„Megjött a rendszerváltás.” A rendszerváltás emlékezete humán- és szakértelmiségiek életúttörténeteiben
“The Regime Change Has Arrived”: The Memory of the Regime Change in the Life Histories of Intellectuals and Professionals

Summary/Abstract: The memory of Hungary’s political transition of 1989, particularly in the context of public discourse, attracted scholarly attention soon after the events due to perceived failures in parliamentary democracy and a decline in social solidarity. Ongoing political challenges, which shape and define social identity, have sustained persistent scholarly interest in the memory of this transition. This paper explores how the transition was remembered at the turn of the millennium from a middle-ground perspective. We investigate whether the revolution lost its significance for intellectuals from the middle strata of Hungarian society – those who, as part of the cultural, scientific, and bureaucratic sub-elite, did not play a central role in collective decision-making or institutional reform but nonetheless contributed to the transformation from a secondary position. By virtue of their social status, these individuals later influenced the perspectives that shaped the memory of the regime change. Our findings are based on the analysis of 89 life-course interviews conducted between 1997 and 2010.

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