A szovjet fogság emlékezete
Memory of the Soviet POWs: From Silence to the Distortion of History

Summary/Abstract: The issue of approximately 700,000 Hungarian POWs who spent many years in Soviet forced labor camps was an absolute taboo under Communism. It gained public attention only in the aftermath of its collapse. Dozens of memoirs were published, alongside a few reports and documentary films. Additionally, organizations were established to preserve the memory of the former prisoners. However, early representations received little attention in the 1990s and 2000s, even in historical writing. The government declared 2016 and 2017 as Gulag Memorial Years, which provided new impetus for research in this field. New sources were made available through recollections. Regarding historical policy, the government incorporated the prisoners’ stories into its anti-Western memory narrative, claiming that the USA was responsible for the tragic fate of the prisoners. However, these suggestions have not yet infiltrated academic historical discourse.

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