Péter Csunderlik

Junior Joint Budapest Fellow
Period of Stay: 
January - June 2024
Discipline: 
History
Institution: 
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Project Title: 
The Discursive Memory of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in the Horthy Era (1919–1944)
Project Abstract: 

The aim of the research is the analysis of the memoirs, novels, anniversary commemorations, parliamentary speeches and historical textbooks relating to the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919) in the Horthy Era through combining a traditional historical approach with the latest methods of textual analysis. The openly counter-revolutionary Horthy Regime, established after 1919, identified itself in opposition to the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The politicians and intellectuals of the Horthy Regime were interested in depicting the dictatorship of the proletariat as the nadir of Hungarian history, speaking only about the negative dispositions and framing the leftist elite of the commune as ‘sadist criminals.’ That way, the problems of the Horthy Era could be glossed over by pointing backwards: the communists were responsible for everything evil and bad, God forbid they return! The research will identify and analyze the devices that were utilized between 1919 and 1944 in order to distort the history of the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

https://btk.elte.hu/en/staff/dr-peter-csunderlik