Századok – 2006

KRÓNIKA - IN MEMORIAM 1956 (Summarys) 1339

IN MEMÓRIÁM 1956 (Summarys) József Marelyin Kiss - Zoltán Ripp - István Vida: The Relationship between Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union and the Fate of the Nagy Imre Group 1953-1958 It is a commonplace of political history that the relationship between Hungary and Yugoslavia and that between the two communist parties always depended from the actual relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. It was already so in the years of the coalition government, the so-called period of Yugoslav orientation, and the statement is especially true as regards the decade between 1948 and 1958. In view of the Soviet-Yugoslav crisis which escalated from the spring of 1948 the Hungarian leadership did not and could not have an independent policy towards Yugoslavia. The study examines this relationship from the formation of the Nagy Imre government in 1953 until the political repressions following the crush of the revolution of 1956. - Zsolt Krahulcsán: The Control of the Political Police over the Party 1954-1958 - In the present study I intend to analyse the modifications and shifts of emphasis which the attitude of the Communist Party (Hungarian Workers' Party, then, after 1956, Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party) towards the institutions of state security went through. I would like to find out whether any real change took place in this relationship, and if yes, what it consisted in. - László J. Nagy: Hungary and the Arab World (1955-1957) The Arab countries never played a significant role in the foreign relations of Hungary. Only the relations with Egypt had some traditions. The attempt at establishing closer contacts yielded some results in the 1880s, and they could be profited from even in the interwar period. It was no surprise, then, that the first Arab country with which Hungary established diplomatic relationship was Egypt in 1947. The commercial contacts between the two countries were undisturbed yet of modest dimensions in the first half of the 1950s: we bought cotton in exhange for mechanical instruments and textiles. Cairo inquired several times (1948, 1951, 1955), and on a very high level, about the possibilities of buying arms, and the Hungarian response was always more evasive than negative. President Nasser also turned to Moscow with the same demand, first in 1954. Yet no contract was concluded then. Nasser decided not to urge for any decision in the matter, for he still preferred to buy weapons in the West. Moscow also distrusted Nasser, and Soviet foreign policy was still far from changing in a direction favourable to non-European countries. - György Vámos: Here is the Radio of Free Europe, the Voice of Free Hungary. The broadcasting of Radio Free Europe began in 1950 with probationary half-hours. From 4 August it became regular twice a day, whereas on 6 October 1951 allday broadcasting was launched. The program was initially broadcasted to the public in six countries (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Albania). Tha Albanian program was later suppressed for lack of receivers, but at the same time the Radio Freedom was organised for the Soviet Union, which began broadcasting under the name of Liberation in 1953. The autumn of 1956 was decisive for the whole radio, but especially for its Hungarian section. It was perhaps at this time that most people in Hungary listened attentively its program, and that the Hungarian editors in Munich could feel that their work was of the utmost importance. Yet in November 1956 their programs were more fervently criticised then ever before or after. - Eva Standeisky: „Popular Representatives Made by Revolution". Local Authority in the Revolution of 1956. The present study aimes to establish the modalities of the change of authority at the local level. What role did local traditions play? Why were local organs of the revolution transformed more than once? How did their mutual relationship change? Was there any hierarchy? Can the immediate forms of democracy be institutionalised? The institutional framework of society dissolved in 1956, and its place was taken by old-new forms of communal organisations. Revolution is a border situation (Iiminality for anthropologists), which gives way to energies bottled up thus far, and establishes new emotional and functional relationship between the people. It is a transition from the indirectness of structure towards the directness of communitas. Communitas is born - says Victor Turner - where the end of structure is felt. He cited Martin Buber: „in the community the multitude of people live not side by side but together. And this multitude, although it moves towards the same goal, is characterised by a dynamic turn to each other, a turn by Me to You. The community is but the creation of the community." Something similar happened in Hungary in the autumn of 1956. - Magdolna Baráth: A Soviet Document on the Talks of János Kádár and