Hungary opened an online index Wednesday covering about 60,000 names in Communist-era security files, allowing public searches and widening access beyond researchers and people seeking family records, Reuters reported.
Before Wednesday, people could seek records about themselves or close relatives, while researchers had broader access, Reuters reported. EconoTimes had previously reported the planned opening of the search.
At an archive briefing, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the opening fulfills a pledge made at the end of Communist rule in 1989. He urged people to treat the release with “dignity and humanity,” saying some families could encounter painful information about relatives who have died. Magyar said discussion and questions are needed to work through trauma.
Successive Hungarian governments did not fully open the files after 1989, with Reuters citing a lack of political will. The records relate to a system in which secret police agencies across Eastern Europe relied on collaborators from the public, sometimes using blackmail, threats or rewards, Reuters reported.
Further records are scheduled for upload by February 2027. The archive will have gaps because records were destroyed in 1956 and in 1988-1989, Reuters reported.
