Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Time and social networks
Identities in change 55 were Roman Catholics. The time before and after these collective religious activities provided occasions of social interaction, and people used them as such. However, these meetings did not bring about mixing from the very first time- the order of sitting in the church (partly preserved until now) reflected an ethnic division: the Germans sitting on the right side of the church, Hungarians on the left. The pub: informal/public sphere My early hypothesis was that if there was an ethnic separation in the beginning, it was certainly reflected in the most important place of village public life, in the pub. This was not proved during my fieldwork and could not have been found in narratives about the “early times” either. There were no separate pubs for the Germans, Hungarians and Hungarians from Czechoslovakia in the village. Men went to the same places, without any preferences based on ethnic terms, and there were no conflicts because of this mixing. The workplace: formal/public sphere As it has already been discussed, before collectivisation, while the Germans established a living in industry, the newcomer Hungarians became involved in agriculture through the lands received as a compensation for their left-behind property in the native village. When the collectivisation of agriculture finally started in Hird the Hungarians lost these lands and “escaped” to industry, following the German way of economic survival. There were good working opportunities in Pécs and in the nearby mines of the Mecsek hills. In Hird itself, a cement and a hemp-factory were established in the 1950s. Common workplaces resulted in friendships, and not surprisingly, various informal situations (factory balls, trips) brought people together more than any other “classic” village situation (interactions in a village shop, church, etc). The socialist regime encouraged the integration of Hungarians from Czechoslovakia, assimilating them to new
