Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
176 VÁC IN THE 20TH CENTURY measures introduced in 1945 were aimed at winding up the pre-war regime. In the spring of 1945 the former landowners and the church lost the majority of their landed properties. In 1948 schools were nationalized, by 1949 every association had been banned. Several church schools ceased to work including the respected Piarist Grammar School. The properties of the dissolved Hope Association were nationalized, ownership of the community centre was transfered to the town. The activities of the church were confined inside the church buildings. Those clergy opposing the regime were sidelined. In 1953 Bishop József Pétery was exiled to Hejce. After a short coalition period the 1949 constitution confirmed the new system of state authority. Following the Soviet pattern councils (soviets) had to be elected in order to replace the old administrative institutions. In 1950 the town council of Vác was set up under the leadership of the Communist Party. The national economic plans, which disregarded the conditions and facilities of the Hungarian economy, aimed to turn the country into the "land of iron and steel". The eclipse of food processing and light industry resulted in supply shortages. The enforced collectivization of agriculture and the compulsion to grow crops unsuited The statue in Posta Park by Miklós Melocco, in commemoration of the victims of World War II József Pétery, Bishop of Vác to soil and climate conditions led to decreased yields, while onerous delivery obligations endangered the subsistence of peasants. Nationalization and collectivization changed property relations in Vác as it did everywhere else in the country. Although land reform started right after the war, the new landowners faced difficulties in cultivation, as they were short of agricultural machinery. The first cooperative was formed in 1949. Its 12 members farmed on no more than 28 Hungarian acres (equivalent to about 16 hectares or 40 British acres). In 1950 three quarters of the ploughland was still owned by individual farmers. 1951 was the year of collectivization. By then the area of land owned by the Kossuth Cooperative had become twelve times larger. Individual farmers were pressurized into joining the "collective". Four co-operatives were set up this year in Vác. They were kept together by administrative means and most of them dissolved at the time of the 1956 revolution.The ratio of ploughland was determined centrally and local conditions were not taken into THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY February 1945 May 1945 1945-1953 1948 1949 The National Committee is formed The coalitional town council is formed The nationalization of the landed estates and the factories, the winding up/secularization of the church institutions The Communist takeover. The nationalization of the schools Civil societies are wound up. Bus service between Budapest and Vác
