NEB Yearbook 2014-2015 [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONDear Reader, the volume you hold in your hands is the first yearbook of the Hungárián Committee of National Remembrance (Nemzeti Emlékezet Bizottsága, NEB). The Committee was established by the Hungárián National Assembly, in accordance with the provisions of the Hungárián Constitution, and officially started its work in February 2014, so our institution is still rather young, with scarcely more than two years of history behind it. Of the five members of the Committee, all of them historians, three members were appointed by Parlia-ment, one member was delegated by the Minister of Justice, and one member was appointed by the President of the Hungárián Academy of Sciences. Similarly to its partner institutions abroad, the most important tasks of the NEB include conducting systematic and comprehensive research on the power mechanisms, key organizations, and cadre policy of the communist dictatorship; preserving the memory of the dictatorship; and informing public opinion on this subject, which means that our activities include awareness raising as well as the coordi-nation of large-scale professional research projects.Following World War II, the fate of Hungary was predominantly determined by the lossofthe war, and the subsequent Soviet occupation of the country. The communist party, upon seizing key positions of power with the aid of the Soviet troops and Moscow leadership, managed to eliminate all opposing democratic forces within a short period of time. The resulting one-party system prevailed, despite considerable changes, until 1990. Regardless of periodical changes, cer-tain features of the dictatorship remained immovable, including the severe rest-riction of liberties, extensive control over society, and the dependence of politi-cal leadership on the directives of the Soviet Union. The methods of repression inevitably changed with the times, from brutal physical violence and terror at the beginning of the regime, to more subtle, but no less efficient administrative means, and existential marginalization. Nevertheless, the various law enforce-ment bodies always remained at the beck and call of political leadership.