Open events

The notion that Hungary has not come to terms with the injustices of its past is one of the arguments that is most often employed to explain the recent popularity of far-right forces in contemporary Hungary and the present regime’s self-proclaimed illiberal counter-revolution. Hungary, however, has not so much ignored past injustices, but rather has failed to address this question adequately, especially in relation to gender. This keynote address explores the problematic and ultimately failed quest for retributive justice in Hungary since 1945, looking in particular at politicized attempts to hold perpetrators and collaborators accountable in the wake of WWII, the 1956 Revolution, and the end of state socialism in 1989. Exploring in particular the continuities across three political regimes (one Stalinist/post-Fascist, one post-Stalinist, and one-post Socialist), the talk examines the systematic emergence of masculinities and femininities, especially as this relates to questions of collaboration with authoritarian regimes and systems.