Audio Recordings of the Video Samizdat Ellenfényben and other Audio Materials

Series

Radio Free Europe, BBC, Group Inconnu

The series contains 20 digital files, which are digitized surrogates of audio recordings. The first part of the series features voice recordings of the weekly program by the Group Inconnu entitled In Backlight, followed by audio materials of other alternative events and foreign radio broadcasts by Radio Free Europe and the Hungarian Service of BBC.

As part of the collection, 20 audiotapes have been added to the Archives’ collection, most of which contain amateur footage. A subset of the series is part of the audio recordings of the conversations recorded during 1988 and 1989 for the Samizdat documentary series Ellenfényben (In Backlight). This program was a weekly, usually one-hour long documentary created by the members of Inconnu. The soundtracks of the programs were recorded separately by a dictaphone. The first part of the archival series features sound files being made in this way. The camera was usually handled by a member of the group (Róbert Pálinkás Szűcs, Péter Bokros, Tamás Molnár or Tibor Philipp), the conversations were led by another member. Video recordings are probably not available for these programs now, although at the time several copies were sent to Radio Free Europe and György Krassó, who lived in London. This was considered to be necessary as the police seized illegal press products several times. Most of the programs were made in Philipp Tibor's apartment in Nádor street, Budapest. The discussions focused primarily on the emerging political organizations, the situation of green movements in Hungary, independent and democratic trade unions, advisors for those refusing military service . Pograms on 1956, and recordings with Fidesz members from 1988 and with representatives of the newly re-established Independent Smallholders Party are also included in this part of the collection. A subset of items in the series covers the topic of the banned exhibition of the Group Inconnu entitled The Fighting City (1986). Among these the opening speech of the exhibition can be found, along with the titles and starting price of the exhibited materials being seized by the police. This part of the series also includes reports by Radio Free Europe on the event as well as a sound file containing the commemoration on October 23, 1987. Only a few recordings of these conversations and events organized in private apartments have survived, and so far these have not been available for research. The rest of the audio files contains Miklós Szabó's speech at Rakpart Club in 1985 about the events of 1956, and it includes recorded programs by the BBC and Radio Free Europe on the same subject. At the end of the series, György Petri's public reading in Paris and an alternative cultural program entitled Stupid of You to Read It (1980, recorded at the Young Artists' Club) is placed.

Some of the materials are of very poor quality. These are almost inaudible even after digital enhancement and noise filtering. This is partly due to the jamming of foreign radios by Hungarian authorities and the amateur sound recording procedure and often the program was recorded over another. Most of the material is audible.

Not Expected

At the beginning of the series In Backlight episodes are placed, followed by other amateur recordings and radio programs.

Not Restricted

Reproduction is allowed for non commercial purposes.

Processed by Örs Lehel Tari, July 30, 2019.

Fonds and series level descriptions are based on ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description (Second Edition, 1999) by International Council on Archives.