The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory

The cigarette factory

It was only later that the real large-scale building took place. Lajos Czobel, the factory's original planner had had a cigar factory in mind when he drew up his plans, and in those days a cigar factory

had simply meant a spacious workroom where rows of cigar women could get on with their handiwork, warehouses for raw materials and finished products, and a few subsidiary buildings as well. But the multiplying number of machines demanded more space. In 1953 the Tobacco Industry Directorate increased the sums that they were willing to put forward in investments, and thanks to this work began on building a second level onto the north and south wings of the factory, in order to allow space for the proper housing of all the new technology. The increased space also made room for changing rooms, and a series of socially-motivated investments began to get under way; the installing of dust-removing equipment as well as the extension of the nursery and dining room. In order to speed up internal transport, motorised carts were introduced, and to take care of transport between the factory and the railway station a dray cart and two pairs of horses were purchased. This horse and cart system lasted up until 1955 when the “coach and four” was replaced by a battered old Ford V8. It was at

this period too that the foundations were laid for a new boiler house.

The merry members of the factory football team in 1952

“Auntie Autumn”, the Stakhanovite