Géza Sáska Collection of Hungarian Samizdat

Fonds

8 archival boxes

Géza Sáska, a sociologist and expert in the field of educational policy, belonged to the inner circles of the democratic opposition in Hungary from the very beginning. He participated in the production and distribution of samizdat publications, and sometimes also a contributed to them. He deposited the remnants of his samizdat collection with Open Society Archives in January, 2004.

The majority of the records are copies of Hungarian samizdat periodicals (Speaker, Speaker from Elsewhere, Herald) and samizdat books from various independent publishing houses, such as AB, ABC, M.O. (Hungarian October) and emigré publications (Magyar Füzetek). The rest of the records are typed manuscripts, among them some of invaluable importance like Miklós Szabó's notes for the lectures that he delivered during the sessions of the Monday Free University. The Monday Free University, (also known as "the flying university") was an independent initiative that followed the example of a similar Polish scheme. The organizers selected topics and invited lecturers who were excluded from the official higher education. The lectures were delivered in private apartments before an exclusive audience. The famous historian Miklós Szabó gave six series of lectures on the history of the Soviet and Hungarian Communist Parties, on World War II, on political sociology, on the non-fascist totalitarian regimes and on the history of socialist theory. The other manuscript is a typed copy of the famous Hungarian samizdat work entitled "Is Critical Economic Theory Possible?" by György Bence, János Kis and György Márkus.

Not Expected

Not Restricted

Third party rights are to be cleared.

Processed by András Mink, January-February, 2004, and Judit Hegedüs, November, 2010.