What do the following have in common?
- an audio walking tour and exhibition about the prewar nightlife in the Jewish District of Budapest
- an interactive online novel set in 1956, during the revolution in Hungary
- a poetic documentary film about the lives of Socialist monuments in Memento Park
- an online exhibition amending the controversial museum House of Terror concerning the history of the transition from Horthy’s regime to the Arrow Cross rule between 1920 and 1944
What they have in common is that they are all public history projects, created in about three weeks, by students of the History in the Public Sphere (HIPS) program, who had arrived to Budapest in the beginning of January 2024 to participate in an internship course at the Blinken OSA Archivum. The new cohort of students, coming from all over the world, had a busy start of the year, exploring this year’s theme; historical erasure and the city in the archives.
HIPS is a CEU Erasmus Mundus Masters-degree program, and the internship at the Archivum is a friendly crossover between a boot camp and a design sprint, culminating in the creation of public history projects by the students. The program includes site visits, guided tours, lectures, masterclasses, practical workshops, and, in the design phase, regular advising rounds for the project teams. Altogether, this year’s internship contained 31 sessions, and built on the expertise and support of more than 30 people. The course was designed and directed by István Rév, with academic coordination by Adrian Matus.
The internship’s finale took place on February 7. The concluding event of the five-week program included the showcasing of the four public history projects that the students created, as well as a celebration of their curiosity, dedication, and success—not only in grasping the many aspects of erasure in recent Hungarian history, but also in creating projects that engage with erasures in sensitive, creative, and meaningful ways.
While the students have already made their way to the next leg of their degree program in Tokyo, their projects are here to stay, and will be on proud display in the Archivum’s upcoming exhibition that opens in the spring.