The Soviet Union installed communist governments in neighboring nations (called satellite nations) in order to create a buffer to protect from an attack on their country. When the Berlin Wall (the "Iron Curtain") was built the nations behind the Wall were isolated from the other nations. These nations were rejected aid from the United States by the Soviet Union.
They were not treated well, they were immigrants looking for a better life in the US and they worked for lower wages which took away jobs from people that had been in the US in many industrial cities
