Decades after the fall of communism, people in Hungary can now search an online archive to discover whether neighbors, colleagues, or even relatives secretly reported on them. The government has opened communist-era secret police files to the public, launching a searchable database that includes records on approximately 60,000 people connected to the former state surveillance network.
The release fulfills an election pledge by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who urged the public to approach the long-overdue disclosures with dignity and humanity. The state archives opened the records on November 4, a date chosen for its symbolic weight as the anniversary of Soviet tanks crushing the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Individual entries in the archive typically record an informer's real name, codename, date of birth, handling officer, and motive—revealing whether they cooperated voluntarily or were coerced through blackmail.
Between December 1944 and February 1990, an estimated 150,000 to 160,000 people were recruited as state informers across Hungary. Many complied only after security officers threatened their jobs, education, access to medicine, or personal reputations, though officials note that sensitive personal details have been edited out of the current release. Historian Krisztian Ungváry praised the initiative, emphasizing that citizens have a fundamental right to see what the state recorded about them rather than relying on the whims of political leaders.
However, the disclosure has also sparked sharp concern. Critics, including historian and politician Zsuzsanna Borvendég, argue that releasing incomplete files without full context risks misleading the public and causing unnecessary anguish to families. A second batch of documents, known as the "B-dossiers," is currently being digitized and is scheduled for release on February 25, which authorities say will offer deeper details about how informers were recruited and the true value of their reports.