Hungary to Disclose Archives of Social Security Agencies

The Hungarian parliament has voted to publish tens of thousands of secret files of the secret police of the socialist era.

The database will start operating on October 20, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. Hungarians will have access to an online database containing about 65,000 records. Documents from 1944 to 1989 will be published, including operational and undercover recordings. According to some estimates, between 150,000 and 180,000 people cooperated with special services during this period.

“Communist-era state security documents are a secret that the authorities did not want to reveal either after the fall of communism in 1989 or after Viktor Orban came to power in 2010,” said Deputy Prime Minister Balint Ruff. He called communist crimes by the secret police a "ghost" that had hung over society for decades. Prime Minister Peter Madyar promised to open the archives during his election campaign.

Ekaterina Naumova