KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥 The Pochaina neighborhood in the Ukrainian capital comes alive every weekend as hundreds of people flock to its famous flea market, looking for finds.
Antique-hunters, collectors and many others look over seemingly endless rows of trinkets and time-worn wares. It鈥檚 a dizzying array that includes Soviet-era relics such as decorative medals, ceramics with communist leaders鈥 portraits, Cold War-era gas masks and military uniform items.
Despite Ukraine鈥檚 adopted in 2015 as a part of the country鈥檚 effort to distance itself from its totalitarian past, vendors, buyers and law enforcement all seem undisturbed by such historic relics being openly sold.
鈥淚t鈥檚 purely business, there are no (USSR) sympathizers around here. Items like this are in high demand,鈥 says Kristian Zander, a 49-year-old market vendor, pointing at the 鈥淏uying USSR relics鈥 sign at his stand. On display are kitchenware and utensils, hunting knives, Soviet badges and bottle openers.
The market has survived the , even with the disappearance of tourists and the decreasing purchasing power of most Ukrainians.
Despite more and more , the market still offers a large and eclectic variety of goods to those with any money to spend. A single vendor may sell items including almost-vintage VHS tapes, World War II dishware, manicure scissors, brand-name sneaker knockoffs, decades-old lingerie, broken multimedia players and cracked guitars. The vendor often hopes to sell the wares for pennies before they go to waste.
