Folia Historica 35. (Budapest, 2020)
I. TANULMÁNYOK - Istenes Mónika: A „Fáklyás-ügy". Bauer Sándor önégetése
This study is aimed at a systematic introduction of the reputation of what this boy did and the picture of his personality, in historical context. It might be particular to this publication that besides a thorough research in the archives, I had met personally Bauer's living relatives and friends. Based on State Security documents - the mother's and witnesses' statements -, also interviews with relatives and friends between 2009 and 2010, we can reconstruct what happened on 20th January 1969, and what happened on the next few days. Serving also as a description of an age, this study shows the mechanism of how state security bodies acted in the Kádár Era, and the forced attempts of the ambition to substantiate the concept of counter-revolution which was created by the political police. At the beginning of the two-month investigation, the boy lying in hospital was accused of provocation. Three weeks later, the investigation continued in another direction: suspicion of preparatory act of conspiracy. Bauer was already dead. Since there was no evidence, the case was closed in the middle of March 1969. In order to prevent a mass marching and protesting, the Ministry of the Interior organized a restricted and secret funeral. Sándor Bauer's act then became taboo for long years and did not bring any change, not even in that dictatorship, even though he wanted to have an impact on his society, but what he did seem to dissolve without a murmur. Today what reminds us of him is a memorial tablet placed at the stairs of the main entrance at the National Museum. The documents of the case (alias 'The torch case') are kept at the Historical Archives of State Security Organizations, and have been available for research for 20 years. Results and conclusions are summarized in this study, enhancing the memory of this young man. 143
