Hungary to open Communist-era informer files in reckoning with Cold War past

BUDAPEST, Oct 6 - In a historic move, Hungary will soon start releasing tens of thousands of Communist-era police files in an online public database, giving people access to lists of informers and collaborators used by the former state security services.

The release, timed for the 70th anniversary of Hungary's 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, is part of Prime Minister Peter Magyar's pledge to make the records, stored in a vast basement of archives in Budapest, public and allow Hungarians to come to terms with their totalitarian past.

Although Communist rule ended in 1989, Hungary delayed fully opening the files due to a lack of strong political will from successive governments. So far, apart from researchers, ordinary people could only request access to their own records or those of close family members but now anybody will be able to conduct searches in the online database.

During the Cold War, secret police agencies in eastern Europe such as East Germany's Stasi or Hungary's security services relied on collaborators drawn from the public, often via blackmail, threats or rewards. Between 1956 and 1989 some 55,000 secret collaborators were recorded in Hungary.

They monitored friends, family members, neighbours and co-workers to detect signs of dissent and Western influence -- and their reports often led to arrests and interrogation.

Many flats in downtown Budapest -- called K-flats or conspiracy flats -- served as locations for meetings between secret police officials and civilian collaborators.

MUSIC BANDS TARGETED

In the 1980s, informants attended concerts in Budapest's underground rock scene that attracted youthful crowds and were seen by the authorities as potentially subversive.

Peter Muller "Sziami", still an iconic figure in today's music scene, recalls his band Kontroll Csoport (group) performing in 1983 a song he had written titled "Informers and Provocateurs".

"In our own way," the lyrics read, "we keep watch too: the one standing in front of you is our man -- you’ve blushed, you’ve been exposed, informers and provocateurs."

"And then we turned spotlights on the crowd and we saw the audience of around 1,000 people spinning around, looking to see who could be the informers," Muller, 74, said in his studio, smiling mischievously.

Muller was almost thrown out of college for his music, and police banned some of his concerts and interrogated him. His first punk-rock band called "URH" in 1980, legendary in the underground culture, was named after the radio frequency band used by the state police and was often targeted.

Despite those memories, however, Muller has mixed feelings about the opening of the files after such a long time.

"I do not feel entirely comfortable with the idea that society needs such a cleansing or catharsis after all this time — that people must be singled out, humiliated, shamed, and punished when they have either already died or moved on to a different stage of life," he told Reuters.

CONFRONTING OUR PAST 'MORE DEEPLY'

The Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ABTL) manages the former state security services' records, with files comprising the names of 50,000 to 60,000 collaborators.

Its director, Bendeguz Gergo Cseh, hailed the release of the Communist-era files, based on a law passed by parliament in September, as a "historic step" and said it went further than elsewhere in the former eastern bloc.

Poland opened its archives much earlier but does not allow open, unrestricted searches, as will be the case now in Hungary.

Germany also took a more restrictive approach in its 1991 act to open the Stasi files, while in the Czech Republic not all files have been uploaded to an online database.

The Hungarian law says understanding the past and the transparency of public institutions are "essential prerequisites" for the functioning of a democratic state.

The release of four types of files will come in two stages, starting on November 4. On that day in 1956 Soviet tanks entered Budapest to crush a pro-democracy uprising that had begun on October 23.

Some details of the files will be redacted to protect sensitive personal information, including health records, addictions and sexual orientation.

"As both an archivist and a historian, I believe that passing judgment based on this information is inappropriate," Cseh told Reuters.

"However, I do think it is possible to gain insight into life stories and confront our past more deeply — not only at an individual level but also at a societal one." REUTERS