Hungary: Communist-era files released, up to 60k former agents revealed(euronews.com)
234 points by rdmuser 6 days ago | 70 comments
tl;dr: Hungary has released communist-era secret police archives for the first time, exposing 50,000-60,000 former informants via a public, searchable database at nyitottaktak.hu, with another 9,000 files due in February. PM Peter Magyar pushed through the disclosure after 35 years of stalled efforts, though historians caution the records are incomplete and sometimes inaccurate — only about a third of the estimated 150,000 Cold War-era agents are known, and some recruits never actually informed.
HN Discussion:
  • ~Clarifies terminology: these are informants not agents, and release is overdue
  • •Shares direct link to the searchable archive for others to use
  • •Asks for help finding a searchable interface due to language barrier
  • •Uses the story to explain tiers of foreign operatives for Americans
  • ↑Criticizes Hungary's slow disclosure compared to Poland's swift lustration