Hungary launched the website nyitottaktak.hu on 4 November, the anniversary of the crushed 1956 revolution, to publish the records of approximately 60,000 recruited communist-era informers. Entries reveal identifying data such as real names, codenames, handling officers, and recruitment motives, though intimate personal details have been redacted. Authorities are currently digitizing contextual "B-dossiers" for a planned release on 25 February to explain how these informers were coerced. While the move ends decades of official secrecy, critics caution that publishing fragmented archives risks misleading the public.
Key points
Prime Minister Péter Magyar delivered on a campaign promise to expose state files kept hi…: Prime Minister Péter Magyar delivered on a campaign promise to expose state files kept hidden by successive administrations.
The disclosure was symbolically scheduled on the anniversary of the Soviet military crush…: The disclosure was symbolically scheduled on the anniversary of the Soviet military crushing the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
Critics argue the archive release is long overdue and could cause family distress due to…: Critics argue the archive release is long overdue and could cause family distress due to missing contextual documentation.
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- Published
Hungary has opened communist-era secret police files to the public, in a controversial move the government says will help Hungarian society heal itself from the traumas of 45 years of communist rule.
Critics say it has come too late, that the files themselves are incomplete, and that the move risks sowing division and causing unnecessary anguish to family members.
The date of the opening is symbolic - on 4 November 1956 Soviet tanks rolled through Budapest and other cities, to crush Hungary's short-lived revolution.
"I ask everyone to treat this long overdue publication of documents with dignity and humanity," Prime Minister Péter Magyar told reporters at the state archives in Budapest.
"Many families will now face difficult information, often related to a deceased relative," he added. "It is impossible to process a trauma without discussion and asking questions."
Magyar defended the move, which was a central promise of his election campaign ahead of his landslide victory in April elections, as the fulfilment of a promise made by those who toppled the Communist party in 1989 in Hungary.
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