Exhibition research display object 14: Ófalu protests

These photographs are from Erzsébet Bechli (mayor of Ófalu 2013-2024), who was a young mother during the late 1980s resistance against the Paks NPP’s plans to establish a “nuclear cemetery” in Ófalu. Erzsébet took part in organizing the resistance alongside Terézia Reisz, then wife of local politician Ferenc Wekler, and many other women from the local German minority, who initiated a committed and ambitious collaboration among twelve villages. They gathered information, held weekly meetings and public assemblies, and mobilized respected and influential community figures including priests, kindergarten and school teachers, doctors and nurses. As part of the campaign, they printed and distributed information flyers to post boxes across the villages. German minority cultural organizations, such as the folk dance group, played a key role in this bottom-up resistance and were also connected to the Roma and Székely minority groups. The movement’s leading figures were mostly young intellectuals who had studied in Budapest and were able to gather critical information and attract environmental activists from outside the region to larger events. In spite of the thawing and unstable state socialist regime, such acts of anti-state self-organization were still forbidden. Protesters faced subtle harassment, such as unannounced police searches and visits by authorities, denial of permits, and job loss.

Interestingly, the state tolerated oppositional voices from the environmental sector more than in other domains, which emboldened the community to defend their beloved home against external threats. The slogans of the resistance still resonate: “We want to live here,” “We want to be alive, not buried,” “We don’t want village destruction,” and “Paks – putting a bomb under us.” Since those early days, Terézia Reisz continues with environmental activism, striving to protect the region from varied threats, including plans for a cement factory, an accumulator repository, a chemical plant, and a waste incinerator. Erzsébet Bechli is thinking about writing her memoirs and gathering former members of the resistance to commemorate their protest, a lesser known chapter of Hungarian political history, whose archives can only be found in private photo albums.