43rd National Táncház Festival & Fair • 5–7 April 2024
Issue:
Starting page: 35
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A story about the village of Zomba in Hungary’s Tolna County as told by Mrs Schneider János (Piller Magdolna). Mainly this woman’s memories communicate the chaos of the World War Two period and its aftermath and what that meant for this village. „Just before WW.II., 229 Hungarian families and 238 families of German descent – a total of 2040 people lived in Zomba. After the war, 172 of the German familes were deported, 158 Székely familes (from Transylvania) and 44 familes from Slovakia were moved into their homes. 66 German familes remained in the village...” This is an account of personal losses of family members that never returned from the war, those that were war prisoners, having to house Russian soldiers in their homes, then later being ousted from their homes by the authorities with nothing and those familes that moved into their places... and some lifetime friendships that formed. As told to Kóka Rozália.