Teodóra Mikecz

* 1937

  • We went to a so-called "kulak" family (editors note: land-owner peasant), to Uncle Ézsias. When we arrived, he stood up and said: well, you don't look like an exploiter! My father replied: you don't look like a kulak either! Otherwise, there was a big anti-kulak pogrom there, they were all miserably beaten up. They were very kind to us. This farm was such that it had only one habitable room and two kitchens. We got one of the kitchens, which fit my father's bed, and that's it. I slept on one of the beds with the kulaks, in the room where the couple and their daughter lived. Teri (the daughter) and I got on so well that I was the bridesmaid when she got married, and one of her daughters is my goddaughter. And I am also a member of those descended from the village (Jászboldogháza).

  • We could owe our daily living to my aunt, Magda Mikecz, whose husband was a doctor. Let's say he didn't earn much, but Aunt Magda always tapped him... We didn't have any money. She also sent money, and a wooden chest that she always packed full with food. We usually went to Újszász (settlement nearby), which was officially forbidden to me to do, and sometimes there were raids among the displaced. It was not allowed to leave the settlement, it was forbidden. But they didn't catch me because I had two pigtails, I looked like a peasant girl. There were controlls, not many, maybe two times altogether. They were very nice. I went to the station while the police were there, and they didn't tell me not to go anywhere. And they even wished me a safe trip. They were indulgent.

  • The State Protection Authority came for us, and we could carry 50 kilos per person. It also included the furniture. The furniture consisted of my father's favorite bed, which we took with us, two office armchairs, and a folding bed. And we carried a chest with food and clothes. At that time there were only three of us, my sister and my brother had already defected, my brother in 1946 and my sister in 1948. Both to Australia.

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    Budapest, 17.10.2022

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    duration: 32:52
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    Budapest, 17.10.2022

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    duration: 25:44
    media recorded in project Memory of Visegrád
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“It was prohibited to leave the village”

Teodóra Mikecz, during an interview
Teodóra Mikecz, during an interview
photo: István Kollai

Teodóra Mikecz (1937) was born as the daughter of Ödön Mikecz, lawyer, minister of justice (1939). This pre-war political commitment of her father was a heavy burden to bear after the Second World War. Teodóra was relocated together with her parents when aged 15, to a so-called “kulák” settlement (ie. village of land-owner peasants). Kuláks were punished by hosting Budapest-originated ex-blue-collars. After 1953, they were admitted to the outskirt of Budapest, but not to the capital city, living under the category of “class enemy”. It meant not to find seconday school to pass graduation, or to find intellectual work.