The land of Our fathers

The agricultural collectivization of peasants’ farms between 1948 and 1961 concerned almost half of the population in Hungary. The Communist state implemented the seizure of landholdings and enforced people and lands into co-operatives by means of intimidation and aggression. It ravaged, then eliminated traditional communities in the process, along with the culture and ways of living attached to them. The film about the history of enforced collectivization commemorates the victims and families involved as well as those persecuted in the process. The people in the film are witnesses of that era. Their stories and the archive footage from news programs and documents are recollections of how the peasantry was terrorized and coerced to enter the collectives.
Land of Our Fathers was made for the commemoration program ’Turning of Fate: The Annihilation of Peasant Society, 1945-1962’.
The film was commissioned by the Committee of National Remembrance, in cooperation with The Office of the Hungarian National Assembly Directorate for Public Collections and Public Education.
Produced by the Committee of National Remembrance.
Archive footage: Hungarian National Film Fund.
Archive photos and documents:
Historical Archives of the State Security Services, Diafilmgyártó Kft., Fortepan, Getty Images, Museum of Göcsej, Hungarian National Museum, Hungarian National Archives Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Archives, Hungarian National Archives Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Archives, Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund - Hungarian National News Agency, National Széchényi Library, The Police Museum, private collection of Sándor Vágó, Wikimedia.
The film is protected by copyright in its entirety; the copyright holder is the Committee of National Remembrance. Using any part of the film except for the general-interest uses determined in the Law of Copyright is only possible with the written authorization of the copyright holder.
Committee of National Remembrance/Press Office, 2018