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• Cultural Heritage or Traces of the War? A Case Study From Oblivion to Memory and ’Heritagisation’

  139-154

  Melinda Marinka

  Views:

  140

  The paper explores the memory of the internment camp in Tiszalök (Upper Tisza region, Hungary) in selected social, historical, and ethnic contexts. After a brief theoretical overview of key concepts such as heritagization, the author highlights some significant facts and events from the history of the camp. This camp was established after the Second World War, and deportees of German origin, who could not go home to their families after returning to Hungary from Russian captivity, were held there. Furthermore, the paper outlines how the history of the camp was first concealed in public, then gradually discovered by scholars and memorialized through commemorative events and a monument which was erected by the local community and former inmates. Subsequently, the author presents the case study of a deceased Hungarian woman who used to work in the camp’s kitchen. Based on several interviews with her relatives and after the careful examination of a wooden box from her estate, the author demonstrates that her family history and the history of the interned members of the German minority are closely intertwined in a way, which had been unknown to her family. Finally, the author argues that similar personal objects may reveal further untold stories and entangled memories from the postwar years.

• The Venues of Recreation in a Former Socialist Town

  49-70

  Ágota Lídia Ispán

  Views:

  58

  In Hungary 10–14 towns were classified as socialist towns. In 1953 the construction of the would-be Leninváros (present day Tiszaújváros) was started.  The town planners laid stress on building facilities for the relaxation and recreation of people and parks, playgrounds, beaches and holiday homes were available for everyone. However, the public places designated as recreational facilities for the inhabitants of the town, which was intended to be an idealistic one, did not satisfy their needs. They pre­ferred to spend their free time in their ‘household plots’ in town. Small gardens and garages complemented a lot of apartments in panel blocks, thus increasing the available living space in a special manner. These “private properties” mostly had the function whose mass demand was unexpected for the planners of the city. The author describes how they helped residents, who often had a village background, making the socialist type of town more liveable.