The Modern “Attic Sweep”
Historical vulnerability does not return in the same form, but regulatory uncertainty, fragile trust, and the erosion of long-term predictability can once again become a familiar social experience.
Hungary – Justice or Promise?
Post-transition compensation was not merely an economic issue, but also a test of trust, self-determination, and the promise of historical redress. In Hungary, however, the gap between legal settlement and the social sense of justice quickly gave way to disillusionment.
Forced Adaptation and Inherited Silence
The Socio-Psychological Legacy of Collectivization in Hungary (1961–1990). The end of collectivization did not bring genuine resolution: the loss of land, forced adaptation, and unspoken fears left behind a mental legacy that remains visible today through family patterns and broader forms of social behaviour.
Attic Sweeping – Collectivisation or how our great-grandparents became kulaks
This is the first part of a four-part series examining the practice of attic sweeping. In the following instalments, I will analyse the forced reorganisation of families’ lives, the redistribution carried out through compensation vouchers and the disappointments associated with it, and finally the opportunities that may still be found in the present. For now, we look back at how the foundations of family livelihoods were once taken away.
