What Do Archives Reveal about the Birth of Democracy in Russia?

The USSR held the first partially free nationwide legislative elections in its history between March 26 and May 21, 1989, electing the country’s new highest authority, the Congress of People's Deputies. A massive political enterprise accompanied with unprecedented, though numerically very limited, variety of candidates’ platforms, the elections mobilized citizens—and voters—across the entire country. Voter turnout exceeded 90%.

Blinken OSA, Háttér Archive and Library • March 12, 2021

Records Uncovered: Gay and Lesbian Histories in Central and Southeastern Europe, 1945–1999

Blinken OSA • February 25, 2021

Online Exhibition Opening: Records Uncovered

New online exhibition at the Blinken OSA! The first result of our collaboration with the Háttér Archive and Library, “a manifesto-in-documents,” is now available online:Records Uncovered: Gay and Lesbian Histories in Central and Southeastern Europe, 1945–1999

Miklós Zsámboki • February 23, 2021

Our Invisible Enemies! Educational Film on Epidemics from 1950s Hungary

Lehel Örs Tari • February 23, 2021

Five Decades in Hungarian Public Life – Interview with László Mester

In early 2021, a new collection was added to the Blinken OSA holdings, comprising a series of interviews with László Mester on his life and political career from the years at the youth association (Magyar Kommunista Ifjúsági Szövetség, KISZ) of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party, through the regime change and several terms as a mayor, to the end of the last decade. The series of interviews has been processed and made available.

Lili Rebeka Tóth • February 08, 2021

Will There be a 1989? Or, what Was Tending During the Regime Change?

Today, the process of the regime change is considered history. The year 1989 is part of the high-school curriculum; democracy’s triumph over Communism, as far as a school excercise is concerned. Going closer, it is an entire audiovisual collection at the Blinken OSA. A post by Lili Rebeka Tóth, former intern at the Archives working on the Will There Be a 1989? online collection.

András Mink • February 04, 2021

“Mátyás Is Dead, Justice Is Here”

Mátyás Rákosi, the most hated figure of the past hundred, or thousand years of Hungarian history, died fifty years ago today, on February 5, 1971. The history of Hungary is rich in characters who, despite the monstrous crimes they committed or were indisputably responsible for, remain unjustifiably respected or popular even today. Rákosi is a singular exception.

Csaba Szilágyi • January 25, 2021

Through a Camera, Gradually Brighter

From Amateur and TV Footage to Court Sentence

Miklós Zsámboki • January 20, 2021

"Send Message to Washington..."

“The US President and the Secretary of State allow themselves too much when they try to interfere in our country's domestic affairs. . . . The years when it was possible to oversee the affairs of small countries in a Capitalist stlye, through statements, are over. We don't need good advice from the President, we are well off without it,”

István Rév • January 15, 2021

Should Facts of the Past Be Public?

The Blinken OSA launches a blog series at 444.hu, one of the leading independent news websites in Hungary. The blog entitled Forrás. [meaning source and, with the dot pronounced, boiling point] will consist of posts written by the Blinken OSA staff, revolved around archival documents and their archival, historical, and contemporary context. As 444.hu is in Hungarian, English translations will be published here, at the Blinken OSA website.