Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 206-2-55

Title

The Trial

Date(s)

2008

Description Level

Series

Context

Name of creator(s)

Open Society Archives at Central European University

Administrative / Biographical history

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the trial by People's Jury of Imre Nagy and his fellow defendants in June 1958, OSA Archivum, jointly with the "1956 Institute", organized a one-week-long public history project.

Archival history

When Imre Nagy and his associates were tried in June 1958, the sound technicians of the Ministry of Interior, Hungary operated two tape recorders in the courtroom. From the first day of the trial right up to the submission of the appeal for clemency, they recorded the entire proceedings, which included the cross-examination of the accused and the witnesses, the case for the prosecution, the defense attorney’s speech and the defendants’ final statements. In 1990 the tapes of the 52-hour-long recording were transferred from the Supreme Court to the Hungarian National Archives, where they have been held ever since. In 2007-2008 the recordings have been digitized with the help of the National Széchényi Library. The quality of the recordings is surprisingly good; except for a couple of hitches lasting a few seconds each, the speeches are perfectly audible and comprehensible. For restoring the dignity of the people who were sentenced either to death or to long years in prison, OSA felt it is essential that the public finally gets access to a full and objective account of the trial and the proceedings. In organizing the event, OSA has been motivated as much by moral and humane considerations, as by professional obligations. OSA's hope was that, instead of having to watch a so-called documentary film made by the murderers to promote the interests of the Kádár regime’s propaganda machine – a manipulative film that has been shown over and over again in Budapest during 2002-2008 – , people should finally be allowed to commemorate the trial by listening to the full, uncut recording for the first time. The public presentation of the trial’s only authentic and intact documentation took place from June 9 (Monday) through June 15 (Sunday) 2008, during the same hours that the hearings were originally held in 1958, so as to reconstruct the proceedings in some way. By chance, the dates in question fell on the same days of the week in 1958, as they did in 2008. Open: 9 June - 15 June, 2008.

Content and Structure

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Not Restricted

Languages

English, Hungarian