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
52 Árendás Zsuzsanna affected the village, the German inhabitants were deported from here and the Hungarians from Czechoslovakia were settled into their houses. The resettlements of ethnic Hungarians from Czechoslovakia, from villages in the area of Galanta took place during spring 1947. People from Matúškovo were resettled to Hungary in April 1947. Hungarian families from two other villages, Mostová and Horné Saliby were transported to Hird during this period as well. All these families were agricultural workers, having their own land holdings in the native village. The majority were small or medium-sized landowners (kisgazda in Hungarian). A few of them (approximately 4-5 farmers per village) were big landowners (nagygazda); among them some small merchants (shopkeepers and innkeepers) could be found. Their holdings did not exceed 15 Hungarian holds (about 7 ha). From an economic point of view, one has to note that, according to the Hungarian-Czechoslovak government agreement, the resettled Hungarians were not entitled to more than 15 Hungarian holds of land in their new village. As most of them did not own more than this land in their original village, there was no sense of economic deprivation. This fact significantly influenced their perceptions and later accounts of their displacement. The first transport from Matúškovo departed in April 1947, followed by another one in May of the same year. The latter was a "mixed transport” (as the villagers called it) with families from a few neighbouring villages in the Galanta area, who were left out from previous waves of deportation for various reasons. Narratives of resettled families, their first impressions in Hungary, events at the Pécs railway station, their arrival to Hird, all play a central role in their life stories, as cornerstones of their further personal destinies. Due to the asynchronicity between the deportation of Germans out from Hird and the settling-in of Hungarians (the former process was slower than the latter), resettled Hungarian families arrived to the village while the Schwabs
