Hungarians can now search a new online database to find out whether their relatives were listed in the communist-era state security records. The launch of Nyitottaktak.hu on 4 November fulfils a major campaign promise by Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government, but historians warn that finding someone’s name does not automatically mean they worked as an informer.
The website, available at nyitottaktak.hu, gives the public access to digitised copies of three types of documents preserved by the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security Services (ÁBTL). The records relate to people who appeared in the communist regime’s state security databases before the 1989–1990 democratic transition.
The launch took place on 4 November, the anniversary of the Soviet crackdown on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It marks a major step towards opening the so-called agent files, a long-standing demand that successive governments failed to fulfil after the regime change.
What can you find in the database?
The website is a searchable database rather than a simple list of names. Users can look up relatives, acquaintances or former colleagues, including by name, date of birth and address.
Three types of historical records are currently available:
- Magnetic tape records: These contain the so-called H database, a network register with the names and basic details of approximately 55,000 people who appeared in the state security system. The information can include their code name, recruitment file number, workplace and other personal details. However, the database is incomplete and does not contain the actual reports or photographs.
- B-registers: These recruitment registers, dating from 1957 to 1962, contain around 25,000 names and record people for whom state security files were opened.
- Form 6 index cards: These provide more detailed information, including personal data, occupation, workplace, recruitment date and the grounds on which someone was recruited. They may also indicate how long a person remained in the state security records and which officer handled their recruitment.
However, there is an important distinction between appearing in these records and actually working as an informer.
Does a name in the files mean someone was an agent?
Not necessarily. The commonly used term agent files can be misleading, as the documents cover several different categories of people who came to the attention of the communist state security services.
Some were recruited and actively provided information, while others resisted recruitment attempts, never submitted reports or supplied information considered useless by the authorities. Some people were simply registered because they were of interest to the services.
According to Telex’s summary, the more precise term is therefore network member. Even a Form 6 card does not automatically prove that someone actively collaborated with the state security services.
The actual reports written by informers about the people they monitored will not be published in the database. The authorities say this is necessary to protect the victims of surveillance, whose personal information and private lives should not be exposed. Those affected and their relatives can, however, request access to relevant documents from the archives.
Make things easier with professional support in English. Explore Daily News Hungary’s Services in English and find the help you need.
More than 9,000 recruitment files to follow in February
The publication process is not yet complete. The fourth and potentially most revealing category, the individual recruitment files, is scheduled to become available by 25 February 2027.
The archives hold more than 9,000 such files, some running to dozens or even hundreds of pages. They could reveal how individuals were approached and recruited, whether they were pressured or blackmailed, what kind of work they carried out and how their involvement with the state security services ended.
Preparing these documents takes considerably longer because they must be digitised and checked, with protected personal information removed. The process involves approximately one million pages of material.
A long-awaited step towards confronting Hungary’s past
Opening the files has been a political demand for decades. The Fidesz-KDNP government repeatedly rejected proposals to make the records public, while Magyar promised during his political campaign that his government would finally open them.
The government has also established an independent, interdisciplinary panel of historians, sociologists, psychologists and other specialists to help address the social consequences of publication. Its work is intended to support families and communities as they confront potentially difficult discoveries about their past.
