The Process of Re-joining: Reconstruction of Social and Economic Relations between Two Hungarian Villages on Both Sides of the Ipoly River

Abstract

After 1920 the Ipoly river has become the country border between Hungary and Slovakia. Villages that were organically linked to each other cut off the official social and economic connections for almost a hundred years. In the study, we show the survey results in two border villages that support the persistence of unofficial relations between the two villages despite the country border. The study explains how the human, social and economic relationships were reconstructed on both sides of Ipoly river between the two villages, Ipolyhídvég and Drégelypalánk, after joining the European Union. The reconstruction of the organic unity of the two villages may not merely be the result of the economic cooperation between them. However, it is primarily the effect of living traditions and the trust created by families, relatives, and friends.