Secret police files released in Hungary, 47 years after fall of communism

What the report says

Hungary has begun publicly releasing communist-era secret police files, in a controversial step announced by Prime Minister Péter Magyar and reported by BBC World News. The government says the move is meant to help the country confront the trauma of four decades of communist rule, while critics argue it has come too late and may deepen family and political divisions. The timing is symbolic, falling on 4 November, the anniversary of the 1956 Soviet crackdown on the Hungarian uprising.

According to the BBC, around 60,000 people recruited by the former secret services now have names and personal details posted on a public website. The released material includes basic identification information such as names, addresses and codenames, while a further set of recruitment records, known as B-dossiers, is expected to be digitised and published later, on 25 February. The government says sensitive personal information is being removed from the documents.

The files have long been politically sensitive in Hungary. Successive governments after the end of communist rule in 1989 considered opening them more fully but did not do so. Historians estimate that 150,000 to 160,000 people may have served as informers between 1944 and 1990. Supporters of fuller disclosure say public access is a citizens’ right, while opponents warn that incomplete records could lead to unfair judgments and misunderstandings about why people were recruited.