Between the politics of memory and institutionalization management of political police documents. A comparative analysis of Romanian and Hungarian models: CNSAS and ABTL

The exit from the shadow of Soviet communism marked the social and political transformation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and the peoples’ option for democracy and civility almost simultaneously defeated the totalitarian dictatorships in this part of the world. Hungary and Romania, although they followed different paths before the memorable year of 1989, started together the efforts of economic and military integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures. In the case of both countries, the transformations were significant and occurred in stages. The process of taking over and processing the secret archives carefully preserved by the power structures of the communist regimes was a difficult one, but it contributed substantially to clarifying the hidden facts and relieving the traumas produced by the era of communist dictatorships. The institutionalization of the historical processing of information and documents that had previously been treated as part of national security allowed the debunking of officers and informers who violated the rights of their countrymen.