Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 206-2-10

Title

The Commissar Vanishes

Date(s)

1999

Description Level

Series

Context

Name of creator(s)

Open Society Archives at Central European University

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

“The one who owns the past, owns the future!” – Although photographers of the Soviet State Department in the 1930’s probably did not have the chance to read Orwell’s world famous anti-utopia, 1984, they still knew that those who wanted to eradicate the past, first had to carefully rewrite it. There could only be one true road from the past to the present and to the future – to the inevitable triumph of communism. Therefore, whenever the present changed, the road leading up to it had to be redrawn as well. Thus those who were so intent on getting rid of the past in fact became slaves of it. For the past twenty years David King, British art historian, art director of the London Sunday Times, has been collecting photographs – originals and retouched versions – documenting the history of the Soviet Union, the revolution, important events and leaders. The falsification of the photographs speak volumes about the diabolic cynicism of the regime and staggering personal tragedies. The traveling exhibition featuring several hundred photographs and documents from David King’s world famous collection was on view in Budapest in Galeria Centralis.

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Not restricted

Languages

English, Hungarian, Russian