COURAGE

ryšiai tarp kolekcijų

The collection includes documents (archival material) stored in the archive of the "Commission for the Disclosure of Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens with the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army", commonly called "Commission for Dossiers" (Comdos) in Bulgarian. 

The collection documents developments among the Bulgarian intelligentsia during the communist regime through the perspective of the secret police and reveals their strategies of observation and persecution of critical intellectuals.

The folder with “The campers” as its cover name is kept in the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security forces (Állambiztonsági Szolgálatok Történeti Levéltára – ÁBTL). It includes reports on and photographs of the religious group named Christian Community. The camping trips taken by members of the group in 1983 and in 1984 were the focus of the state efforts to keep the group under observation. The photo collection is the result of secrtet observation work and the method of taking photos from a hiding place. Moreover, this is a vestige of the information-collecting practices of the political police which seems, now, a little grotesque. The documentation of the meeting, which was labeled illegal, was followed by intervention by the police.

Numerous demonstrations were organized in 1989 in Budapest. Nine of the demonstrations are documented in the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (Állambiztonsági Szolgálatok Történeti Levéltára – ÁBTL). As of January 1989, however, the freedom of assembly was guaranteed by law. The secret police observed and recorded the events by following their earlier reflexes, and they focused on identifying the participants and the banners. The photo collection of street demonstrations is the visual imprint of the actions which were organized by the different civil, artistic, and activist groups and a good source on the ambivalent behavior of the political police in the transitional period before the collapse of the communist system.

The periodical “Student” was one of the most important magazines in socialist Yugoslavia. The magazine was published by students of Belgrade University and dealt with student problems as well as with broader social and political issues. It was often critical towards the regime and the communist party authorities, which resulted in its being banned several times. The collection is kept at the National and University Library in Belgrade.