Hungary opens communist-era informer files

A file in the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security in Budapest on Sept. 29 | AFP-JIJI

Nov 5, 2026

BUDAPEST – Hungary released communist-era secret police files Wednesday, a move spearheaded by Prime Minister Peter Magyar identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a long-delayed reckoning with the country’s repressive past.

Since Hungary’s democratic transition in 1990, efforts to open communist-era archives have repeatedly stalled, with critics blaming successive governments’ reluctance to implicate public figures across the political spectrum.

Magyar, who ousted long-time nationalist leader Viktor Orban in April on the promise of “regime change,” pressed ahead with a bill in September to grant the public unrestricted access to the records for the first time.

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