Oral History Interviews with Political Actors of the Regime Change in Hungary

Series

Under the leadership of András Bozóki, the Political Sciences Department of Central European University (CEU) carried out a research project on the persons who played a key role in the regime change in Hungary. The original recordings on 122 audio cassettes were kept by Bozóki in his office at the university. In 2020, when CEU moved to Vienna after the Fidesz government passed a law, dubbed Lex CEU, to make it impossible for the university to continue to operate in Budapest, Bozóki handed over his research material on the Oppositional Roundtable Negotiations and the National Roundtable Negotiations to the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) at CEU. In 2020 and 2021 OSA digitized the audio cassettes and in 2021 cataloged and key-worded them. The collection is until July 1, 2022, after that it will be open for research. These interviews were one of the sources for Bozóki's Rolling Transition and the Role of Intellectuals. The Case of Hungary (CEU Press, 2022)

The collection is a series of semi structured interviews with delegates to the National Roundtable Negotiations made up of the Opposition Roundtable, the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party and the Third Side. The interviewees were asked a standardized questionnaire, starting with their family’s and parents’ background and social status, their education, studies, career, party membership. The interviews focused on the interviewees’ personal life and career and activities at the time of the regime change. The research project was carried out by the Political Science Department of CEU in 1996 and 1997 under the leadership of András Bozóki. The interviewers were Bálint Balázs, Marcell Bálint, Botond Bitskey, András Bozóki, Katalin Füzér, Gergely Karácsony, Borbála Kriza, András Lénárt, Csanád Nagypál, Krisztina Schay, Eszter Somogyi and Enikő Szombati. The interviews, altogether 136 hours, were recorded on 122 audio cassettes.

The focal points and main questions of the interviews were the following: a) What were the standpoints developed by the member organizations of the Opposition Roundtable and the party state sitting across from them in the process of negotiating the new Constitution? b) What differences and conflicts were there within the Opposition Roundtable in terms of the attitudes and political strategies of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the Alliance of Free Democrats, Fidesz, Democratic League of Independent Trade Unions and the historical parties including the Christian Democratic People’s Party, Social Democratic Party of Hungary, and the Hungarian People's Party? c) What is the interviewee’s opinion on the Third Side? d) What differences were there in the background (ideologist, reformist, technocratic) of the delegates of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party, and what role did these differences play? Who were the reformist economists maintaining contacts with the democratic opposition, what career had they after the regime change, what important positions did they have first in the Antall, then in the Horn administrations? e) What were the reasons why economic negotiations became secondary? How did the negotiations start concentrate on political issues? f) Who were the protagonists of the negotiations phase in 1989? The collection is an interesting and useful source to explore who the most active players of the regime change in Hungary were and what they wanted; what kind of dynamics worked within the Opposition Roundtable and the National Roundtable, and what were the tiny details that moved the process. Furthermore, the tensions and differences in terms of views and values within the Communist side are explained. Apart from giving an insight in the many kinds of motivations playing a role in the regime change, these interviews reveal how the players interpret their roles in hindsight. It is especially important to see how the norms of Fidesz at the time of the regime change are different from those of the same party later.

Not Expected

The interviews converted to mp4 audio files are available for research at OSA. The 122 audio cassettes were digitized into 122 mp4 files, containing 182 interviews; each of the interviews is a separate record entry in the catalog. The itemized list is in the finding aids.

Partially Restricted (183 Folder/Item Restricted - -1 Folder/Item Not Restricted)

Third party rights are to be cleared.

Related publications by András Bozóki: A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve: kerekasztal-tárgyalások 1989-ben, 1-8. kötet. 1. kötet, 1988. november 27 - 1989. június 10. / [szerk. Bozóki András, Ripp Zoltán] ; [a jegyzeteket kész. Ripp Zoltán] ; [az anyagot gyűjtötte, a szerkesztésben és a jegyzetírásban közrem. ... Bozóki András et al.] cop. 1999, 608 p., 2. kötet, 1989. június 13 - július 27. / [szerk. Bozóki András, Ripp Zoltán] ; [a jegyzeteket kész. Ripp Zoltán] ; [az anyagot gyűjtötte, a szerkesztésben és a jegyzetírásban közrem. ... Bozóki András et al.] cop. 1999, 659 p., 3. kötet, 1989. augusztus 3 - augusztus 29. / [szerk. Bozóki András, Kalmár Melinda, Ripp Zoltán] ; [a jegyzeteket kész. Kalmár Melinda] ; [az anyagot gyűjtötte, a jegyzetírásban közrem. Elbert Márta, Révész Béla],1999, 653 p., 4. kötet, 1989. augusztus 30 - szeptember 18. / [szerk. Bozóki András, Kalmár Melinda, Ripp Zoltán] ; [a jegyzeteket kész. Kalmár Melinda] ; [az anyagot gyűjtötte, a jegyzetírásban közrem. Elbert Márta, Révész Béla], 1999, 557 p., 5. kötet, Az 1989. szeptember 18-i megállapodástól a szabad választásokig] / [szerk., a jegyzeteket és a tárgymutatót kész. Ripp Zoltán] ; [a szöveggondozást végezte és a kronológiát összeáll. Ripp Erzsébet], 2000, 738 p., 6. kötet, A Nemzeti Kerekasztal-tárgyalások politikai munkabizottságainak jegyzőkönyvei / [szerk., a jegyzeteket és a bevezetőket kész. Kalmár Melinda, Révész Béla], 2000, 760 p., 7. kötet, Alkotmányos forradalom: tanulmányok / [szerk. Bozóki András] ; [a szerkesztésben közrem. Karácsony Gergely és Masát Ádám], 2000, 825 p., 8. kötet, Portrék és életrajzok / [kész. Elbert Márta és Bozóki András] ; [... felvételek: Jávor István et al.] ; [az életrajzok készítésében közrem. Dudás Rita et al.], 1999, 332 p., Alkotmányos forradalom (Budapest: Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó, 2000, 825 p., Bozóki András: Gördülő rendszerváltás: az értelmiség politikai szerepe Magyarországon, 1977-1994. (Budapest: L'Harmattan, 2019, 532 p.).

Related collection: Video recordings of the Oppositional Roundtable negotiations by Black Box. The 121 hours of raw material documents to negotiations conducted behind closed doors. The collection is available for research at OSA. The call number is HU OSA 305-0-5 Recordings of the Opposition Roundtable Negotiations (Felvételek az Ellenzéki Kerekasztal tárgyalásokról). Processed and described by assistant archivist Judit Krausz. Edited by Zsuzsa Zádori and Judit Hegedüs.