In 1979 there were about 350-380,000 summer plots, properties within and outside municipal areas in Hungary, which were mainly used for holidaying or active recreational purposes. Between the 1960s and 1980s these properties served as recreational spaces for nearly a third of the entire population of the country. They were primarily located near the waterfront of Balaton, the Danube Bend and Lake Velence, and any place with an attractive environment suitable for holiday-making. What motivated people to invest in properties and construction projects? Why was it exactly around this time that the characteristically narrow strip holiday plots appeared with their simple wooden or brick houses or sometimes just a lorry cabin to sleep in? Németh explores the available opportunities to spend holidays in a closed country where travel was difficult and only a few people could venture abroad – rarely and in strictly organized formats. How and why did the demand to build holiday homes emerge? Analysing interviews, the study examines the motivations of people who chose to buy and build their holiday homes in this era, with special attention to the genre specificities of oral history.

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