The iron curtain as described by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was way of describing blank

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech declaring that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe, pointing to efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West.

This might help, wrote this down from my head.

The answer is

They were constantly being overlooked as a people and were being controlled by people who weren't really native to their homeland.