Hungary has opened communist-era secret police files to the public, a move intended to help the nation process the traumas of 45 years of one-party rule. The government stated the publication will allow Hungarian society to heal itself, though critics contend the files are incomplete and the release comes too late, potentially sowing division and causing anguish.
The opening of the files is timed to coincide with November 4, the anniversary of the 1956 Soviet invasion that crushed Hungary's revolution. "Many families will now face difficult information, often related to a deceased relative," Prime Minister Péter Magyar told reporters at the state archives in Budapest. "It is impossible to process a trauma without discussion and asking questions."
Magyar defended the initiative, a key promise from his election campaign, as a fulfillment of pledges made by those who overthrew the Communist party in 1989. The released files typically record an informer's real name, codename, personal details, motive for recruitment (voluntary, blackmailed, or coerced), and their handling officer. A further set of files, known as the "B-dossiers," which are being digitized, will provide more detail on the recruitment process and the value of the information provided by informers. These are slated for release on February 25.
Critics, including historian Zsuzsanna Borvendég, a Member of the European Parliament for the far-right Our Homeland party, argue that publishing names without fully explaining the circumstances of recruitment risks misleading the public. Borvendég stated that "in the overwhelming majority of surviving agent reports, it isn't even possible to identify the agent, let alone their motives."
Historian Krisztian Ungváry, who has long advocated for the full release of these documents, believes access to information held by the state against citizens is a fundamental right. Between December 1944 and February 1990, an estimated 150,000 to 160,000 people are believed to have been recruited as informers in Hungary. Many were coerced through threats of losing work, study opportunities, access to medicine, or exposure of personal vulnerabilities, such as addiction or sexual activity, details that will be carefully edited from the current disclosures.