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{
    "localId": "269701852",
    "label": "Correspondence Between President Harry S. Truman and Christian Ravndal, with Attachment and Related Note",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Correspondence Between President Harry S. Truman and Christian Ravndal, with Attachment and Related Note",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/269701852",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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    "naId": 269701852,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1952-07-01",
            "month": 7,
            "year": 1952
        }
    ],
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{
    "seq": 4,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602191/750299/750299-06-004.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "MEMORANDUM\nFor:\nThe Minister\nFrom:\nE. W. Juhasz\nSubject: Farmers' Cooperatives in Hungary\nOn June 29, 1952, on our way to Vienna, we had a picnic\nluncheon at a shady spot off the main road about 16 kilometers\neast of Gyor. A man and woman passed us there driving a team\nof oxen. I accosted them and we talked at length about their\nlife, farming and crops. They turned out to be husband and\nwife. They were not very talkative in the beginning; she\neyed me, our car, and our group consisting of the O'Sheels\nand my wife, with suspicion. When I asked whether they were\nindependent farmers or only farm workers, she right away\nstated that she was a member of a Cooperative where \"life\nand everything was simply wonderful\". To my further questions\nabout farming in general she replied only haltingly in one\nsyllable sentences.\nThen she began to question me. When told who we were,\nshe warmed up and told us everything about their \"present\nmisery\". Their standard of living was way below their pre-\nwar standard. But she had to join the Cooperative because\ntheir kulak life had become unbearable. Those who refused\nto join are doing their best to keep their heads above water\nbut they won't be able to do it for very long. She told me\nthat she joined the Gyor District Farmers' Cooperative; that\nher husband who was seriously wounded while fighting at the\nCarpathian front against the Russians in 1944 was partly\ncrippled and was unable to do heavy work. He was not\naccepted as a member by the Cooperative he was employed as\na night watchman, earning 220 forints per month. They had\nfour minor children. If she could fulfill the norms set by\nthe management of the Cooperative her salary per month was\n430 forints a month. She had to feed six persons on 650\nforints, she said, when a pair of shoes cost 300, and a\ncheap shirt about 100 forints. Last winter they had to pay\nup to 140 forints for a kilogram of lard because none was to\nbe had cheaper. (Present price - 35 forints per kilogram of\nlard).\n# Officially, 11.7 forints equal one dollar. In buying the\nnecessities of life, about 45-50 forints equal one dollar;\ni.e., a forint is worth little more than two cents. For a\nbreakdown of living costs, see Legdes 409, January 2, 1952. )"
}