Fabricating Authenticity in Soviet Hungary: The Afterlife of the First Hungarian Soviet Republic in the Age of State Socialism - Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

Brief Description: "Also available as an ebook"--Title page verso. Biographical Note: Peter Apor is a research fellow at the Institute of History in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest. Table of Contents: Acknowledgements; List of Illustrations; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; Chapter 1: Prefiguration: The First Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Rakosi Dictatorship before 1956; Chapter 2: Resurrection: The Emergence of 1919 and the Counterrevolution after 1956; Chapter 3: Lives: 1919 in the Postwar Trials of War Criminals; Chapter 4: Funeral: The Birth of the Pantheon of the Labour Movement in Budapest; Chapter 5: Narration: History, Fiction and Proof in the Representation of the First Hungarian Soviet Republic, 1959-65; Epilogue: The Agitators and the Armoured Train; IndexCommendation Quotes:'Peter Apor offers innovative, theoretically grounded interpretations of the Communist memory politics. This book is an important work on the history of East European Communism.' --Gabor Gyani, Research Professor, Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Visiting Professor, Central European UniversityCommendation Quotes:'The memory of the Communist past is a major issue today - Peter Apor reverses the question and reminds us how the Communists themselves distorted national memories. This original book offers a good example of how to deconstruct these sophisticated policies of history.' --Henry Rousso, Senior Researcher, Institut d'histoire du temps present, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) Commendation Quotes:'"Fabricating Authenticity in Soviet Hungary" follows the intricate thread of the long afterlife of a short but deeply controversial historical event. The book forcefully argues that under the condition of politically induced retrospective uncertainty, all historical facts become suspect of fabrication.' --Istvan Rev, Professor of History, Central European UniversityMarc Notes: Also available as an ebook--Title page verso.; Includes bibliographical references and index. Publisher Marketing: This book explores the memory of the First Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, which proved crucial for communist Hungarian political culture in the twentieth century. Apor approaches the topic in an innovative way, focusing on the understudied aspects of European memory cultures. Offering great insights on how a dictatorship remembers and the concept of authenticity, Apor's study integrates the broad range of processes through which history is sought to be rendered authentic. The volume successfully reveals the crooked history of the retrospective revisions of the iconic First Republic between the years of its 30th and 40th anniversary, 1949 and 1959.

Contributor Bio:  Apor, Peter P?ter Apor is Research Fellow, Pasts, Inc. Center for Historical Studies, Central European University, Budapest.