The release of informant records
Hungary will make tens of thousands of records identifying former communist-era informants publicly accessible starting November 4 via a new online database. This release marks the 70th anniversary of Soviet forces crushing the 1956 revolution. Officials originally planned the first publications for October 23, but reviewing the material for online use took longer than expected. The government will release the files in two stages on the nyitottaktak.hu website. The first state security records will appear this week, and recruitment dossiers will continue until February 25, 2027. This release fulfills a "2026 regime change" pledge from Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who described the action as settling a 36 year debt to those who were surveilled or blackmailed. Gergo Bendeguz Cseh, director-general of the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security Services (ABTL), told MTI that the site will publish names and records for 50,000 to 60,000 former informants, though overlapping entries could reduce that total. This release is clearly the most important step to address the country’s communist history.
Archives and social impact
The available records remain incomplete because significant portions of the archives were lost or destroyed. While an estimated 150,000 people worked as informants, only slightly more than one third of their names are known and just 10 percent of detailed files survived. During the 1956 revolution, insurgents raided the AVH headquarters and looted archives. Security officials also destroyed large quantities of documents when they returned to suppress the uprising. Further records were destroyed in the early 1960s, including documents regarding major show trials, which Cseh said may have been intended to protect members of the political elite involved in the proceedings. Hungary remains the last major former Soviet-bloc country in Central and Eastern Europe to fully declassify its complete records of secret police agents and informants, following Germany, Poland and Czechia which opened their archives decades ago.
About 10 percent of those identified in the files are still alive. This makes the disclosure sensitive because the communist regime used blackmail and coercion to recruit citizens to inform on relatives or friends. Prime Minister Magyar acknowledged that people may find former colleagues or community members among those named. He urged families to approach the revelations with openness and said, "We must learn to ask the right questions, confront what happened and find the strength to listen to the answers." He added that the aim should not be public shaming and that children and grandchildren bear no responsibility for action of the fathers, grandfathers.
