Cover Osteuropa 11/2010

In Osteuropa 11/2010

Breaking Out of the Velvet Prison
Censorship and Freedom of the Press in Hungary in the 1980s

Béla Nóvé


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

Socialism could not do without censorship. In Hungary the regime tried to control political thinking and cultural life by means of a comprehensive system of formal and informal directives, as well as open and covert practices. Resistance was stirred. A productive and diverse brand of samizdat emerged. Its mobilising effect was less than in Poland, but in its intellectual power and its radical commitment to truth and justice, the actions of these dissidents were exemplary and of lasting significance.

(Osteuropa 11/2010, pp. 191–208)