Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 355-0-1

Title

Samizdat Periodicals and Publications

Date(s)

1981 - 1989

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

5 Archival boxes, 0.62 linear meters

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

The series includes an almost complete set of Beszélő (Speaker) from 1981 to 1989, as well as some issues of its special editions and off-springs Külön Beszélő (Speaker Special Edition) and Máshonnan Beszélő (Speaker from Somewhere Else). Beszélő was the first quarterly samizdat periodical founded in 1981, which turned into a legal weekly, then monthly, after the change of the regime. The samizdat Beszélő first of all carried articles on the taboo topics of the communist regime: the 1956 revolution, ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries, human and civil rights and poverty. The other important samizdat periodical of the era was A Hírmondó (The Messenger), appearing monthly from 1983 to 1988. Further periodicals in the series are Demokrata, Magyar Zsidó (Hungarian Jew), and Égtájak között (Between the Poles).

The rest of the series consists of essays and books from both Hungarian and foreign authors, mostly published and translated into Hungarian in samizdat. The titles include, inter alia, Vaclav Havel's Audience, E. P. Thompson's Beyond the Cold War and György Konrád’s The Man of the State and Censorship. There are also several information bulletins and a program of the Alliance of Free Democrats, a party founded on 1988 by the liberal side of the democratic opposition, playing a key role in the change of the regime in 1989.

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Unknown

Languages

Hungarian

Description Control

Archivist's note

Processed by Csaba Szilágyi in March 2007, and Judit Hegedűs in December 2010. Reviewed by Csaba Szilágyi in May 2024.