Changed life worlds and survival strategies in disintegration after the regime change in Hungary: a former industrial town in the shadow of the factory giant

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the literature of post-1989 Eastern European history, the disintegration of traditional industries and the decline of the factory towns that had been based on them is a well-known topic. Less attention has been paid to the transformation of the countryside or the villages that often served as the supportive network for the factory towns, a phenomenon that was also very typical of Hungary, where migrant or commuter workers became the subject of academic interest long before the collapse of state socialism. This study offers an international perspective and case study of the catchment area of Ózd, a former industrial and factory city located in northeastern Hungary that was once an important centre of Hungarian metallurgy and mining. In my analysis I address the related topic of how the decline of traditional industries affected this former industrial city and its surrounding villages, whose inhabitants mostly worked in industry until the industrial landscape and its society disappeared. This study focuses on Ózd and its surroundings, where the survival and sustenance of the population was directly threatened by the closure of collective farms, factories, plants and mines in the area.