
4:56 How you actually got an apartment
6:12 The tiny bathroom & no hot water in summer
8:43 How the USSR built housing for 84 million
9:49 The kitchen — the most important room
13:38 Stalinka vs Khrushchyovka vs Brezhnevka
14:40 The room where the whole family celebrated
15:52 Why this place still breaks my heart
16:45 The foldout couch, carpets & linoleum floors
18:01 Why these neighborhoods beat American ones
20:57 A 25-year building that became a 60-year joke
22:02 The dacha & the rest of the Eastern Bloc
24:21 The radiator you can't turn off
25:48 The courtyard where I grew up
26:30 Now worth $200k - and being demolished
🇷🇺 In this documentary you'll learn:
Why the tiny kitchen was the most important room in every Soviet home
What a "kommunalka" was - and why a 30 m² box felt like freedom
How families waited 10+ years (or used "blat") just to get an apartment
Why the hot water gets switched off for a month every summer
Why Russians sleep with the windows open at minus 20
If you like documentaries about real life in Russia - the parts they don't show you - subscribe and come along.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Follow for more of the real Russia. ❤️
#documentary #minidocumentary #russiadocumentary #SovietUnion #Khrushchyovka #USSR #LifeInRussia #SovietApartment #ColdWar #PostSoviet