Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)

Tartalom

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VÁC IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Procession of 1 May in the Main Square, 1950s

number of the graduation certificates obtained at these secondary schools with shortened and simplified syllabuses improved statistics. Not only education was penetrated by the ideology of the regime: the Soviet pattern was followed by the youth organizations such as the Pioneer movement, the Democratic Youth Association, and in every sphere of cultural life, including cinemas, theatres, books. In the age of obligatory cheerfulness and optimism nobody could stay away from official ceremonies and parades. The picnic atmosphere of "spontaneous" gatherings on 1 May was heightened by free sausages and beer, sometimes by football matches as well. The town celebrated Mátyás Rákosi's birthday and duly mourned Stalin's death too. The "reactionaries", however, could not be annihilated, even if the followers of the Easter processions and scripture were kept under strict control.

Mass sports also enforced the ideology. The places of the once famous sports associations were taken over by the Red Flag Sports Association in 1951, and the Vác Bastion Sports Club in 1953. The lifestyle of the worker of the age, the ideal ace-workman, included reading the daily paper called Szabad Nép (Free People) and doing sports as well.

In the course of the post-war rubble-clearance and reconstruction the Main Square was altered