A munkások strandjától a „Sárga” üdülőtelepig
From Workers’ Beaches to the “Yellow” Holiday Community

Notes on a Changing Holiday Culture at the Tisza River

Summary/Abstract: There are many resorts along the major Hungarian rivers providing unique leisure opportunities for those who own holiday homes in the region. After their initial formation, these resorts – often comprising several hundred buildings – developed into special holiday communities, offering a wealth of research subjects ranging from social networks to local festivities and so on. The portion of the Tisza under scrutiny here began to develop into a recreational space at the beginning of the 1920s but the establishment of the resort gained new impetus from the 1950s onwards. In 1922, Szeged papers report that a new bathing area was established in Tápé, which had been popular since the Serbian occupation of Újszeged. Once the situation improved, this stretch of the riverside was forgotten, and it was not until 1922 that the Szeged Society for Workers’ Physical Exercise decided to develop the riverside beach and secured funds to do so. Bathing and leisure activities took place primarily in riverside beaches and floating homes until the 1950s, when the riverside was gradually colonized first spontaneously, later in a more organized manner. To this day, the so-called “Yellow” Holiday Community consists of second homes of families predominantly from Szeged. The concept behind these holiday homes is based on a desire to leave behind the bustle of city life and live near nature and water. The study traces the history of the formation and transformation of the holiday community, and is hoped to lend useful perspectives to future research of similar phenomena. The analysis is based on contemporary press coverage, reports, and the corporate archives of the István Tömörkény Holiday Association, as well as interviews with holiday home owners and personal observation.

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