Just as we close sentences with full-stops, an historical period can also become part of our history if we mark its passing. In order to close something however, we need to collect all knowledge on the period, listen to those who lived during it, and guard their memories. 1945 and 1990 are two such dates which undoubtedly mark a whole time period. From collapse to collapse, we could say, since, the third Reich was driven from the territory of Hungary by another conqueror, the Soviet army, and it was on the shattered remains of the socialist experiment where Hungary in 1990 once more won its independence.

Who lived in Vásárhely during this half-century, how did they live? What personal fates characterized this period? What was the material environment like? Who created, and who suffered during this almost fifty years? When answering these questions we can today still lean on the living personal memories of Vásárhely. This is why the time has come for us to introduce the remarkably rich past of our town, and its diverse traditions, while we must also show how much damage a lack of freedom causes and how it deforms our civilization. There are thousands of examples of this, and not just in the area of the arts but according to the broadest interpretation of culture, in all walks of life. We live, eat, love, and study differently if we are without freedom. We were born, we think, and we die differently.

Within the framework of a permanent exhibition, Hungary’s first Emlékpont, using the most up-to-date exhibiting techniques and museum teaching opportunities, brings to life, makes it possible to touch, and makes understandable for everyone the historical processes that affected Hódmezővásárhely and its residents during the past fifty years. Our Emlékpont will also be a memento, since it brings attention to the fact that those fifty years were not a dream: as we depart from them the weight of the lesson should not diminish.

We hope that the Emlékpont will be a place of meetings and discussions. We shall talk about the joy of freedom and the painful and joyful memories from the period between 1945 and 1990. This history cannot be black or white, since the joy of life and will to live always shone brightly through the grey weekdays.