(Adnkronos) – The Hungarian government has made the archives of the communist-era secret police accessible to citizens, including the names of the regime’s network of informants, as reported by several international media outlets. Online consultation has been open since yesterday, 70 years after the Soviet repression of the 1956 revolution. Prime Minister Peter Magyar thus keeps a central promise of his electoral campaign, after decades of debate. On the portal of the State Security Services Historical Archive (Abtl), files, registers, and magnetic tapes can be consulted, and the names of one’s ancestors can be searched.
The publication has been particularly controversial because the names cited are not necessarily those of actual informants: in some cases, they are “persons of interest” to the regime. In a public speech, Magyar urged citizens to treat the documents with “dignity and humanity,” warning that many families will face difficult information about their own history. The Minister of Culture, Zoltan Tarr, expressed hope that the publication would allow for long-term reconciliation through the revelation of past secrets. His father appears in the records; he was never an agent, according to an official confirmation.
Among the names in the spotlight is that of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who in the past had been the subject of rumors about his affiliation with the secret police. In a statement released on Tuesday, Orban stated that he had refused any collaboration when he was approached at the beginning of compulsory military service. He added that he, his wife, and colleagues were “under constant surveillance” and targets of the party-state’s secret investigations. Other documents are currently being digitized and will be available by February 25 next year: they will concern the network’s recruitment process.
