On the Verge of History Rupture and Continuity in Women's Life
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On the Verge of History Rupture and Continuity in Women’s Life Narratives from Hungary, Romania and Serbia Op de Rand van de Geschiedenis Breuken en Continuïteit in de Levensverhalen van Vrouwen uit Hongarije, Roemenië en Servië (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. G. J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op 11 januari 2013 des middags te 12.45 uur door Izabella Agárdi geboren op 15 augustus 1978 te Szeged, Hongarije Promotor: Prof. dr. M. L. Waaldijk Co-promotor: Dr. Habil. A. Pető Financial support for this project was partly provided by the European Union, Marie Curie Fellowship (EU Sixth Framework Programme). 2 On the Verge of History Rupture and Continuity in Women’s Life Narratives from Hungary, Romania and Serbia Contents Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 8 The Birth of the Topic 8 Structure 13 Chapter 1 - Writing History with Oral Life Narraives 16 1.1. Theoretical Premises of Oral History 17 1.2. Sampling, Data Collection and Position 23 1.3. Transcription: From Talk to Written Text to Narrative Segments 27 1.4. Analytical Practice 29 Chapter 2 - Life Stories and Historical Research 40 2.1. Hungarian History 42 2.2. Social and Agrarian History 50 2.3. Transition Studies 60 2.4. Gender History 67 2.5. Memory Studies 73 2.6. Oral History 82 Chapter 3 - Memories of Childhood and the Interwar Period 88 Introduction 88 3.1. “And then this Trianon-thing came…” Trianon in Memories 91 Trianon as Silence 97 Trianon as Fate 99 Trianon asTruth 101 Trianon in a Story of Origin 103 3.2. The Scene of Childhood: The Horthy Era and Old Yugo (1920-1941/1944) 107 The Horthy Era 109 Old Yugo 119 3.3. Religious Education: Narrating the Political in Childhood Stories 127 School Stories 128 Stories of Religious Education 131 Ethnicity in Stories of Religion and Education 134 Conclusion to Chapter 3 138 3 Chapter 4 – Dance Lessons, Balls and Bullets: Memories of Adolescence and the Second World War 142 Introduction: The Happiest and Most Terrible Period 142 4.1. Periodization Through Two Turning Points 148 “When the Hungarians came in” 150 “When the Russians came in” 153 4.2. Russian Soldier, German Soldier 160 4.3. Mothers and Daughters 170 Conclusion to Chapter 4 175 Chapter 5 – And the Story moves on… Home and Movement in Women’s Narratives 179 Introduction 179 5.1. Home as “Greater Hungary”: Longing for the Lost Land 183 5.2. Home as Community: an Argument for the Federation 191 5.3. Home as Movement 198 Conclusion to Chapter 5 204 Chapter 6 - Narratives of Socialism I: Collectivizations and Progress 208 Introduction 208 6.1. Collectivization Narratives 210 6.1.1. Images of the State 213 6.1.2. The Kulak and the Informer 224 6.1.3. Work Collectives 237 6.2. Narrating Progress 242 6.2.1. Poverty and Strategies to Evolve 243 6.2.2. State and Motherhood 261 Conclusion to Chapter 6 270 Chapter 7 - Narratives of Socialism II: Stagnation 273 Introduction 273 7.1. “life has taught me a lot of things” Teacher Contra Ministry 276 7.2. “We don’t know why” An Encounter with the Hungarian Secret Police 280 7.3. “Women are for someplace else” On the Party 283 7.4. “No one knows about this anymore” Political Struggles of a Former Nun 288 Conclusion to Chapter 7 292 Chapter 8 – Narratives of Socialism III: Ethnic Relations 297 Introduction 297 8.1. The Legacy of Nazism in Personal Memories: Erasure and the Ethnicization of a Regime 302 8.2. “Clean as a glass” The Racialization of Difference 313 Conclusion to Chapter 8 322 4 Chapter 9 – After Socialism: Stories of Retirement and the Transitions 325 Introduction 325 9.1. Rupture: Retiring in the Time of Transitions 328 9.1.1. A Personal Decision 328 9.1.2. A Personal and a Political Event 331 9.1.3. Tales of the Transitions 335 9.2. Continuity: Work in Retirement 350 9.2.1. “If I feel that I am without work, I almost feel unhappy” Retirement and Work 356 9.2.2. “I drifted into it with the currents of life” Volunteer Work 359 9.2.3. “Very-very hard, very hard...” Planning Personal Care: The Old-Age Contract 362 Conclusion to Chapter 9 365 Chapter 10 - Narrative Modes: Nostalgia, Amnesia and Laughter 368 Introduction 368 10.1. Ruptures and Continuities: Nostalgia 370 10.1.1. Socialist Nostalgia 371 “I don’t have anything bad to say about our uncle Jani” Hungary: Kádár-nostalgia 373 “Oh, in Tito’s time it was very good!” Former Yugoslavia: Tito-nostalgia 380 “It was the Dark Age not the Golden Age” Romania: Absent Nostalgia for Socialism 387 10.1.2. Pre-Socialist Nostalgia 389 “He who says it was bad in the Horthy years, was either a drunk or lying.” Insignificance, Loss and Horthy Nostalgia in Hungary 390 “My dearest time is when the Hungarians were here.” Wartime Longings from Romania and Serbia 398 10.2. Ruptures and Continuities: Amnesia 405 10.2.1. Laughter and Silence: “Gallows-Humor” 414 10.3. Ruptures and Continuities: Performative Laughter 417 Conclusion to Chapter 10 425 Conclusion 427 Bibliography 439 Summary 466 Samenvatting in het Nederlands 471 Short Biography 477 Appendices I-V. (in a separate volume): Appendix 1 Table of Interviewees Appendix 2 Profiles and Excerpts of Interviewees Appendix 3 Excerpts in English and Hungarian Appendix 4 Sample Narrative Life Interview – Matild (SRB) Appendix 5 Maps 5 6 Agardi On the Verge of History Introduction Acknowledgements There are a number of people I would like to thank, without whom this work would probably never have been written. Let me first thank all thirty women who took part in the interviews and trusted me enough to invite me in their homes and share intimate details of their lives. I hope I did them justice. My deepest gratitude goes out to my two advisors, Andrea Pető and Berteke Waaldijk for their faith in the project and in me that I can bring it to completion. I thank them for the many tiresome evenings they have spent reading the countless pages of raw text, for their sharp observations and unceasing help in giving structure to the mess, polishing the arguments and my words. I thank them for supporting me in times of hardship and being there for me not only as senior academics and experienced intellectuals but also as people. I cherish that. I also thank everyone who took part in stages of the work, directly or indeirectly. I am grateful for my contacts who put me in touch with interviewees: Kujbus Márta, Lepedus István, Gönczi Kálmán, Érsek Hajnalka, Horváth Judith, Szabó Ildikó, Szegedi-Szabó Béla, Jakab Edit and Katona Miklós. I thank my transcriber Hartyánszky Dorottya, who produced thoroughly precise transcriptions in record time. I also thank Ferenc Péter, who drove me anywhere I had to go even when it was urgent. My gratitude goes out to the whole Utrecht faculty, especially to Rosi Braidotti, who remains an endless source of inspiration and knowledge. I thank Rosemarie Buikema, who I cannot thank enough for providing me the opportunity to study in Utrecht. I owe big thanks to Gloria Wekker, whose expertise in working with interviews and keen attention to language I admire. During my time in Utrecht I enjoyed the support of the faculty of the gender studies department as well as the staff at the Research Institute of History and Culture (OGC). With the two-year grant that the Institute awarded me with I was able to make enormous progress on my research and enjoy a supportive and very pleasant working environment. Frans Ruiter, thank you, for never saying no to my requests and always giving me an encouraging smile. Jose van Aelst, thank you for being the warm, helpful person that you are, and always reserving time for a conversation whether it was about my work, my living situation or just everyday chitchat about our family with a cup of coffee or tea. Those were moments that meant a lot to me. I also have a number of colleagues and friends that I feel indebted to. Edyta Just, dear Edyta, with whom I spent three years in the same office, witnessed drastic changes in my life, assisted me in ups and downs and was always ready for a glass of rose. I owe big thanks to Jeannette van der Sanden with whom we often traveled together, smoked at airports, ran to catch planes and sat in meetings, restaurants and bars. I thank Domitilla Olivieri, Annabel Van Baren, Doro Wiese, Lena Eckert, Marta Zarzycka, Sandra Ponzanesi, Iris van der Tuin, Bolette Benedictsen Blagaard, Maayke Botman, Vera Fonseca, Claudia Marie Clemente, Sanne Koevoets, Chiara Bonfiglioli, Sabrina Marchetti, Koen Leurs, Eva Midden, Arla Gruda, Roxanna Morote, Aichuan Tuan, Sarah Bracke, Cecilia Åsberg, Jacco van Sterkenburg and every Utrecht colleague who I came in contact with, and who got to read, hear or dicuss snippets of my work-in-progress and sometimes awkwardly undercooked ideas. Thank you all, I am truly grateful. And the person in Utrecht without whom absolutely nothing would have been taken care of, even the final moments, is Trude Oorschot, who I feel endlessly indebted to. I cannot write this acknowledgement without thanking each and every member of CliohRes, Thematic Working Group 4, who accompanied my intellectual journey for five 7 Agardi On the Verge of History Introduction years.