A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 35. (Békéscsaba, 2012)
Novák László ferenc: Táj, település, társadalom változásai a Körösök vidékén
Táj, település, társadalom változásai a Körösök vidékén Changes of the scenery and the settlements and the society around the Körös rivers- László Ferenc Novák - Resume The area bounded by the Körös, the Maros and the Tisza rivers, the Békés- Csanád loess, is one of Hungary's most fertile agricultural areas. The area, which had become deserted during the Ottoman invasion, began to repopulate in the early 18* century. Baron György Harruckern called in Slavs from Upper Hungary, and he settled German settlers in Békéscsaba, Mezőberény, Endrőd and Szarvas. Hungarian population also returned to Békés, Mezőberény and Gyoma. Huge village areas were formed. The deeper lying northern lowlands were suitable for livestock farming, while the land in the south was suitable for ploughing. In the parts distant from village centres, intensive farms, accomodation facilities and ranches were established. The decree relating to serfs of 1767 by Maria Theresa regulated the relationship between landlords and serfs. The abodes system was unable to sell off, so, close to the settlement centres, fallow lands were measured out. A decisive change in rural life took place in the mid-19* century when, by 1853, emancipation of serfs could come to an end. Landlord and serf estates were disintegrated, the land and the peasant estates and pastures were redistributed. Thus, cottars also managed to get by land, which, in the second half of the 19th century made it possible for a casual and capitalistic agriculture to unfold. In nature too, a decisive change took place. By the late 19* century, river regulation and flood discharge had become accomplished, thus increasing the size of arable land. Farming could continue to develop. At the end of World War II, forced migrations began. Evading from the invading Soviet army, part of the German population in Mezőberény escaped to the west in the autumn of 1944. Part of the remaining German population were taken to the Soviet Union to perform forced labour there, while about 500 people were resettled to Germany. The Hungarian-Czechoslovakian population exchange in 1947 brought another blow to the region. From Mezőberény and Szarvas, about three thousand people were resettled to Gúta and surroundings, southern regions of Czechoslovakia, from where the Hungarians were exiled to Békés. In the early 1950s, a liquidation of peasant society and economy was started; agricultural cooperatives began to organize from 1959 to 1961. From the outskirts of the huge village areas individual settlements were established (e.g., from the outskirts of Békés, Kamut and Murony and Tarhos were formed, from that of Endrőd, Hunya was established and from the outskirts of 219
