PROCESUL COLECTIVIZĂRII ÎN ŞPĂLNACA ÎNTRE 1949-1962
THE PROCESS OF COLLECTIVIZATION IN ŞPĂLNACA (ALBA) DURING 1949-1962 CONCERNING ORAL RESOURCES

Summary/Abstract: The paper was carried out in 1997, as an individual study. This subject (collectivization and its preliminaries in this Transylvanian village) was based on personal and scientific reasons. This attempt to reconstitute the development of this process took also care of the local traditions. We tried to give an objective view upon any changes in peasants’ mentality, their remembrances and feelings, as a result of tradition’ s impact upon cruel realities suggested by the communist system. By using oral sources we tried to protect them also; collectivization in Şpălnaca is presented “step-by-step“ in order to bring to light its consequences upon witnesses, how they felt this process. Nevertheless, a comparative view between oral sources and traditional ones (archives, old newspapers etc.) is absolutely necessary to have in mind. The paper took into account the influences of this process upon local authorities (Church, Townhall, school) and of course, how the inhabitants felt those influences. The interview as an oral method is based on eight witnesses, having different occupations (farmers, workers, teachers etc.). Because this paper was carried out not only to show the historical movements between 1949-1962, but to emphasize their impact upon mankind. That is why we appeal most to survivors as the most suitable judges of the history of that time. To come to an end, this approach (collectivization in small villages, which were, as a matter of fact, ruined and almost vanished) is not only a common historical one, but also fascinating, according to consequences. Narrators said the next generations has the honour and duty to develop comparative studies in order to give an accurate point of view, concerning connections between oral and traditional sources, so that the truth should be revealed.

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