How did state security agencies shape perceptions of social movements? What do state security records reveal — and what do they conceal? And how can archival documents influence the ways in which we reconstruct and interpret the past?

These questions will be at the centre of the upcoming roundtable discussion “State Security Interventions, the State Security Record as a Construction of Reality”, organised as part of the Béketér – The Independent Dialogue Peace Group exhibition and discussion series at the Blinken OSA Archivum. Prof. Ferenc Miszlivetz, Founder of the Institute of Advanced Studies (iASK), will participate in the discussion.

The event will take place on 22 October 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at Galeria Centralis, Blinken OSA Archivum, Budapest. The discussion forms part of the Béketéri esték autumn programme series accompanying the exhibition dedicated to the independent Dialogue Peace Group.

At the heart of the discussion is the Dialogue Peace Group (Dialógus), a distinctive Hungarian civil initiative that emerged in the early 1980s. Founded in the summer of 1982, the movement sought to create a space for independent discussion around peace and related social issues. Approximately one year later, it formally dissolved following state and state security interventions, although several of its members continued their activities afterwards.

The roundtable will explore why the idea of peace and the activities of the Dialogue movement became a sensitive issue for the state socialist system. The discussion will also examine how the meaning of peace evolved within the movement, how its activities became connected with broader forms of oppositional thinking, and how the authorities attempted to monitor, restrict and control independent civic initiatives.

A central theme of the event will be the interpretation of state security records as historical sources. Such documents are not neutral mirrors of the past: they were produced within a particular institutional and political environment, according to specific categories, objectives and assumptions. Understanding these circumstances is therefore essential when using them to reconstruct historical events and the experiences of the people who were monitored.

The discussion will bring together Gábor Tajta, former member of the Dialogue movement; Tamás Szőnyei, historian and journalist; Eszter Zsófia Tóth, historian and social researcher; and Ferenc Miszlivetz, sociologist, historian and Founder of iASK. The discussion will be moderated by Gabriella Unger, archivist at the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL).

Ferenc Miszlivetz’s participation reflects his longstanding scholarly engagement with civil society, democratic transformations, Central Europe and the social and political processes that shaped the region in the late twentieth century. His work has consistently explored the relationship between social movements, intellectual networks and broader processes of political and societal change.

The event also resonates with iASK’s interdisciplinary approach to understanding Central European historical experiences, civil society, democratic culture and the processes through which societies construct and reinterpret their collective past.

The discussion series is organised in cooperation with the Blinken OSA Archivum, the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL), and the CEU Department of Political Science.

State Security Interventions, the State Security Record as a Construction of Reality
📅 22 October 2026, 6:00 p.m.
📍 Galeria Centralis, Blinken OSA Archivum, Budapest
🗣️ Roundtable discussion
🇭🇺 Language: Hungarian