“Millions in Europe Speak Out for Peace. What Do You Do?” The Dialogue Peace Group Was Established 40 Years Ago

The Dialogue Peace Group was established, after some prior planning, at a gathering on June 26, 1982, 40 years ago today, according to most contemporary sources and historical research. At the time, there were the wide-ranging international peace movements of the West, while on the other side of the Iron Curtain there was the “peace-fighting” peace movement of Socialist countries. In Hungary, the National Peace Council played the role of the official, thus exclusive and centrally managed peace movement.

Miklós Zsámboki • June 20, 2022

June 20 Is World Refugee Day

According to UNHCR’s statistics, in 2022 the number of people forced to flee their homes has exceeded 100 million for the first time. Five million refugees have left Ukraine since February alone, with another seven million internally displaced.

Anastasia Felcher; Adrian-George Matus • June 13, 2022

“The Sakharov Case” and Western Communist Parties

Even though the Cold War was a multipolar and multi-aspect geopolitical tension between rival superpowers and their allies, when referring to the postwar world order, one most often thinks about the strictly defined positions of the United States and the Soviet Union, non-aligned and satellite countries.

Anastasia Felcher • May 02, 2022

A “Sudden Transition“: Images of Independent Ukraine

In two chapters, we revisit the milestones of the Ukrainian democratic transition following 1989. The first part, through archival television footage, recounted the country’s path to state sovereignty. Now we explore how Ukraine in 1991 declared its independence, and how in 1992 celebrated its first anniversary.

Anastasia Felcher • April 19, 2022

A “Sudden Transition“: Images of Sovereign Ukraine

In two chapters, we revisit the milestones of the Ukrainian democratic transition following 1989. The first part explores the social movements and events that defined the country’s path toward state sovereignty, and later independence. We look at these decisive years through archival material held at Blinken OSA. In this counter-archive, the vast holdings on the Cold War anticipate a large collection on democratic transition in Central and Eastern Europe.

Csaba Szilágyi • April 07, 2022

“Sarajevo, the biggest concentration camp in the world"

“Sarajevo, the biggest concentration camp in the world,” wrote Arma Tanović at the age of 15. Arma was one of the Sarajevan kids and teenagers, who, a year into the siege, sent letters to their American pen pals, in which they introduced themselves and their daily challenges hardly imaginable for others, and asked their unknown friends to do everything they could to stop the war.

Miklós Zsámboki • March 30, 2022

“We Do Not Want to Make that Mistake Again” – When the West Did Not Trust the Soviet Union

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher traveled to the Soviet Union in March 1987; it was her first official visit to Moscow since in office for seven years, and she was the first UK leader to visit the USSR in 12 years.

Blinken OSA • February 09, 2022

Governor of Unfulfillable Hopes? Miklós Horthy’s Death in the Foreign Press

Miklós Horthy passed away in Portugal on February 9, 1957, 65 years ago today. We revisit contemporary press reactions through his Biographical File compiled at the RFE/RL Research Institute. The operations of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to broadcast across the Iron Curtain in Eastern Bloc countries, was assisted by its own Research Institute.

Anastasia Felcher • January 17, 2022

Soviet Dead End: Solving the Wallenberg Mystery in the Cold War

Seventy-seven years ago today, on January 17, 1945, a Swedish diplomat sent as a special envoy to Nazi-occupied Budapest with a mission to rescue Jews from extermination, was detained by the Red Army on suspicion of espionage. The diplomat was Raoul Wallenberg, a businessman and a member of a banking and industrial family; he was never again seen alive.

Benedek Pál • December 13, 2021

“All the Telephone and Telex Lines are Disconnected” – RFE and the 1981 Martial Law in Poland

“Citizens of the Polish People’s Republic! I turn to you today as a soldier, and as the head of the Polish government. I turn to you in a matter of supreme importance. Our country has found itself at the edge of abyss. The achievements of many generations, the house erected from Polish ashes, is being ruined. The structures of the state are ceasing to function.” These were the first lines of General Wojciech Jaruzelski’s speech aired 40 years ago at 6 am, on December 13, 1981.