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 59 Visits from the native village to Hird Some relatives from Czechoslovakia visited Hird for the first time in autumn 1948 and at the beginning of 1949 illegally, sneaking on trains that still transported people to Hungary. Families left in Slovakia had no information about resettled relatives for several months, there was a huge uncertainty and worry among people. The lack of information and anxiety caused some people to take the risk and travel illegally. Because members of the same family and fellow-villagers were scattered in different Hungarian settlements, these first visits lasted many weeks until all relatives and friends could be found, or at least satisfactory information gained about them. These were large round-trips in Hungary, from the Hungarian Plain (Alföld, eastern Hungary) down to Baranya county (southern Hungary). These first “messengers” carried letters and packages and made sure that resettled family members arrived into satisfactory living conditions. In the 1950s Hungarians in Czechoslovakia lived under strict political, legal restrictions. Being deprived of their citizenship (as a result of the Beneš decrees), they could not get a passport. Thus they were not able to travel anywhere abroad. After almost a decade, the situation started to improve slowly. It became possible for them to cross the border - but with many obstacles. They had to apply for a visa at the Hungarian Embassy in Prague, which was an almost unattainable administrative task for many of these poor peasant families. Moreover, in Czechoslovakia it was extremely difficult to change Hungarian currency, thus the financial background of these travels was unsolved as well. In the 1960s and 1970s following the political and economic consolidation of Czechoslovakia, the number of visits to Hungarian relatives increased radically. As in the case of early illegal trips, these were also long round-trips in Hungary, aiming to visit all relatives and to check their living conditions. These trips lasted for a few weeks, during which time children brought with the families attended even the local
