A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 4. (Szeged, 2003)

Kerekes Ibolya: Egy tápairéti tanya és lakói a 20. században

A farmstead in Tápairét and its residents in the 20 century by IBOLYA KEREKES The farmstead whose story I relate used to stand in Tápairét and once belonged to Ferenc Palika Koszó, my great-grandfather on my father's side. By relating the story of the farmstead, I seek to present the life of a family and life in Tápairét in general. Tápairét lies on the left bank of the River Tisza, in an area between the Rivers Tisza and Maros. Prior to river regulation, it was an area zigzagged with innumerable river branches. The first farmsteads were constructed there after the regulation of the River Maros in 1844. With the passage of time, all the farmstead owners sold their town houses and went to live on their farmsteads for good. Farmsteads became their permanent residences. Their owners went to marketplaces in Szeged, Makó and Vásárhely. They only visited Tápé on religious and family holidays, or when they had to see the authorities on business. Tápairét flourished between the 1920s and the era of forced collectivisation. The fact that as many as four schools were erected was a clear indication of the large number of farmsteads there. These schools also doubled as religious and cultural centres. School buildings housed farmers' meetings, and teachers themselves used to organise cultural get-togethers. Ferenc Palika Koszó (b. 1884, d. 1956) was born in Tápé. He was nine when his father died. His mother raised five children, including Ferenc, all on her own. Later, as the only male child in the family, he continued cultivating the land left to him by his parents. He married Rozália Tutor Molnár (b. 1888, d. 1956) on 28 January 1907. After his marriage he went on living in Tápé. He crossed the River Tisza to cultivate family land on the far side. Following the death of his father-in-law, he sold the house in Tápé, and moved to his father-in-law's farmstead in Tápairét in 1920. At that time he had five children. Two more were later born on the farm. The land there was quality chernozem. The crops grown there were mainly wheat, barley, oats and alfalfa. The vegetable garden around the farmhouse provided subsistence farming. In 1930 they already had a total of approximately 43 acres of land. The entire family was engaged in farming and even the relatives in Tápé and neighbours from nearby farms were involved in sowing, harvesting and so on. Corn production was the family's main source of income. During the war, in accordance with a government decree, the cultivation of certain industrial plants was compulsory. That is why sugar beet, linseed and hemp were grown on the farm as well. When the children got married the land was divided into equal shares among them, but they continued to work together. In 1948 the family agreed that János, the youngest boy, and his wife should take care of the ageing parents. In return, their share of land was larger than that of the others. They were given over 7 acres of land. My great grandfather was also a member of the administrative body of the village, which was represented by four jurors. Three of them represented villagers and the other juror represented people in outlying areas. Between 1933 and 1944 my great grandfather represented the interests of the farmers in Tápairét. The 1944 reorganisation of public administration left my great grandfather's prestige among local farmers undamaged. In the new regime his past as a juror and his deep religious conviction were frowned upon. When terror along Stalinist lines began in the Rákosi era, four families from the Tápé area were arrested. Three were from the Tápé village and the fourth family was from Tápairét, whose members were Ferenc Koszó, his wife, their son János and his wife who lived with them. They were packed into cattle wagons in Szeged and interned in Tiszaszentimre. They lived and worked in a forced labour camp for three years along with five hundred other people. They were only permitted to return home in August 1953. Only by that time there was no home to return to. Soon after they had been dragged away from home, looters from Tápé appeared. They slaughtered the livestock and took everything they could lay their hands on. The local co-operative farm first used the empty farm buildings as pigsties then dismantled them and the building material was shared out among its members. The parents were taken care of by their children. They lived with one of their daughters. In the summer they visited their other children living on farms. They died soon after they had returned home. Ferenc Koszó died at the age of 72 on 27 January 1956, while his wife Rozália Molnár died at the age of 68 on 24 December 1956. Symbolically, their death also closed a chapter in the history of the family. 180