The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory
The cigarette factory
After two long years of convalescence, 1947 finally became the year of recovery. The best proof of this comes from a short letter written by Syposs the director, in which he asks his superiors to grant the factory a consignment of 50 kilos of grass seed. “I hereby respectfully inform you,” he writes, “that the tobacco factory premises have been so affected by the depredations occasioned firstly by the war and secondly by the occupation of Russian soldiers which followed, that we have been so far unable to set it to rights again despite strenuous efforts in that direction. I would also mention that, at that time, because the fighting was closing in, the building of an air raid shelter was held up and eventually struck off the agenda altogether, and removal of the building materials plus clearing up of the site, which involves clearing away the mounds of earth caused by digging the shelter in the first place, as well as filling in the dug-out area, has only partially succeeded. We would like to improve the aspect of the entire site, that is a surface area of 800 square metres now strewn with rubble, plus the area on which, during the time of the Russian occupation, the steam-powered road rollers which were used to drive the factory machines stood. Enormous slag heaps piled up next to these rollers, and it is also our intention to clear these away. We consider that the best way to do this would be to sow the entire area with grass, and thus make the factory site, which after all lies inside the city, more attractive at a relatively small cost. The factory directors intend to use this grassed area, once the warm weather arrives, to provide the workers with a pleasant outdoor recreation area to use during their lunch hour, and by means of this ensure that they return to work in the afternoon refreshed and with renewed vigour. For the purposes of grassing over the area, we would need some 50 kilos of grass seed, which we hereby request special licence from you to obtain.” 45 The duet of Mrs. István Horváth (Magdi) and Miklós Visnyei was an immense success
