COURAGE

savienojot kolekcijas

The collection is a private documentary collection of documents concerning one of the most successful Hungarian American advocacy organizations in the field of minority and human rights. Founded in 1976 by second-generation Hungarian American intellectuals and professionals and referred to until 1984 as the CHRR–Committee for Human Rights in Romania, HHRF addressed the advocacy on behalf of Hungarian minorities in Central and Eastern Europe.

The CNSAS Online Collection (CNSAS – Romanian acronym for the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives) illustrates how the communist secret police, the Securitate, conceptualised: (1) oppositional groups and individuals in communist Romania; (2) the forms in which this opposition manifested against the party-state; and (3) the transnational support it received from the exile community and foreign organisations. It also encompasses an impressive amount of invaluable information about the inner mechanisms of the Securitate, its institutional development and relationship with the Communist Party, the use of repression against any form of opposition, and the use of surveillance to avoid the development of oppositional groups and networks during its over forty years of functioning. In brief, this collection offers a comprehensive image of the means and methods used by the communist secret police, the Securitate, to deal with the anti-communist opposition between 1948 and 1989, and the response it received from oppositional groups and individuals.

The collection contains documents from the holdings of the largest cultural organisation for ethinc Hungarians in Slovakia. This organisation was one of the few in Czechoslovakia dedicated to issues affecting an ethnic minority, and its holdings therefore offer valuable insight into the status of minority cultures. The society organised cultural events and lectures, and it supported theater, song, and dance groups. It also offered a platform for maintaining cultural identity, and it provided a place for discussion.
During The Hungarian revolution in 1956 CSEMADOK supported the position of the Czechoslovak government on the events. During the Prague Spring CSEMADOK supported the liberalisation policies, tried to change itself into a political interest group, and asked for more rights and privileges for ethnic Hungarians. After the suppression of the Prague Spring the political leadership of CSEMADOK was purged.
The collection includes documents from the CSEMADOK Central Committee and documents related to the organisation of national festivals (Gombaszög/Gombasek festival, Jókai Napok/Days, etc). Publications are also a very important part of the collection.