Túlélők és újrakezdők

Author(s): Viktor Karády / Language(s): Hungarian

The reader holds in his hands an old/new book, the first version of which was published in 1984 in the now legendary Parisian workshop of liberal political émigrés, the Magyar Füzetek [Hungarian papers], under the editorship of Péter Kende. The present text, which has been re-edited, in part re-written, and supplemented and expanded with the findings of recent research, is the first part of a larger work about the sociology of Hungarian-Jewish survivors. The second part is to be published in a separate volume. The author has forged together statistical indicators, contemporary press articles, autobiographical reports, historical accounts, as well as his own entrance examination results and his experiences as a youth in a sociological system of indicators, in order to portray the collective image of Hungarian Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide, as well as the trials of their fitting back into society. In separate subchapters, the book discusses the social reception, demography, class relations and (“upward” and “downward”) mobility of the “restarters”, the waves of anti-Semitism after 1945, the mobilising force of Zionism, the extent of emigration, forced assimilation under the Communists, and the possibilities and traps of integration.

Gotowość. Kryzys bydgoski 1981

Author(s): Agnieszka Dębska,Maciej Kowalczyk / Language(s): Polish

The series of events in March 1981, known as the Bydgoszcz crisis, was a two-week political and social breakthrough in Poland which started in Bydgoszcz with an incident provoked by the communist authorities and ended with a national settlement of fundamental significance for the future of Poland. The book is a record of those developments told only by their witnesses (the main heroes of those events, Solidarity and party leaders, and ordinary citizens). The reference to their memory is of special significance because a simple list of facts cannot explain the essence of the breakthrough. Both the arguments of both sides of that clash and the accompanying emotions are equally important.

Moje zeznania

Author(s): Anatolij Marczenko / Language(s): Polish

A moving testimony of cruelty, anarchy, and overt violence in Soviet political forced-labour camps and prisons in the post-Stalinist period. Anatoly Marchenko, an ordinary worker, was only 20 when he was sent in 1958 to a Soviet prison for taking part in a scuffle in which he did not even participate. He entered the circle of political prisoners, and Mordovia labour camps became his “university”. He got to know true history there, learned the fundamentals of economics, acquired the knowledge of politics, and became a determined opponent of the inhumane system and a true humanist at the same time. He published his experiences from that time in a book which made him one of the best known Russian dissidents. Convicted several times he died in December 1986 after a hunger strike which lasted almost four months. Five days after his funeral Mikhail Gorbaczev called exiled Andrei Sakharov, which initiated the process of freeing political prisoners in the USSR.

Dzieci rewolucji

Author(s): Wolfgang Leonhard / Language(s): Polish

Reminiscences of a German maturing in the USSR who was brought up by the Soviet system to propagate the communist revolution in his own country. After the war, Wolfgang Leonhard was actively introducing communism in the defeated Germany. Ideological dilemmas make him break off with Stalinism in 1949. The Children of the Revolution, published for the first time in 1955, is an illustration of the perekovka (re-forging) of souls on the living material, and evidence of political blindness.

Najpolitickejšia veda. Slovenská historiografia v rokoch 1948 - 1968

Author(s): Adam Hudek / Language(s): Slovak

The beginning of the Communist dictatorship in 1948 was one of the most important milestones in the history of Slovak historiography. We can justifiably speak of the new formation of Slovak historical science from the organisational, personnel and thematic points of views, even though the full consequences of the introduction of Marxism-Leninism in historical research were only fully noticeable from the 1950s onwards. Before 1948, Marxist historiography in Slovakia hardly existed at all and even after the Communist coup, it took a long time for the Marxist historical school of though to even begin to produce relevant works. This turning point in Slovak historiography, however, was not as complete in any direction as the official Communist propaganda declared. When analysing the institutional base of Slovak historical science, we must in the first instance record the setting up of the Historical Institute of the SAV (up to 1953 called SAVU) as the leading establishment for historical research. The institute, as the top institution, replaced the Historical Seminar of Comenius University, which fulfilled this function in the period of the First Republic, and the Historical Section of Matica slovenská which held an important position during the Slovak State. At this time, the centres of research in historical science came under the strict control of state and party institutions. The system of historical research during this period stabilised itself as a relatively operative model, but one not accepted without reservations. From 1948, a mixture of rational decision-making and demonstrations of class hatred ruled the human resources policy of institutions concerning themselves with history. The Communist regime began the larger-scale screening of historians at the beginning of the 1950s. However, it could not afford mass redundancy, since there was no one with whom to replace the “unsuitable” employees. In this way, the purges only affected a small number of historians, and only for a certain time. In general, state power did not hinder their research work, even in the case of screening reservations, on condition that the historians displayed loyalty to the regime and its ideology in their work. In the interpretation of national history, no deviations from the prevailing Marxist dogmas of the time were allowed. After 1948, a new, Marxist, master narrative began to be created. Its old, non-Marxist concepts were labelled as unusable, not taking into account Marxist notions of historical development. In Slovakia, Marxism-Leninism was installed in historiography in its most vulgar, Stalinist form by Communist ideologists who also set up the basic shape of the new, master narrative. In this way, historical science in the 1950s only participated in the creation of the national story by developing and confirming the lines defined by the party central office and by filling in the schemes given in advance. Historical research directly driven by ideology thus produced more or less trustworthy theories that in the end led to a distortion of history, and often the devaluing of new knowledge, too. The disintegration of Stalinist dogmatism in the second half of the 1960s brought with it a partial revision of these theories. At this time, the most problematic distortions in the Slovak master narrative were revised. Even though the Marxist base of historical science was respected, historians often inclined towards older, non-Marxist versions of the national story. In conclusion, we can state that the characteristic sign of Slovak historiography since its beginning was (sometimes more or less visible) the attempt to create an independent Slovak national story which would not merge with, and would not be part of, the Hungarian or Czech master narratives. However, this process was not totally completed even during the 1948-1967 period.

Tell Atrib 1985-1995 IV. Faience Objects. PAM Monograph Series 5

Author(s): Fabian Welc / Language(s): English

Egyptian faience of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods has not enjoyed the same degree of research as the earlier material. This volume, which presents an analysis of faience object from Polish-Egyptian excavations at Tell Atrib, ancient Athribis, will help to remedy this problem.Excavations in Tell Atrib revealed traces of local production of faience objects. They include vessels, figurines, amulets and ushebti recovered from three major strata dated to different phases of the Ptolemaic period. Their provenance from securely dated contexts allowed for tracing typological changes occurring over time, which is of particular importance for studying the history of local faience production.These observations give grounds for analyzing the sources of influence and inspiration of local artisans. Distribution of faience finds at the site gives certain clues as to the role of these objects in everyday and religious life of the inhabitants of the ancient city.PartnerzyKsięgarnia Uniwersytecka LIBERAzymuttel. 703 700 112

Prizonieri de război români în Uniunea Sovietică. Documente (1941-1956)

Author(s): Laurenţiu Constantiniu,Ilie Schipor,Vitalie Văratic,Vladimir Ivanovich Korotaev,Vladimir Nikolaevich Kuzelenkov / Language(s): Romanian

Pokolenia PRL na ekranie w kontekście dokumentów prasowych z epoki

Author(s): Jakub Zajdel / Language(s): Polish

The book aims to describe the complex, multilateral relations among cinematography, propaganda, and the viewers in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. In the second half of the 20th century, after they seized power, the communists launched intensive propaganda activities to create the impression that they enjoyed public support. Among the motifs developed in propaganda texts, there was the generation theme. It involvedthree generation myths, introduced gradually, to which the author refers as the myth of the generation of fight, the myth of the generation of work, and the myth of the generation of duty. They depended for their credibility on information provided by journals and memoirs collected during competitions organised by various newspapers and magazines. The cinema,in turn, was supposed to disseminate them because of its wide range of influence. However, partly for political but mostly for artistic reasons, the filmmakers usually aimed at presenting their own reaction to a generation myth rather than at illustrating it according to the expectations of those who controlled cinematography. Discussing selected fictional films, the author attempts to describe the relation between the myth and its depiction on the screen as perceived by the viewer. Importantly, the author’s intention is to reconstruct the reception of the films upon their first release rather than interpret them according to the standards of the present. Obviously, it is difficult to fully reconstruct the senses that used to provide an important context for the viewers to understand the works discussed. The author strives to accomplish this task by focusing on the senses suggested to the audience by the press, and in particular, by three groups of texts. The first group comprises propaganda texts which verbalised the generation myths. The second group includes generation memoires as published in the press (they were also published in book forms). They served as the foundation for the generation myths by providing necessary details, which were thengeneralised in the myths’ content. The third group comprises film reviews which were supposed to steer the reception of the films. The reference point for the ideological interpretation of the productions they reviewed was the image of generations disseminated by the propaganda of the time. As a result of this discussion, the reader of the book is presented with an outline of some of the complex mechanisms that shaped the cultural memory in the times of the Polish People’s Republic.

The Invisible Shining. The Cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 1945-1956

Author(s): Balázs Apor / Language(s): English

This book offers a detailed analysis of the construction, reception and eventual decline of the cult of the Hungarian Communist Party Secretary, Mátyás Rákosi, one of the most striking examples of orchestrated adulation in the Soviet bloc. While his cult never approached the magnitude of that of Stalin, Rákosi’s ambition to outshine the other “best disciples” and become the best of the best was manifest in his diligence in promoting a Soviet-type following in Hungary. The main argument of Balázs Apor is that the cult of personality is not just a curious aspect of communist dictatorship, it is an essential element of it.The monograph is primarily concerned with techniques and methods of cult construction, as well as the role various institutions played in the creation of mythical representations of political fi gures. Separate chapters present visual and non-visual methods of cult construction.The author engages with a wider international literature on Stalinist cults in an impressive manner. Apor uses the case of Rákosi to explore how personality cults are created, how such cults are perceived, and how they are eventually unmade. The book addresses the success—generally questionable—of such projects, as well as their uncomfortable legacies.

Licht um Mitternacht.Fünf Jahre in der Welt der Verfemten

Author(s): Erica Wallach / Language(s): English,German

In this autobiographical book, Erica Wallach gives us a deep and personal insight into the experience of her five-year imprisonment. She was suspected of espionage and was sent to prisons in 1950 in the GDR and the Soviet Union as well as to the Workuta Soviet labor camp. Her husband, Robert R. Wallach, a soldier in the U.S. Army, and the their two children, waited in vain for her return to Paris, the Wallach family's place of residence at that time. They had no information about the reasons for her sudden disappearance and about Erica's whereabouts. The author describes the methods of totalitarian systems that are used to break prisoners in solitary confinement in order to obtain the desired confession from them. And she tells how she still managed to survive those years. This new, expanded edition has a German-English bilingual epilogue, written by Erica Wallach in the late 1970s and appearing here for the first time. <p> Erica Wallach gewährt uns in diesem autobiographischen Bericht einen tiefen und persönlichen Einblick in ihr Erleben jener fünf Jahre Inhaftierung, die Sie, der Spionage verdächtigt, ihrer Familie entrissen in Gefängnissen der DDR und der Sowjetunion sowie im sowjetischen Arbeitslager Workuta verbringen mußte, weil sie ihren Pflegeeltern Noel und Herta Field, die im damaligen Ostblock in Schwierigkeiten geraten waren, im August 1950 zur Hilfe eilen wollte und sich zu diesem Zweck nach Ost-Berlin begeben hatte. Ihr Ehemann, Robert R. Wallach, ein GI der U.S. Army, und die beiden gemeinsamen Kinder, warteten vergebens auf ihre Rückkehr nach Paris, dem Wohnort der Familie Wallach zu jener Zeit. Sie hatten keine Informationen über die Gründe des plötzlichen Verschwindens und erhielten keine Auskunft über den Aufenthaltsort von Erica Wallach. Die Autorin schildert jene Methoden totalitärer Systeme, mit deren Hilfe Gefangene in der Isolationshaft gebrochen werden, um von ihnen das gewünschte Geständnis zu erhalten. Und sie erzählt darüber wie es ihr trotzdem gelungen ist, jene Jahre zu überstehen. </p>

"Akaratunk ellenére..." -Dokumentumok a csehszlovákiai magyarság történetéből 1918-1992

Author(s): / Language(s): Hungarian

In the year 2020, the Hungarian nation throughout the world commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon. As a result of the diktat designed with reference to the right of nations to self-determination, but at the same time defying this principle, not only the borders of Hungary were changed, but—against their will—one third of the Hungarian nation was driven into minority position, including the Hungarian population of Upper Hungary. The Treaty of Trianon, signed on 4th June 1920, thus provided a decisive contribution to the birth of the Hungarian minority community in the former Czechoslovakia, the present Slovakia.To date, no comprehensive monograph or collection of documents on the history of the Hungarian nation´s segment falling under Czechoslovakia has been published. This prompted the Forum Minority Research Institute to gather and present to readers in one volume the most important sources on the history of the Hungarian minority community now living in southern Slovakia, from the founding of the Czechoslovak state in 1918 until its dissolution in 1992.The size constraints did not, of course, allow the publication of all the documents considered important, so documents consisting of only a few lines on the one hand and the too voluminous ones on the other hand were left out of the volume. The published documents were selected in such a way that they provide a comprehensive picture of the history of the Hungarian minority community and present the most important issues of its seventy-five years existence within the Czechoslovak state. Some of the omitted documents are presented in the form of illustrations.The vast majority of the documents included in the collection come from the archives of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, and partly from the contemporary Hungarian press in Czechoslovakia. Some of them have already been published in various collections of documents, but there are some among them which have been unknown not only to a wider readership, but also to historians. Most of the documents come from the most dramatic and hectic periods in the history of the Hungarian minority, i.e. the years following the formation of the Czechoslovak state, the period of the first Vienna Award, the years of post-World War II disenfranchisement, the Prague Spring and the regime change.The volume consists of five chapters, adapted to the general historical eras of Czechoslovakia. The first chapter contains documents on the First Republic, the second on the Slovak autonomy and the Slovak State, the third on the years after the Second World War, the fourth on the decades of the communist dictatorship, and the fifth on the years between the regime change and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Each document is preceded by the place and time of its origin, followed by a brief introduction to interpret and place the document in historical context. The documents are followed by references indicating their current location. At the end of the collection, there is a selected bibliography containing the most important pieces of academic literature on the history of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia.

Tito, der rote Rebell und seine »vollkommene Demokratie«

Author(s): Bruno Mlinaric / Language(s): German

…At the same time, with what may be the last job I have left to do, I would like to try to make up for what I have sinned against my fellow man in the long years since I was an enthusiastic communist by - unsuspecting what I was doing - them as one of Moscow's most active servants unwillingly and unwillingly handed over to the red executioners. I sacrificed the best years of my life for communism and stood up for my convictions in prisons and concentration camps. For I always believed that communism would bring freedom to my people and free the world from the grave shortcomings of old society. I believed the promises of the "leaders" in Moscow that with the Bolshevization of my country free competition would begin immediately, that the able would win, that there would then be no more unemployment and exploiters and that we could live without coercion and free from fear. // ... // But I understand you, comrades, if you only get angry with me, the "traitor". I, too, was deaf to all arguments - until the enforcers of the military revolution came and built their rule. So, I threw everything down and left ... // At least check the facts and think about what to deduce from them. There is also the "Unknown Soldier" who fell with millions of his own kind in the struggle for freedom since Moscow became the center of the world revolution. My book is dedicated to his memory, which may soon be the testament of a stranger if I am tracked down and "finished off" with a shot in the neck or a strand. You know how to do that. (PUBLISHED BY THOMAS-VERLAG ZÜRICH 1948)

Władysław Kowalenko (1884–1966). Badacz dziejów dawnej Słowiańszczyzny na lądzie i na morzu

Author(s): Wojciech Mądry / Language(s): Polish

The aim of this work is to present the role of Władysław Kowalenko as an initiator and advocate of research on early Piast strongholds with the use of interdisciplinary methods and of studies on connections between the early medieval Slavdom and the sea, as well as his contribution to the "Słownik starożytności słowiańskich" [Dictionary of Slavic Antiquities] – a unique compendium of knowledge about the history and culture of the early Slavs – where the editorial work of Kowalenko resulted in the publishing of an eight-volume encyclopaedia instead of the originally planned two-volume dictionary for the general public.

KONTINENT / КОНТИНЕНТ – Ost-West-Forum – Ausgabe 1979 / 11

Author(s): Elena Andronowa,Sh. An-Sḳi,Natal’ja Jevgen’jevna Gorbanevskaja,Michail Kasatschkow,Michasʹ Ihnatavič Kukabaka,,Wolfgang Leonhard,Kurt Marko,Viktor Nekrasov,Andrey Valentinovich Sakharov,Isaac Bashevis Singer ,Aleksandr Solženicyn / Language(s): German

Andrei Sakharov — What we all have in common. The human rights movement in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. Their goals, their importance, their difficulties. // And the truth will set us free. An interview by the BBC with Alexander Solzhenitsyn // Wolfgang Leonhard — Eurocommunism: an important process of change // Kurt Marko — Pile of broken pieces of "Euro" Communism? // Viktor Nekrasow — On this side of the wall // »We all need to be rooted«. An interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer // Anna Wierzbicka — On the work of I. B. Singer // Michail Kasatschkow — Is the Soviet Union threatened with a war in the East? // Natalja Gorbanewskaja — poems // GULag archipelago today. A letter from Sosnovka. With a foreword by Andrej Sacharow // Elena Andronowa — Four days in the Egorevskaya. On and about the trial of Professor Orlow // Michail Kukobaka — Stolen Homeland // The Moscow Helsinki Group to the Polish Committee for Social Self-Defense (KSS-KOR) // Three letters from An-sky

KONTINENT / КОНТИНЕНТ – Ost-West-Forum – Ausgabe 1980 / 12

Author(s): Sh. An-Sḳi,Stanisław Barańczak,Avîgdôr Dāgān,Anatolij Gladilin,Vasilj Grossman,Gustaw Herling-Grudziński,Markéta Procházková,Zbigniew Stypułkowski,Antanas Terleckas,Witold Wirpsza,Aleksandr Aleksandrovič Zinovʹev / Language(s): German

Gustaw Herling-Grudziński - The Seven Deaths of Maxim Gorkij // Stanislaw Barańczak - Facade and Secret Annex. On the cultural situation in Poland // Alexander Zinoviev - remarks on ideology / On the social status of Marxism / On Soviet philosophy // Wassilij Grossman - The last day of the trip. From the novel "For the Just Cause" // Markéta Procházková - Poems // Witold Wirpsza - The Duel // Anatolij Gladilin - Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra // Avigdor Dagan: The Cock Call. Fragment from the novel of the same name // An-sky - The encounter. A Jewish legend // An-sky - Letters // Zbigniew Stypułkowski - The »Invitation« to Moscow // Antanas Terleckas - Reflections on the relationship between Lithuanians and Jews - Writing of the »Charter 77« // Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Save Igor Ogurzow // Obituary for Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy

Piękna nasza Polska cała... Stan wojenny w krzywym(?) zwierciadle "Informacji Dziennych" MSW 1981–1983

Author(s): Tytus Jaskułowski / Language(s): Polish

The publication is based on the analysis of the periodical bulletin of the Polish Ministry of the Interior – the so-called "Daily Information", covering the martial law period in Poland (13 December 1981 to 22 July 1983). It consists of 115 short "stories". The subjective selection of quotations from the official ministerial documents shows the sad and grotesque side of the martial law, but on a deeper level it helps to understand the economic and social history of the Polish People's Republic, as well as the official propaganda of this period.

Portrait of Europe

Author(s): Salvador de Madriaga / Language(s): English

Portrait of Europe comes at an opportune moment, when the political wranglings attending the formation of a supra-national organisation are bringing constantly to the fore the differences of national temperament and tradition. To understand our neighbours we must first get to know them; and we could not find a gayer, wittier or more penetrating guide than this scholarly and broad-minded writer. His acute observation of national modes of thought, prejudices and even jealousies is supported by examples from their language, literature and histories; and yet he never fails to show the wood as well as the trees, to make clear the real unity of culture and ideals which must be grasped and developed and made present, so that the family solidarity of Europe may be given concrete political expression. (cover-text of the original). PUBLISHED in 1952 by HOLLIS & CARTER, LONDON

Europa denken

Author(s): Edgar Morin / Language(s): German

GERMAN EDITION PUBLISHED IN 1988 BY CAMPUS-VERLAG. From the author's prologue: For a long time I was »anti-European«. At the end of the war, as anti-fascism developed into movements promoting European federalism, I wrote an article that appeared in Les lettres francaises in 1946. It bore the categorical title: "There is no more Europe." I had belonged to the Resistance and was now a communist. For me, for us, Europe was a lying word ... I had fought against what Hitler called »the new Europe«. I considered old Europe to be the nucleus of imperialism and oppression rather than the cradle of democracy and freedom. ... Later, Europe had been divided by the Cold War and the Stalinist Ice Age. But what haunted me in the years 1948-1951 and distracted me from my split regarding Europe was the development under Stalin, which destroyed all my hopes. It expressed itself in renewed political purges and inquisition processes in Budapest, Sofia and Prague. During that time, I lived through the tragedy of those who can neither remain true to nor give up their faith. I noticed the increasingly blatant contradictions between the idea of communism and its reality.

Penser l’Europe

Author(s): Edgar Morin / Language(s): French

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1987 BY GALIMARD, PARIS. From the author's plologue: For a long time I was »anti-European«. At the end of the war, as anti-fascism developed into movements promoting European federalism, I wrote an article that appeared in Les lettres francaises in 1946. It bore the categorical title: "There is no more Europe." I had belonged to the Resistance and was now a communist. For me, for us, Europe was a lying word ... I had fought against what Hitler called »the new Europe«. I considered old Europe to be the nucleus of imperialism and oppression rather than the cradle of democracy and freedom. ... Later, Europe had been divided by the Cold War and the Stalinist Ice Age. But what haunted me in the years 1948-1951 and distracted me from my split regarding Europe was the development under Stalin, which destroyed all my hopes. It expressed itself in renewed political purges and inquisition processes in Budapest, Sofia and Prague. During that time, I lived through the tragedy of those who can neither remain true to nor give up their faith. I noticed the increasingly blatant contradictions between the idea of communism and its reality.

László Rajk und Komplizen vor dem Volksgericht. Die Anklageschrift

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): German

This is the officially reported wording of the show trial conducted, under the régime of Mátyás Rákosi, from September16 to 24, 1949 against László Rajk, ending with death penalty and Rajk’s execution. As in many communist countries, the wordings of such show trials were officially published in Western European languages, just as if this publication would confirm for foreign observers the lawfulness and even the political-ethical legitimacy of these trials and sentences.