Keyword – Pajtás

Béresi, Ákos:

Ignoring and remembering

In Balatonfüred, at the head of promenade Tagore, close to the entry of the pier, there is a strange sculpture: distressed hands turn desperately to the sky out of a wave-shaped marble-block. On the monument, a bronze memorial indicates that not very far from that sight, on May 30, 1954, a screw steamer called Pajtás crashed over. Twenty-three passangers died in the accident. This essay does not examine the conditions of the tragedy, but attempts to answer the question of why this tragic event became an integral part to the collective memory of Füred.

Keywords: accident, censorship, collective memory, Pajtás, Rakosi dictatorship, trauma