Called Memory Point: 50 Years in Vásárhely Human Education Centre, the centre examines the period between 1944 and 1990. It is the first institution in Hungary to use the record of a single town to show a picture of the period of communist dictatorship.
Visitors are offered an outline of the nearly half a century in nine rooms, each with a different theme. On the ground floor, rooms pay tribute to the town?s war victims and show former members of the resistance movement. Others tell about the White Guard and describe how the area?s farms were turned into cooperatives.
Priests and pastors tell stories of how they managed to remain spiritual leaders in the face of a fiercely anti-religious ideology. The exhibition also reveals the activities of the enforcement authorities, the State Protection Authority, the workers? guard and informers. Personal stories recall the 1956 Revolution.
The rooms on the upper floor portray the so-called soft dictatorship during the Kádár era: industry, a planned economy and obligatory state holidays. Products from local factories, such as the electric Puli mini car are on display in one room. The museum also invites visitors to see the centre?s gallery, which presents Hódmezővásárhely?s rich local art, and to stop for a refreshment in the retro sports café before they leave.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
