Education for Democratic Citizenship? On the 80th Birthday of Mihály Csákó

I usually encounter three typical reactions when I mention that I deal with education for democratic citizenship (for the sake of simplicity, let us call it “democratic civic education”): firstly, a wry grin signalling that my conversation partner has no idea what I am talking about (most people, but especially my parents’ generation). Secondly, a fierce indignation that there is no need for civic education, and we know all-too-well how similar top-down, compulsory programs turned out (my grandparents).

Lucia Szemetová • October 29, 2021

Alternative History Through the Private Photo and Film Foundation

The first clumsy steps of a child, blowing candles off a birthday cake, a family holiday at the lake Balaton, or cruising along the Italian coast. These are just some of the usual snippets from the Private Photo and Film Foundation’s rich collection of home movies from the last century. As early as the 1920s, amateur cameras appeared in Hungary and became prevalent ways of recording everyday, private realities of primarily middle- and upper-middle-class families.

Anastasia Felcher • October 14, 2021

A Massacre under Khrushchev: Novocherkassk Shooting on Screen, on Air, and on Banners

In September 2021, the latest movie by highly acclaimed Russian director Andrey Konchalovsky, Dear Comrades! premiered in Hungary. The film depicts the heart-rending story of the 1962 Novocherkassk shooting. Public knowledge on the mass protest and its brutal dispersion was suppressed in the USSR before the regime change; in Russia today, it is facing the risk of quieting again.

Balázs Leposa • September 27, 2021

The Voice and Ears of America – Cold War Theater Collection

In the bipolar world emerged during the 1950s, the weaponless Cold War, obtaining information (also by the means of spying) and state propaganda gained extraordinary significance. While the US and the USSR had similar objectives (i.e., overcoming the other), their methods were more different.

András Mink • September 07, 2021

Afghanistan, a Crippled Country

Was Islamic fundamentalism’s seclusion as the only governing force left in Afghanistan preventable? When was the last ray of hope of a steady Afghanistan joining the international community lost? Presumably, in the last chapter of the Cold War, when the superpowers turned the country into a site of their rivalry.

Miklós Zsámboki • September 01, 2021

On the Stage of August 20: Hungarian National Day in a Refugee Camp

“The celebration took place in the courtyard of the San Sabba refugee camp, on August 20, at 11 a.m., near the monument commemorating the Italian and Jewish hostages the Nazis had executed here,” says a 1956 Information Item of Radio Free Europe (RFE).

Márk László-Herbert • July 30, 2021

“...It Wouldn’t Be Immodest, I Think, to Say that I Built Up the Soros Foundation.”

It has been twenty years since journalist and politician Miklós Vásárhelyi’s passing. Between 1984 and 1990, Vásárhelyi was the personal representative of George Soros on the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Soros Foundation Committee. From 1991 to 1994, he served as Vice President of the Soros Foundation, then Chair of the Board between 1994 and 2001.

Blinken OSA • July 20, 2021

Is There an Internet Proletariat?

Is it true that in the digital age there are no workers and no working class, that everyone is a white-collar worker or self-employed? Or does exploitation prevail in the era of Platform Capitalism, with social inequalities still on the rise? What is the role of labor research today, and what are its tools?

Márk László-Herbert • June 04, 2021

“Highly Important Personal Implications” – On the 50th Anniversary of György Lukács’s Death

It is a cliché that famous people always have a faithful and industrious partner beside (or behind) them, serving their masters by abandoning personal ambitions and occasionally even themselves, so that the other can accomplish what destiny had in store for them.

Balázs Leposa • May 25, 2021

But Who Is A “Kosseur?” – New Cold War Theater Collection at Blinken OSA

The coming addition to the Curated Collections was compiled by Balázs Leposa, archivist at the Blinken OSA, and will be available soon. Typical header of an item in the collection.