Press room

Press Room

A Guided tour by the Curator: Therapy Exhibition – Finissage

Posted: 07/June/2018

A guided tour is organized (in Hungarian) of the exhibition currently hosted by Blinken OSA, on June 10, 2018 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. More details about the event (in Hungarian). Click here for more information (in English) about the exhibition.

Columbia University and West Point Military Academy Sudents at Blinken OSA

Posted: 01/June/2018

Traditionally this time every year Blinken OSA hosts a small group of students from Columbia University and West Point Military Academy, headed by their academic tutor and professor Victoria Phillips. This year the visit takes place vetween 28 May –1 June. Students then write their papers, and present their findings at the Cold War conference at Corvinus University. During their research week at Blinken OSA, students have wrap-up sessions each day in the Meeting Room to discuss their progress, express their doubts and to address other issues. This year Blinken OSA's staff take a more active part in supporting the students research work. Students make use of one of Blinkne OSA’s largest collections: HU OSA 300 Records of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute. Other collections are also consulted. Blinken OSA is happy to encourage research into its Cold War collections and hopes that the project will prove to be productive and successful for all participating students. This cooperation began in 2016 when a group of seven students from Columbia University and two from West Point Military Academy, led by Professor Victoria Phillips, visited Blinken OSA for a whole week. They conducted research and devoted themselves to writing their papers and presentations for the 9th Annual International Student Conference of the Cold War History Research Center at Corvinus University, which was co-organized by CEU’s History Department and the European Institute at Columbia University.

Did People Lie in Kádár's Hungary?

Posted: 28/May/2018

81 new short films – recording recent events organized by Blinken OSA – are available now on our renewed YouTube channel.

Young Artists in Hungary: Present and Future

Posted: 20/May/2018

Therapy is the main exhibition of Küszöb Festival, which reflects on the situation of the youngest generation of artists. The project used group therapy (“self-awareness group” would be the proper term in psychological parlance) as a tool to be able to show how the young artists of today see their present and future in Hungary. Two psychologists led the self-awareness group of ten young artists, who were chosen by the curator. At the group events the artists started to discuss the personal difficulties that they encountered at the outset of their careers and tried to define the failings of the current institutional system.

Night of the Museums – June 23, 2018

Posted: 19/May/2018

The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives – Night of the Museums, June 23, 2018

Exhibition in Galeria Centralis

Farewell to the Spring - 1968 behind the Iron Curtain

1968 began in a very promising way for a few Eastern-European countries as political pragmatism seemed to replace rigid ideology. The effect of protest movements in the West had reached the region, and counter culture had begun to affect Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland and Hungary. The exhibition presents this tumultuous time of student protests, happenings and hippy events that all came to an abrupt end with the intervention in Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact countries.

5:00 p.m. –7:00 p.m. Guided tour of the exhibition by the curator

4:00 p.m. – 12:00 p.m. Symbols and Slogans from 1968 – Interactive program until midnight

Protest and type! Visitors can type flyers on Cold War era type-writers and print symbols of ’68 with the help of Blinken OSA staff.

4:00 p.m. – 12:00 p.m. Tours of the building: Exhibition hall and archive in a historic building. The Goldberger House, an industrial monument, is open to the public once a year. Its basement holds records of the fieldwork that underpinned Radio Free Europe's broadcasts during the Cold War, as well as collections of human rights documents.

The tours start every two hours; in English on demand

11:00 p.m. Film screening.

Blinken OSA's New Curated Collection Available Online

Posted: 04/May/2018

The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European University (OSA) is very proud to announce that in cooperation with the Hoover Institution Library and Archives it has made a new curated collection available online: the Radio Free Europe/Free Europe Committee - Encrypted Telex Communication.

Poland 1968 Digital Collection

Posted: 30/April/2018

This unique selection of documents from the records of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute focuses on the March 1968 Polish student rebellion and its aftermath, including the political trials that followed it and the anti-Semitic campaign that led to the emigration of roughly 13,000 Polish Jews.

A régi épületek ünnepe: Folytatódik a Budapest100

Posted: 29/April/2018

A Budapest100 2011-ben azzal a szándékkal indult az OSA Archívum és a KÉK – Kortárs Építészeti Központ kezdeményezésére, hogy legyen egy olyan hétvége, amikor mindenki megismerheti és megszeretheti a minket körülvevő várost, épületeivel és lakóival együtt. A sétákat, koncertek, beszélgetéseket is magában foglaló rendezvény célja az is, hogy önkéntesként bevonva már a szervezés előkészítő fázisában közelebb hozza egymáshoz a városlakókat, a szomszédokat, a különböző generációkat.

First Demand Press Freedom

Posted: 16/April/2018

Techniques, Tactics, Topics, and Teams in the Hungarian Samizdat
March 13 – April 29, 2018

On the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA) presents the exhibition FIRST DEMAND: PRESS FREEDOM.

Holokauszt emléknap: 2018. április 12.

Posted: 12/April/2018

A Jom háSoá a nemzetközi holokauszt emléknap, a zsidó naptár szerinti Niszán hónap 27. napja (idén április 12.), egyúttal a varsói gettófelkelés évfordulója. A Blinken OSA 2014-ben Csillagos házak címmel indított programja keretében interaktív térképen ábrázolta azokat az épületeket, melyekbe a zsidótörvények alá eső magyaroknak (akiknek 1944. április 5-től kezdve a ruhájukon hatágú sárga csillagot kellett viselniük), június 21- et követően kijelölt kényszerlakhelyre, az ún. csillagos házakba kellett költözniük.

"OUR SCHOOL"(Şcoala noastră) by Mona Nicoară

Film Screening - "Our School" by Mona Nicoară

Posted: 10/April/2018

FILM SCREENING: "OUR SCHOOL"(Şcoala noastră) by Mona Nicoară
DATE: 26/04/2018
Time: 18:00
PLACE: OSA, Arany János u. 32, 1051 Budapest

Please join us for Roma Weeks’s film screening "Our School"(Şcoala noastră), at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA).
The film "Our School", directed by Mona Nicoară, follows three Roma children from a small Transylvanian town in Romania who are among the first participants in an initiative to integrate the ethnically segregated Romanian schools.
In 2006, Alin, Benjamin, and Dana set out from their dead-end segregated school for the city, optimistic for education and new friendships with Romanians. The children’s hopes and innocent optimism quickly soured as they met with low expectations and further isolation.
Shot over four years, this tender vérité portrait fosters an intimacy in the children's profound reality and admiration for their indomitable spirit, which is punctuated by shocking instances of prejudice and ignorance. Their story touches on issues ranging from institutionalized racism, public education, and the intractability of poverty, culminating in an outrageous finale that cements the Roma children's struggle in the annals of egregious human rights violations.
"Our School" is an absorbing, infuriating, and ultimately bittersweet story of tradition and progress.

The film screening will be followed by a roundtable discussion.

The event is hosted by the Vera & Donald Blinken Open Society Archives.

Assistant archivist wanted at Blinken OSA

Posted: 21/March/2018

The successful candidate will work together with the Senior Reference Archivist on the processing of digital files from the Free Europe Committee (FEC) collection. Besides being privileged to enhance her/his knowledge of the Cold War history and inter-Atlantic connections, she/he will contribute considerably to the creation of a new digital curated collection that will enrich OSA’s digital archives in general.This position requires an excellent command of English. Knowledge of 20th century East-European history, or related fields, and of processing textual and audiovisual materials including descriptive techniques, archival standards, good practices and metadata standards in general is an asset.Please send your complete application package that includes a short CV and a motivation letter to Ms. Katalin Gadoros at gadoros@ceu.edu until April 10, 2018.

Blinken OSA Hosted the European Press Prize Award Ceremony

European Press Prize Award Ceremony Hosted by Blinken OSA

Posted: 20/March/2018

“By hosting the European Press Prize Award Ceremony in Budapest, we want to emphasise the importance of an open, free and well-functioning press to democracy", said Yoeri Albrecht, board member of the European Press Prize, Director of Amsterdam’s cultural debate centre De Balie, and member of the Open Society Foundations’ European Advisory Board. “The setting also serves as a warning on what can happen when press freedom is not protected.”

Civil Contribution to the Transition in Eastern Europe

Posted: 12/March/2018

After the transition of the Southern European countries in the 1970s and of the Central European countries at the end of the 1980s from totalitarian and authoritarian regimes to democratic systems, and the democratic consolidation moving on to the enlargement of the European Union, threatening phenomena have appeared on stage: instead of further consolidation of democracy, illiberal, popular and extreme political tendencies have gained ground. Citizens seem to have forgotten about the morals of the past totalitarian regimes and are indifferent towards political and civil society activities.

This project examines the civic participation and democratic ownership in 5 European countries: Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in the last decade of the totalitarian regimes, focusing on specific fields in each
country and making video interviews with senior activists:

1. fight for free speech, samizdat in Hungary,
2. trade unions – Solidarity in Poland,
3. democratic movements helped by the Catholic and Lutheran Church – in Slovakia and Germany,
4. strikes and mass demonstrations at universities – in Greece.
A national and a transnational civil dialogue is aimed to be fostered refering to the past and the fight for democracy
under totalitarian regimes and about the present – threats to democratic achievements, civic rights, counterbalances.

Visegrad Scholarships at Blinken OSA for academics, artists and journalists

Posted: 08/March/2018

Visegrad Scholarships at Blinken OSA: a scholarship for academics, artists and journalistsFor a better and deeper understanding of the interdependent recent history of (the center of) Europe, the International Visegrad Fund offers research fellowship grants at the Open Society Archives at Central European University, Budapest, to support scholars, artists and journalists who wish to conduct research in the holdings of OSA. The next submission deadline is March 15, 2018.

Assistant archivist wanted at Blinken OSA

Posted: 07/March/2018

The successful candidate will work on the processing of digital files from the Free Europe Committee (FEC) collection together with the Senior Reference Archivist. Besides being privileged to enhance her/his knowledge of the Cold War history and inter-Atlantic connections, she/he will contribute considerably to the creation of a new digital curated collection that will enrich OSA’s digital archives in general.This position requires an excellent command of English. Knowledge of 20th century East-European history, or related fields, and of processing textual and audiovisual materials including descriptive techniques, archival standards, good practices and metadata standards in general is an asset.Please send your complete application package that includes a short CV and a motivation letter to Ms. Katalin Gadoros at gadoros@ceu.edu until April 10, 2018.

Re-Verzio: Film Screening Series at Blinken OSA

Posted: 26/February/2018

Re-Verzio: A selection of the 14th Verzio Film Festival's program, including the opening film and award winners.

February 7 – March 7, 2018

5 occasions to see some of the best documentaries of recent years.

A selection of the 14th Verzio’s program, including the opening film and award winners.

Free film screenings on Wednesdays from 6pm at Blinken OSA Archive (Arany János u. 32. 1051 Budapest).

Prime Time Nationalism: The Manipulative Role of State Television in the Aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars

Posted: 20/February/2018

Prime Time Nationalism, The Role of Television Broadcasts/Archives in the Aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars - was the title of a conference organized by Blinken OSA on May 13-14, 2016.

After ICTY: Prospects for Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in the post-Yu

Prospects for Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in the Post-Yugoslav Region

Posted: 19/February/2018

International Workshop: After ICTY – Prospects for Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in the post-Yugoslav Region

Organized by the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives and the Department of Political Science at Central European University

February 21, 2018, 13:00-18:00

At the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 32.)

In December 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) completed its primary task of prosecuting crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Yugoslav wars. Hardly any of its decisions passed without controversies. However, dissatisfaction with and public denials of the last ICTY verdicts can be seen as an indication that the prosecution of war crimes left many questions regarding the establishment of transitional justice in the post-Yugoslav region still open. What have ICTY judgments achieved in terms of justice making in the former warring countries? To which extent did the ICTY verdicts contribute to a process of national and regional reconciliation? What was the role of the ICTY indictments in contesting or reproducing the dominant war narratives among the countries? Was responsibility for the committed crimes in the name of a collectivity adequately assumed?

This workshop featuring speakers from academic institutions and NGOs, aims at elaborating these questions. It will be focused, in particular, on specifying legal and political mechanisms of transitional justice, their moral justification and the possibilities for their application within the post-Yugoslav social and political context.

Admission is free and open to the public, but places are limited. For further information and registration, please contact Perica Jovchevski, jovchevski_perica@phd.ceu.edu

Elindult a PressUP! Média- és sajtószabadság a 21. században program

Posted: 04/February/2018

A program keretében tartott kétnapos műhelyfoglalkozás lehetőséget nyújtott középiskolás és egyetemista diákoknak, hogy megismerjék a 21. századi újságírás alapjait, a sajtószabadság és a független média fontosságát.

4 gyakorló újságíró mentor segítségével betekintést nyerhettek a videós újságírás alapjaiba, megtanulhatták az adatvizualizáció és adatújságírás mesterfogásait, kipróbálhatták élesben is a lapszerkesztést.

A program célja, hogy az újságírás főbb pilléreinek megismerése után egy gyakorló diák-szerkesztőség alakuljon, ahol közösen ötletelve egy laptervvel álljanak elő a résztvevő diákok. A már elkészült lapterv alapján a frissen felállt szerkesztőség március 14-re egy kész lapszámmal jelentkezik majd.

A workshop egyik apropója, hogy 2018. március 14-én a Blinken OSA Archívumban kerül megrendezésre az egyik legrangosabb európai sajtódíj, a European Press Prize díjátadó rendezvénye.

A workshop résztvevői meghívást kapnak a február 14-i European Press Prize díjátadóra valamint az aznap 14:00 órától tartandó, angol nyelvű mesterkurzusra a European Press Prize szervezésében.

Final Report of the Symposium on Refugee Rights in Records Published

Posted: 01/February/2018

On January 10, 2018, Blinken OSA co-organized and hosted the Symposium on Refugee Rights in Records.The final report of the symposium summarizes the key topics covered by invited speakers from international bodies, NGOs, archives and academic institutions, raises research questions and delineates possible avenues of development for the project.

Pályázati felhívás - PressUP! Média- és sajtószabadság a 21. században

Posted: 31/January/2018

Pályázati felhívás
PressUP! Média- és sajtószabadság a 21. században
KREATÍV WORKSHOP diákoknak a legjobb fiatal magyar szakemberek vezetésével

Europe for Citizens: Remembrance 2016 "Year 1956. Societes of Central Europe ve

Europe for Citizens: Remembrance 2016 - "Year 1956: Societies of Central Europe Versus Communism"

Posted: 18/January/2018

A succesful professional cooperation of European professional institutions aimed at the common experience of the citizens of the former Eastern Block in connection with 1956.

Europe for Citizens: Remembrance 2016 "Year 1956. Societies of Central Europe versus communism" project with the participation of the KARTA Foundation, Ustav pro Studium Totalitarian Rezimu, Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, and the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European University aimed at collecting source materials in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary – fragments of documents (leaflets, proclamations, speeches, chronicles, reports, etc.) and individual testimonies (diaries, memoirs, reports, letters etc.) on the common experience of the citizens of the former Eastern Bloc, which is the result of political thaw of 1956.

The result of the project, an educational booklet is available on the Internet in English, German, Polish, Russian, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak on creative commons license.

Art IN Academia: Exhibition and Conference

Posted: 18/January/2018

The event explores a range of possible ways in which academic endeavors can inform, inspire or become complemented by the art created by scholars and researchers within institutional academic walls.

White Supremacist Collaboration between Hollywood and the White House

Posted: 16/January/2018

The first American multi-reel film carried a multiplied risk of profit loss due to its shear length and therefore needed the backing of the White House and the Federal Supreme Court against the local licensing authorities of New York City and Boston (both determined against the release of the film). And that cooperation served to promote the spirit of white supremacy.

Symposium on Refugee Rights in Records

Posted: 14/December/2017

Organized by the Center for Information as Evidence, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Liverpool Centre for Archive Studies (LUCAS), and the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European UniversityThis symposium will feature speakers from a range of international bodies, NGOs, archives and academic institutions who will speak to ways in which official records (including bio-records) and bureaucracies, archival documentation, and other more "irregular" forms and uses of records play crucial roles in the lives of displaced people as they travel across state boundaries, interact with governments and aid agencies, and eventually resettle into new countries and interface with their bureaucratic systems or return/are returned to their places of origin.

Keressük az Év Jó Emberét! We are looking for the Good Person of the Year!

Posted: 10/December/2017

Keressük az Év Jó Emberét!#joember2017A Blinken OSA-ban igyekszünk tenni szűkebb-tágabb közösségünkért, így hagyományosan jótékonysági akcióval szoktuk zárni az évet. Idén azonban adomány helyett történeteket fogunk gyűjteni: pozitív történeteket inspiráló emberekről.We are looking for the Good Person of the Year!#goodperson2017At the end of the year, as part of our efforts to make a difference in our smaller (or larger) community, Blinken OSA has traditionally organized charity actions. This year, however, instead of donations, we will be collecting stories: positive stories about inspiring people.

Over 2000 Students Reached by Blinken OSA's Education Outreach Programs

Posted: 02/December/2017

To complement its public programs which engage the general public in Budapest, in 2016 Blinken OSA launched a special Education Outreach Program to connect with and involve K-12 level teacher and student communities in Hungary. In 2016-2017 a total of 11 education outreach projects involved 2652 students, 190 teachers in 161 high schools and universities from 44 towns and cities across Hungary.

Aaron Swartz Fellowship: Call for Applications

Posted: 01/December/2017

The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) at Central European University, one of the initiators of the Open Access movement awards a fellowship each year either to an unconventional technology expert early in his/her career, or a scholar or activist working at the intersection of humanities, social sciences and technology studies or technological solutions. The fellowship is principally intended for those, with or without a degree, who have strong practical skills in developing technological tools to make knowledge and data broadly available to the public; who have an interest in challenging information management practices in libraries and archives; who are ready to contribute to building innovative visual taxonomies or catalogs based on unorthodox ideas; and who can challenge the control of information by governments and publishers to promote civil liberties and online activism.

Felhívás: Akkreditált pedagógus továbbképzési program/ Accredited Continuing Education Program for Teachers

Posted: 29/November/2017

Felhívás - Akkreditált pedagógus továbbképzési program

Mozgásterek és kényszerpályák / Sorsszerűség és felelősség a XX. századi magyar történelemben

Előadók: Mink András, Ungváry Krisztián történészek

Szervező neve: Blinken OSA Archívum / Közép-európai Egyetem
Felnőttképzési nyilvántartási szám: 27282-153-2016
Képzési órák száma: 30
Tanfolyam időtartama: 2018. január 20. - április 28.
8 alkalom szombatonként – jan. 20.; feb. 3/17/24.; márc. 3/24.; ápr. 7/28.
Tanfolyam helyszíne: Blinken OSA Archívum, 1051 Budapest, Arany János u. 32.
Létszám: maximum 20 fő

A jelentkezés feltételei:
Iskolai végzettség: egyetemi
Javasolt munkakörök: középiskolai tanár, történelemtanár
Részvételi díj: nincs
Határidő: 2018. január 15.

Jelentkezés: kovecsia@ceu.edu

A limitált létszám miatt javasoljuk a korai jelentkezést, a jelentkezéseket érkezési sorrendben fogadjuk.

Accredited Continuing Education Program for Teachers

Scopes and Constraints in 20th Century Hungarian History

Instructors: Historians András Mink and Krisztián Ungváry

Organizer: Blinken OSA Archives / Central European University
Continuing education registration number: 27282-153-2016
Number of credit hours: 30
Course dates: January 20 - April 21, 2018
The course meets 8 times on Saturdays: January 20, February 3, 1, 7 and 24, March 3, 24, April , and 28.
Course venue: Blinken OSA Archives, 1051 Budapest, Arany János u. 32.
Number of attendees: 20

Submit applications to: kovecsia@ceu.edu

Due to the limited space we encourage applicants to submit their applications early, applications are processed on a first come first served basis.