State-Controlled National Remembrance

Visegrad Lecture Series

State-Controlled National Remembrance: Production of the Past and the Remembrance of the Communist Dictatorship in Hungary from the 1980s to the Present Day

by Domokos Szokolay (PhD, independent researcher)

The discourse on the national remembrance of the communist dictatorship in Hungary has been strongly shaped by the adoption of the Fundamental Law of 2011 and the third article of its Fourth Amendment of 2013 which defines the state's role in preserving memory. The constitutionalization of the discourse on the “unresolved past” was a result of ongoing political struggles dating back to the regime change in 1989/90. However, this institutionally dominant narrative not only acknowledges victims and identifies those responsible for the crimes committed during the era but also serves as a tool in the political struggle over interpreting the past and shaping identity. Within this framework, the state acts as a storytelling mechanism, constructing narratives on the past through a narrow interpretative and moral lens, primarily focused on the dictatorship’s retributive aspects. This presentation explores the discourses on justice and the public disclosure of state security documents from the late 1980s onward, examining how the state has influenced national remembrance by establishing or obstructing various committees and institutions.