Divided Memories of Displacement: A Hungarian Love Story in Baranya County in the 1980s
Divided Memories of Displacement: A Hungarian Love Story in Baranya County in the 1980s

Summary/Abstract: In the 1980s many historical documentaries were made in Hugary that dealt with the collective traumas of the Hungarian past. My study is based on a such taboo-breaking, untold tragedy a documentary film by Lívia Gyarmathy titled Együttélés (Coexistence). The filmdirector discovered in Baranya County one Romeo and Juliet-like love story of the Bukovina Székelys/Szeklers and the Danubian Swabians, overshadowed by historical tragedies. The Székely Csibi and the German Pflug family live in the two neighboring settlements, Somberek and Palotabozsok, and their children, Zoltán Csibi and Mária Pflug, are preparing to get married. Both ethnic groups were first resettled in foreign countries in the 18th century, and then in the 20th century, the Vienna Decision and the war drove the Székelys to Baranya County, where the Danubian Swabians viewed them as invading foreigners after 1945, as they were sometimes moved into the same household as the Germans or into properties taken from the deportees. The Székelys and the Swabians were thus both victimized by the political systems of the time, those forced to live together turned against each other. In my study, I present what has happened to the couple over the past 40 years. I examine how their lives and their place of residence were affected by the regime change, which significantly increased the value of German language skills and German connections—all while successive Hungarian governments have consistently prioritized the preservation of the culture and identity of the Bukovina Székelys.

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