Ipari fellendülés Csíkszentsimonban. A Keményítő- és Szeszgyár története az 1940–1975 közötti időszakban
Industrial Boom in Csíkszentsimon: The History of the Starch- and Spirit Factory between 1940 and 1975

Summary/Abstract: The Starch- and Spirit Factory of Csíkszentsimon (Sânsimion) was the most important determinant of social life and lifestyle for the local community and the neighboring settlements. Its establishment was intimately bound to the nineteenth-century industrialization plans and waves of Transylvanian modernization. The factory, built in 1941, was the enterprise of the Hungarian state. According to locals, it was “built by Hungarians for Hungarians” as a processing plant for the region’s potato yield and an opportunity to create jobs. After 1944 it was nationalized by the Romanian state and during the socialist industrialization effort it was further developed and extended. Based on interviews, archival records and private photographs, the study examines the local industrial boom and the history of the factory between 1940 and 1975. This historical reconstruction provides a glimpse into local investments and subsequent social changes as well as the cultural life of the local community. In this vein, the study traces the patterns of disintegrating rural lifestyle and the emerging worker identity, as well as the modernization processes transforming rural societies, as manifested in everyday life.

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