Documents of Moldavian Writers’ Union (MWU). Fond P-2955 at AOSPR Moldova

The present collection comprises a series of archival materials relating to the activities of the Moldavian Writers’ Union (MWU) and spanning the period from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. The materials in this collection were selected from Fond No. P-2955 (Uniunea Scriitorilor din Moldova), which is currently held in the Archive of Social-Political Organisations of the Republic of Moldova (AOSPRM) in Chișinău. The collection files mainly focus on a number of Party meetings, writers’ congresses and national conferences which discussed significant issues related to the local cultural heritage, the “language question,” and the relations between the literary milieu and the Soviet regime.

Location:
- Chișinău Strada 31 August 1989 82, Moldova 2012
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 1946
Featured items:
- Report at the First Congress of the MWU by Andrei Lupan, in Russian, 1954
- Speech by Grigore Vieru at the Conference of Moldavian Writers, in Romanian, 18 May 1987

Documents of the Bethlen Gábor Foundation

The collection of the Bethlen Gábor Foundation provides insights into the concerns and the institutionalisation of the national-populist dissent groups in the 1970s and 1980s. The Gábor Bethlen Foundation was officially registered in 1985, though it was in fact active since 1980. The organisation tried to press the Hungarian government to take action in Hungary and in states neighbouring Hungary to foster what it perceived as authentic ethnic Hungarian culture. The efforts to call public attention to the cultural discrimination against Hungarians in the neighbouring socialist countries produced civic networks and initiatives, which were seen as crucial to addressing the failures of the communist government. Furthermore, these civic initiatives generated culture-based criticism of official politics, which was accused of ignoring this important issue.

Location:
- Budapest Andrássy út 100, Hungary 1062
Topics:
- literature and literary criticism
- national movements (patriotic opposition)
Date of founding:
- 2015
Featured items:
- Appeal, "Supporting the Bethlen Gábor Foundation", 1985. Archival document

Documents of the Danube Circle's Association

The collection includes the documents of the Danube Circle Association, which was a non-governmental organization in opposition to the government’s project to construct a River Barrage Dam near Nagymaros (Hungary) in the 1980s. The Danube Circle movement tried to prevent the construction of the dam with samizdats, public debates, and protests. The Circle was one of the new types of alternative movements, which expanded the base of the “traditional” intellectual opposition.

Location:
- Budapest, Teve str. 3-5.
Topics:
Date of founding:
- 2010
Featured items:
- Map of the River Danube's Slovakian and Hungarian coastline, ca. 1988

Documents of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (1987-1989)

The Hungarian Democratic Forum (HDF) was the first legal oppositional movement in socialist Hungary. The document material of the HDF, based on the private collection of Sándor Lezsák, is a unique source on cultural resistance during the late Kádár period and 1989.

Location:
- Lakitelek Felsőalpár 3, Hungary 6065
Topics:
- literature and literary criticism
- national movements (patriotic opposition)
Date of founding:
- 1991
Featured items:
- The Lakitelek Declaration, 1987. Archival document

Doina Cornea Ad-hoc Collection at CNSAS

Doina Cornea was a leading dissident in communist Romania, who started by criticising the educational and cultural policies of Ceaușescu’s regime and issuing some modest samizdat materials, and ended up as the driving force behind several collective actions against the arbitrary actions of Ceaușescu’s regime and the trigger of the most significant transnational network in defence of the Romanian villages menaced with destruction by the regime. Accordingly, the Doina Cornea Ad-Hoc Collection at CNSAS constitutes one of the largest collections of documents referring to one single individual and includes not only records created by the secret police while trying to counter her actions, but also materials confiscated as evidence of those actions.

Location:
- București Strada Matei Basarab 55, Romania 030167
Topics:
Featured items: