Cu referire la relațiile cetățenilor români cu unele posturi de radio capitaliste. In Securitatea, 41 (1978): 38-49. Articol
Securitatea was a quarterly aimed at improving the training of Securitate operative personnel. Its articles were written by Securitate officers for Securitate officers and thus they touched upon practical problems faced during their specific mission of preventing and neutralising any actions that potentially threatened the communist regime. Among the many dangers that were outlined in the pages of the quarterly as undermining “state security” were foreign radio stations, and especially Radio Free Europe (RFE). The article chosen as a featured item of the collection presents under the title “Cu referire la relațiile cetățenilor români cu unele posturi de radio capitaliste” (About the relations of Romanian citizens with some capitalist radio stations) the perspective of the Securitate upon the activity of RFE and evaluates its contribution in providing an alternative source of information for Romanians. In the absence of underground publications, RFE represented the main source of alternative information in communist Romania. Thus, the Securitate regarded RFE and contacts between Romanian citizens and employees of the Romanian desk of this radio station as dangerous to the communist regime. Accordingly, the entire article focuses on revealing how RFE allegedly acts in order to undermine “state security.” Starting from the premise that RFE is the locus “of espionage, ideological diversion, and hostile propaganda,” the anonymous author traces the connection between this radio station and the American espionage machine, namely the CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency was credited with financing RFE and setting its agenda even after the American Congress officially took responsibility for financially supporting its functioning. The control of the CIA over RFE was underlined once again when discussing its organisation. The two management structures in the United States and Europe were allegedly infiltrated by CIA agents who engaged the radio station in their “ungentlemanly” war against communist countries and used it to collect information about them. As a result, the CIA used the microphone of RFE to proffer slanders and shamefully distort the realities of the communist countries, according to the Securitate’s interpretation of the broadcasting of news and other political programmes by this radio station. Even worse from the point of view of the Securitate was that people travelling abroad were an easy prey for “agents” working at the Romanian desk of RFE. After underlining the connection between its director, deputy director, and programme producers with the CIA, the article describes how they allegedly succeeded in manipulating Romanian tourists in order to collect valuable information about the country, its leadership, and the impact of its social and economic policies on the mood of the population. In other cases, they even managed to trick their “victims” and persuade them to emigrate. The narrative of blaming RFE for these “unpatriotic” deeds was an ideologically convenient explanation for the fact that the great majority of Romanians listened to and trusted RFE, in spite of the fact that this might have caused problems. At the same time, such a narrative was meant to highlight the vital role played by the Securitate as a guardian of the communist regime in Romania.
Szőnyei Tamás plakátgyűjteménye
Zbirka rock i disco kulture u Rijeci Velida Đekića
The Velid Đekić collection covers beginning of rock and disco culture not only in Rijeka but also in the former Yugoslavia. While working on the books 91 decibels (2009) and Red! River! Rock! (2013), Đekić collected materials on many of Rijeka's bands that have existed from the late 1950s until the early 1980s, and on the places where young people gathered. That is why this collection testifies to the unique history of rock 'n' roll behind the Iron Curtain.
Kálmándy Ferenc fotóarchívuma
Kálmándy Ferenc (Kálmándy Pap Ferenc) magánarchívuma 1978-tól tartalmazza fotóművészeti, illetve fotóriporteri munkásságának dokumentumait. Fényképei munkásságának kezdeteitől számítva a rendszerváltásig (1989-1990) dokumentálják a magyar ifjúsági kultúra, underground popzenei kultúra, valamint a fiatal értelmiség art world köreiben végbement változásokat, a punk és a new wave zenei, valamint poszt-avantgárd művészeti irányzatok külsőségeinek, látványos design-elemeinek integrálódását a mindennapi élet közegébe.
Jávor István: A Csépő Gyuri című film werkfotói, 1976.
Letter from Victor Frunză to Eugen Ionescu in Paris, in Romanian, 8 September 1978
This letter is an important document for the history of the post-war Romanian exile community because it is a proof of the attempt of a Romanian dissident to establish a connection with the emigration. The purpose was to gain the support of Romanians abroad. If their situation was publicised in the West, then there were chances that once returned to their country they would not suffer the reprisals of the communist regime. Also, such actions were meant to trigger the support of international public opinion in criticising Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship. One such example was the action of the Romanian writer and journalist Victor Frunză during a tour in France in 1978. In Paris, he wrote a letter to Eugène Ionesco (Eugen Ionescu), a French-language writer originally from Romania, a representative of the theatre of the absurd and a member of the French Academy. In this document, sent on 8 September 1978, Victor Frunză informed Eugène Ionesco that, in France, he criticised openly the situation in communist Romania, especially the personal power and personality cult of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Starting from the idea that he was not the first Romanian and hopefully not the last to do so, Frunză told Ionesco that his approach was deliberately chosen, in full awareness of the possible consequences for him: "When I did this, I knew what I could expect, but I have defeated my fear (...). The sense of the justice of my criticisms gives me the strength to resist. There is no fear of the reprisals that will come anyway, but in the face of the fears of others who can in my mind support me, and in fact will leave me. Immense is the fear of staying alone, as in a desert." In conclusion, Victor Frunză asked Eugène Ionesco to publicly support his action of criticising the dictatorship and personality cult of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Antoine és Désiré, 1978. LP
Egységes keretbe foglalt konceptlemeznek is tekinthető ez az 1978-ban kiadott korong, a második a Cseh Tamás lemezek sorában. A címben jelzett főszereplők életrajza is mellékelve van, mi több, meg is jelennek a lemezborítón az énekes mellett, Vető János képsorozatának köszönhetően. Két, korabeli underground körökben jól ismert arc formálja meg a fotókon őket, Dixi, a költő és Zuzu, a festő.
A szövegek szerzője, Bereményi Géza közlése alapján azonban tudható, hogy nem ők szolgáltak mintául a dalokban szereplő karakterekhez (azokat már korábban kitalálták), hanem csak arcukat kölcsönözték a képekhez. Az életrajzok két tipikus hetvenes évekbeli sorsot tárnak fel, egy jól érvényesülő és egy félresiklott életű hősét, akiket ennek ellenére barátság köt össze. A szerzői közlés szerint a karakterek ihletője a fehér bohóc és a piros bohóc archetípusa volt, ezért a lemezen szereplő dalok is bohóctréfák sorozatának tekinthetők. A piros bohóc Désiré: a lézengő, ügyetlen gyerek, a fehér pedig Antoine: a sikeres, a felnőtt.
A dalok egy részében Désiré hangja szólal meg, máshol narrátor meséli el a történetet, lehetőséget adva az előadónak az azonosulásra és a szerepből való kilépésre is. Az azonosulás és a távolságtartás váltogatása, az ezzel való játék visszatérő eleme a közös kompozícióknak. A dalok szövegei a megszólalás és az elhallgatás lehetősége között egyensúlyoznak, gyakoriak a végig nem mondott mondatok, a meg nem nevezett állapotok, amelyek a szereplők élethelyzetét érzékeltetik. A dalok a történeteken túl erősen atmoszférikusak, a megjelenő életérzések mentén pontos látleletet adnak a korról, a légkörről, amiben születtek.
Zápis z Mezinárodního kulatého stolu SVU v Ženevě
Minutes from the International Table Ronde SVU in Geneva were kept by Mojmir Vanek, the main organizer of the Symposium, as well as the Chairman of the Swiss Group of the Society for Science and Art (SVU) in the aftermath of the Symposium.
On two pages of machine-written text Vaněk describes the course of the symposium and who participated in it, as well as the course of discussion. The Symposium on “Culture and Freedom” was held on 28 October 1978 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia on behalf of the Society for Science and Arts. The so-called table ronde was held in French and was attended by six prominent people from Swiss and French cultural life: President Pro Helvetia, R. Ruffieux (Lausanne and Friborg), B. Dorival (Paris-Sorbonne), Jeanne Hersch (Geneva), G. Gottier (Geneva) and literary critic Francois Bondy (Zurich). This event was exceptionally well received in the Swiss press as well as in Czechoslovakia. Mojmir Vanek presided over this symposium.
This symposium, and especially Mojmir Vaněk´s speech at the beginning of the negotiations, was likely the reason why his Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked only a month after the symposium was held. This entry is the unique testimony of Mojmir Vanek about this symposium and was likely used as a record for the Society for Science and Art. Vanek himself regarded this event as an international manifestation, which at its level and its international focus was still the most significant enterprise of the Swiss group of the SVU.
Kirjad laagrist
A folder contains Soldatov’s original letters and notes written on rolls of paper. His letters and notes were smuggled one by one out of the prison camp by his wife Ludmilla when she visited him. These writings included several philosophical and religious contemplations, which were later published in Soldatov’s collected works.
Hajas Tibor: Felületkínzás III (fossziliák), 1978.
Fatáblára kasírozott fotók baritált papíron, 90 × 110 cm
A fiatalon elhunyt Hajas Tibor utolsó évei a saját testét médiumként aktivizáló performanszok jegyében teltek. A minden részletében megtervezett élő előadásokkal párhuzamosan készültek fotótablói, melyeknek alapját a Vető János kamerája előtt, műteremben vagy egyéb zárt térben, közönség nélkül végrehajtott akciók jelentették.
Ebben a konkrét esetben a fényképeken a művész homogén fehér háttér előtt jelenik meg meztelenül, különböző, kitettség érzetét keltő pózokban. Ez azonban csak az alapot jelenti a kompozícióhoz: az előhívott negatív emulzióját a művész roncsolta, égette, ily módon egészítve ki a testtartásokat.
Kettős akcióról van tehát szó, egyfelől a testre vonatkoztatott beavatkozás, másfelől a médiumra vonatkozó manipuláció, melyek azonban együtt, párhuzamosan hatnak a nézőre, zsigerileg és allegorikusan (ez utóbbi hatást erősíti az alcím).
A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria gyűjteményében található mű 2017 nyarán az 57. Velencei Biennálé központi kiállításán is látható volt, az Örömök és félelmek pavilonja szekcióban. Az MNG Jelenkori Gyűjteményét reprezentáló állandó kiállításon ezért jelenleg egy felirat helyettesíti.
Událost: 1978, kulatý stůl na téma "Kultura a svoboda"
Mojmír Vaněk organized a symposium on the topic "Culture and Freedom" on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia and on behalf of the Society for Science and the Art (SVU) on 28 October 1978. The so-called table ronde was held in French and was attended by six prominent people from Swiss and French cultural life: President Pro Helvetia, R. Ruffieux (Lausanne and Friborg), B. Dorival (Paris-Sorbonne), Jeanne Hersch (Geneva), G. Gottier (Geneva) and literary critic Francois Bondy (Zurich). This event was exceptionally well received in the Swiss press as well as in Czechoslovakia. Mojmír Vaněk presided over this symposium.
The event started by dr. Mojmír Vaněk as chairman of the SWU Swiss Group, where he outlined the main features of the genesis of the Czechoslovak state, which is closely linked to Switzerland. He talked extensively about Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk's liberation work and stressed Masaryk's morality, which he felt was a model at a time when the freedom of the nation and its education were once again profoundly threatened, and when true culture must be based on morality. The audience of this symposium filled one of the biggest lecturers of the new university building in Geneva.
Likely in connection with this event, in November of that year, the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic had revoked Vaněk’s citizenship. His wife, Olga Vaňková, who was also a member of the Society for Science and the Arts, had her citizenship revoked as well.
The Diploma of the Monismanien Cultural Prize for Charter 77 Foundation in Stockholm, 1978.
The Diploma of the Monismanien Cultural Prize, inspired the foundation of the Charter 77 in Stockholm. The foundation was founded on the initiative of writer Vaclav Havel after the Charta 77 civic movement was awarded the Monismanien Prize for "its struggle to promote the fundamental human right to freedom of expression." On behalf of Charter 77, he took the prize at the University of Uppsala on December 4, 1978 from the hands of its rector, Professor Frantisek Janouch, who read the letter of the spokesmen of Charter 77 Václav Havel and Ladislav Hejdanek. The prize, which was subsidised with a sum of 15,000 Swedish crowns, was used to set up a fund to support the Czechoslovak citizens, persecuted for their participation in Charter 77, and families of Czechoslovakia. On the occasion of the Monismanien Prize, a call was made to the Scandinavian and international public asking for support for the persecuted opponents of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. After a successful response, it managed to get more money from private donors and organisations. Thus, this supportive activity was formalised and the Charter 77 Foundation was founded, which until 1989 supported the Czechoslovak opposition. The foundation was led by Professor Frantisek Janouch throughout his life. The diploma of the Monismanien cultural monument in Sweden is only a copy in the collection, the original was probably sent by the Charter 77 spokesperson to Prague.
Fond Jaroslava Seiferta v Památníku národního písemnictví
The personal collection of Czech poet, journalist, writer and the Nobel Prize laureate Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) contains a unique correspondence, manuscripts, prints and clippings documenting the life of the important author, who was a critic of the communist regime from 1950 and a silenced poet and a representative of Czechoslovak independent literature after August 1968.
Death in light of Marxism, issue 236
He estimates that, he was called before the Cultural Committee of the League of Communist Youth of Vojvodina at least twice per year, which he considered to be tyrannical. “These people lack a fundamental understanding of what I’m doing. There are exceptional analytical texts that address certain phenomena: death, literature, irony, postmodernism…those various qualities within modern society and culture that expose a new reality and that introduce new questions to our culture. So what do they do? They file a forty page report. Should I kill myself over it? I sit there instead, forced to listen to this nonsense, and worry that I’ll be replaced. And they all continue on, with business-minded faces, going through papers and discussing them as if it were the last judgement of the Provincial Youth Alliance. (…) The people of the party who oversee everything came from the PC (Provincial Commune of the League of Communists of Vojvodina, cf. Aut). I was a young man then. And the Youth Union was assigned to eradicate not just me, but the entire editorial board.”Among the various forms of persecution, Zivlak also noted that every day for two months, a police officer required him to identify himself before entering the editorial office. Jovan Zivlak is forthright about psycho-somatic problems that he developed because of these pressures. He speculates that the only reason he remained editor-in-chief of Polja for eight years was because Novi Sad lacked the media to carry out a personal attack on him.
Koncert rock grupe Azra u Gospiću, 1978. Fotografija
The photo shows the first line-up of the band Azra in Gospić in October 1978. The concert was part of the first tour of Azra organized by Polet. The first line-up consisted of Branimir Johnny Štulić, Jura Stublić, Marino Pelajić, Branko Hromatko and Mladen Max Juričić. In 1979, Jura Stublić, Marino Pelajić and Mladen Max Juričić left Azra and founded the group Film. With Azra soon reformed by Johnny Štulić, the group Film became one of the leaders of the new wave scene not only in Zagreb but also throughout Yugoslavia.
After the strike in Gdansk in August and September 1980 and the establishment of the Solidarity trade union, which meant the beginning of the fall of communism in Poland, Štulić wrote the song "Poland in my heart." It expresses explicit support to events in Poland, and mentions Wojtyla, i.e. Pope John Paul II. Among the young people in Yugoslavia, this song was perceived as a call to freedom from communism and cultural disagreement with the older generation who were in the Party.
After one concert and eight studio albums, Azra broke up in 1990. After several changes in the original line-up, group Film continued to perform and still plays today under the name Jura Stublić & Film.
Articol din FAZ despre o Scrisoare a lui Victor Frunză către Nicolae Ceaușescu, în germană, august 1978
This letter is an important document for the history of dissidence in Romania, being a proof of the open opposition of a Romanian living in the country to the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. In this case the writer was Victor Frunză, a Romanian writer and journalist, who in 1978 went as tourist to Paris. On this occasion, he contacted a representative of the Reuters Agency, to whom he handed a letter addressed to Nicolae Ceaușescu. He wrote the text of the letter in Romania and memorised its content in order not to carry it and be discovered at customs control. So he rewrote it from memory after he arrived in France. The material in question was published by Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung and broadcast by Radio Free Europe. Also, a copy of the letter was sent by Victor Frunză, by post, to Nicolae Ceaușescu. Essentially, his letter was a criticism of Ceausescu's dictatorship: "I want to manifest deep disagreement with the revival of the cult of personality, today is an improved version, decorated with the national flag." Frunză's conclusion was that "the type of socialist democracy in Romania is nothing more than a parody of discussions through speeches, even if these are not written by those who speak them." The document is in the IICCMER archive and is an original copy of the German letter published in 1978 in Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung. The letter was subsequently published by Victor Frunză in Romanian, at the publishing house he founded after the emigration, in the pages of the book For Human Rights in Romania (1982). The second edition of this volume appeared in 1990, in Bucharest, under the aegis of Victor Frunză Publishing House.
Schiffer Pál. Cséplő Gyuri, Film, 1978
A hetvenes évek során szárba szökkenő filmes irányzat, a Budapesti Iskola szociológiai nézőpontú dokumentarista törekvése érvényesül ebben a dokumentum-játékfilmben, egy intelligens, ambiciózus cigányfiú “fejlődésregényében”, amely a németfalusi cigánytelep lakói, köztük Cséplő György életének és a fiatalember elszakadási kísérletének bemutatásával vázolja fel a cigányság helyzetét a hetvenes években.
Szituációs dokumentumfilmjét a rendező úgy forgatta, hogy helyzeteket hozott létre, melyek során már nem avatkozott bele az események menetébe (hacsak a kamera jelenlétét nem tekintjük eleve beavatkozásnak). Schiffer jelenidejűvé akarta tenni a történetet, hogy a néző átélhessen, s ne csak megfigyelhessen egy problémát, hogy részesévé válhasson a történetnek, hogy azonosulhasson a főhőssel.
A film (Kemény István kutatásaival párhuzamos) egyik tanulságos megállapítása, hogy a cigány és nem-cigány lakosság legszegényebb, legelesettebb csoportjai azonos módon élnek, gondolkoznak, tehát nem faji alapon, hanem a társadalmi rétegződés felől érdemes a cigánykérdéshez közelíteni.
A BBS és a Hunnia Stúdió közös produkciója.
A Macskarádió hangszalagjai
A Macskarádió készítése, a nagyon korai feljegyzések alapján, az 1970-es évek elején, a középiskolában kezdődött, felhasználva a Bendzin című házilap, az Utazása világ körül című képregény-kísérlet, továbbá más írások történeteit, és az egyetemi évek végéig, 1978-ig bővült. Darkó első magnója a szüleitől örökölt híres magyar Mambó volt, majd SANYO-t használt. Nagyon invenciózus volt, mert ismerte a rossz magnóknak a technikai lehetőségeit. Nem a kapcsolószekrénnyel dolgozott, hanem kézzel, manuálisan érintette a szalagot a felvevő fejhez, menet közben. Mindent csak egy magnóval és egy mikrofonnal csinált.
A Macskarádió hangszalagját egy ORWO TYP 120/360 m Double Play, 5/482 szériajelzésű keletnémet termék tartalmazza. Dobozán „A MACSKARÁDIÓ különműsora” van feltüntetve. Az első sávon a Macskarádió I. maga a nappali történet fut, a második sávon pedig a szerkezetében lazább, utalásos, esti zenés műsorként megkomponált Macskarádió II. Darkó egy második szalagon a hangjátékhoz szükséges zajokat, zörejeket, például vonatkerék kattogást, állathangokat tárolta.
A Macskarádió nemcsak egy stúdió, hanem egy szellemi hely, ahol a szálak összefutnak, találkoznak, vagy elválnak, okkult hely, ahol a történetek bonyolítása és egymásba szervezése is folyik. Minden szereplő a Darkó hangján, a múlt század negyvenes éveinek magyar filmhangján, bon ton (illedelmes, nevelt) módján beszélnek. Ezek azonban megélt hangok, az előadó mindig csakis a megfelelő izgalmi állapotában szólalt meg a Macskarádió szentélyében. A hangfelvételeket szakaszosan készítette. Egy-egy részletnek, egy-egy szekvenciának a kidolgozása mentális. Egyed Péter szerint az, hogy ilyen hosszasan készítette – messzemenően nem egy nekifutásból –, a végtelenig elbonyolódott történeté tette. Legalább három olyan szint van, amelyet egyszeri, kétszeri, vagy háromszori lehallgatással is nehéz realizálni. A hangjáték metafizikája, meg a bonyolultsága miatt, nyilvánvalóan nem a széles nagyközönség szórakoztatására készült. A történés kontinuuma az üldözés. Nagyjából három csoportba tagolódnak a szereplők. Voltaképpen szándékok csatája folyik, amelyben a titkosszolgálati típusú megtévesztés a döntő. Elhitetés, hiszékenység kérdése, ki képes a valóságos valóságot rekonstruálni a virtuális hangterekben?
Kolozsváron és Marosvásárhelyen ismerték az általa konstruált világot, világokat. Darkó István, amikor elemében akart lenni, a barátai vagy az ismerősei között, akkor elővette a Macskarádiót és meghallgattatta velük. Hallgatták, híre ment, és a Macskarádió ismertsége elvileg és gyakorlatilag is túllépte a szűkebb baráti kört. Volt ennek egy misztikája. Nem szamizdatszerűen terjedt, mert volt egy eredeti szalag és erről másolat sohasem készült. Azonban az a tény, hogy ez a szalagot 10-20-50-100 ember és így tovább meghallgatta, félig nyilvános produkcióvá tette. Folyamatos létanalízis folyik a szalagon. Darkó világában van egy kis orvelli, a másvilág, az elmúlásnak, az el nem jöttnek a világa, amelyet élő ember nem tud tapasztalni. Létszemléletében ott volt a rendkívüli halálközelség is. Vigyázzunk, mert mi egy olyan világot élünk, amelyben benne van a másik is, még akkor is, ha nem akarunk tudomást venni róla!
Egyed Péter az értelmezéskor nem tudott eltekinteni attól, hogy a Macskarádió milyen tér-idő paraméterek között született. Ügy vélte, hogy a Macskarádiónak kell legyen egy olyan élményanyaga, ami nem tud függetlenül lenni, attól amit Darkó István megélt. Miért nem írt mást? Egyed szerint a Securitate, és az állampárti és egyéb szervek, nem az emberiség jóindulatú adminisztrátorai voltak, hanem azok, akik parancsokat teljesítettek és az a parancs nem arról szólt, hogy a civil társadalom javát kellene szolgálni. Ők – a kortársak – tulajdonképpen a sokoldalúan fejlett szocialista társadalom díszletei szerint lejátszottak valamit. Le kellett játszani, hogy a dolgok rendben legyenek, de mindenki tudta, hogy másról van szó, mint amit lejátszanak. A díszletekben nem a reális élet van, hanem a Semmi, de akkor hol volt a reális élet? Szerinte a reális élet ott volt, amit az intimitásban megéltek, és ami az intimitásban felbukkant, reális baráti viszonyok, szerelmi viszonyok stb. Volt a társadalomnak egy olyan élete, ami ezt fenntartotta, szemben azzal, ami ezt elakarta pusztítani. A hadseregben a tisztjeik elmondták, hogy rájuk a haza, mint értelmiségiekre, sem értelmiségi, sem katonai valójukban nem tart igényt. Ők az úgynevezett „cantitate neglijabilă” (elhanyagolható mennyiség) és megértették velük, hogy nem számítanak a szocialista jövő szempontjából.
Calciu-Dumitreasa, Gheorghe. Seven Words to the Young Generation, in Romanian, 1978. Manuscript
This eighty-eight-page manuscript contains the texts of eight sermons and seems to have been prepared to be sent abroad for publication. The author was a priest and professor at the Theological Institute in Bucharest, and was imprisoned between 1948 and 1964. While in the notorious prison of Pitești, he was forced to take part in the infamous re-education experiment in that prison, which turned a part of the prisoners into the torturers of the others. Tormented by such a terrible sin, Calciu-Dumitreasa tried, according to his own confession, to write about this prison experience in order to come to terms with it. However, he changed his priorities when, in the aftermath of the earthquake of 1977, the demolition of churches in Bucharest began while the hierarchy of the Romanian Orthodox Church kept quiet. It was then that Calciu-Dumitreasa conceived this series of non-conformist sermons, in which he argued against atheist education and reminded his students of fundamental Christian values, of their mission as priests who must build, and not destroy, churches in order to take care of their parish communities. Seven of the sermons were delivered by the author in the Radu Vodă Church in Bucharest between 8 March and 19 April 1978. Particularly important is the sermon of 15 March 1978, in which Calciu-Dumitreasa explicitly condemned the demolition of the Enei Church, the first church demolished in Bucharest. The sixth sermon, of 12 April 1978, was no longer delivered in the church but in front of it, for the authorities had closed the church and locked the students in their dormitories in order to impede them from attending what had turned in the meantime into an increasingly popular event. The eighth sermon was supposed to open a new cycle entitled “Christianity and Culture” on 17 May 1978, but it was never delivered due to the author’s removal from his teaching position. Continuously harassed by the secret police, in 1979 Calciu-Dumitreasa endorsed the establishment of the Free Trade Union of the Working People of Romania, which caused his arrest and imprisonment for another five years. He was released only in 1985, after intense international lobbying, especially by the United States administration, which threatened the Romanian communist regime with the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation status. A year later, he went into exile in the United States, where he remained until his death. This manuscript was probably confiscated on the occasion of his arrest in 1979. This version of the sermons differs slightly from the post-communist published volume because it mentions the persons who were responsible for the interruption of his cycle of sermons in 1978.
Zakládající prohlášení Výboru na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných (VONS) z 27. dubna 1978
Zakládající prohlášení Výboru na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných (VONS) z 27. dubna 1978, které podepsalo sedmnáct signatářů Charty 77, kteří zde zveřejnili své adresy, aby se na ně lidé mohli obracet. Cílem VONS bylo sledovat případy osob, které byly trestně stíhány či vězněny za projevy svého přesvědčení nebo které se staly oběťmi policejní a justiční svévole. VONS prostřednictvím číslovaných Sdělení s těmito případy seznamoval domácí i mezinárodní veřejnost a žádal československé úřady o nápravu. Nespravedlivě pronásledovaným a vězněným pomáhal se zajišťováním právního zastoupení a zprostředkováním finanční pomoci.
Impulzem ke vzniku VONS byly mj. události spojené s plesem železničářů v lednu 1978, kterého se chtěli zúčastnit signatáři Charty 77. Státní bezpečnost však tři z nich zadržela. Na jejich podporu vznikl Výbor na obranu Václava Havla, Pavla Landovského a Jaroslava Kukala, který shromáždil podklady pro jejich obhajobu a o celém případu informoval domácí i zahraniční veřejnost. Obvinění byli po šesti týdnech propuštěni a trestní stíhání bylo zastaveno. To bylo velkou vzpruhou pro členy výboru i další disidenty, a tak byl v květnu 1978 založen VONS.
Čolak, Nikola. Communist Yugoslavia: between the dissent of intellectuals and the state-right of Croatia, in Italian, 1978. Manuscript
Casual Passer-by Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb
The Casual Passer-By Collection by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian conceptual artist Braco Dimitrijević consists of eight photographs and two posters (portraits) created in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1971. The photographs and posters (portraits) were the foundation of his three performances from the "Casual Passer-by" series staged in Yugoslavia. They were subversive performances in which the author hung portraits of chance passers-by in public spaces, otherwise intended for executives, in this way questioning established forms of communication in the public space of a socialist state.
Sudska dokumenta u vezi sa tužbom za klevetu u knjizi „Čas anatomije“
The court documentation in the collection shows that Kiš defended himself by explaining that his book was created as a gesture of a "legitimate and necessary defense, as a value greater than the prosecutor's honor: [a gesture] of my literary existence and my literary approach, as well as generally, as a fundamental defense against fatal and destructive judgements of a layman". In court, Kiš took the view that he was a writer and had the right to defend himself, using literature, against unfounded attacks on his work.
In a written statement delivered to the court, Kiš wrote: "The particular polemic sharpness of my book was, in addition, dictated not only by rough challenge and polemic fervour, but also by the literary genre itself: traditionally, polemic uses irony, sarcasm, ridicule, because it is a form of literary struggle." Kiš claimed further that polemics is a category of literature which an author can legitimately use and cannot be subject to claims of defamation. He listed a series of polemic writers and literature to try to defend his right to artistic expression. He also advocated for the view that literary controversy is actually a kind of public debate and is subject only to public judgment and literary history, not to be interfered with by the court.
In the end, the court accepted Kiš’s view, and acquitted him of the three counts of defamation. The court ruled that Kiš's response to Golubović in The Anatomy Lesson represents a "personal and subjective view to the prosecutor's conduct, and that this does not amount to facts serving to prove the truth, and thus it cannot be accepted as a charge for defamation.” The court also called for observing the broader context in which the book was created, which was in Kiš’s favour. However in 1979, after the lawsuit, Kiš left Yugoslavia embarrassed and disappointed.
Tatarka, Dominik. Písačky. 1976–1978. Rukopis
Under the title „písačky“ (scribbles) Slovak writer Dominik Tatarka generally described his texts from the so-called Normalization period. Milan Šimečka commented that the word “písačky” contained “deep sorrow of a writer who had been writing in solitude and isolation, without the hope that his manuscripts would be ever a published book, printed, bound and read.” More specifically, “písačky” refers to texts collected in his later book “Písačky pre milovanú Lutéciu” that were created between 1976 and 1978 and were designed as love letters of an older writer to his young lover to Paris. Under the title “Písačky” some texts were published in 1979 already in the samizdat Petlice Edition by Ludvík Vaculík. Miroslav Kusý published about 50 copies of “Písačky” by samizdat in Bratislava but Slovak readers were said to show little interest because they perceived these texts as pornographic. Part of this samizdat edition by Kusý was confiscated by the State Security during one of house searches. In 1984, “Písačky” were published in exile by historian Ján Mlynárik in the Index Publishing House in Cologne. On 23 September 1986, Dominik Tatarka was awarded the Jaroslav Seifert Prize for “Písačky” by the Charter 77 Foundation in Stockholm. The Jaroslav Seifert Prize Committee consisting of Jiří Gruša, Milan Kundera, Antonín J. Liehm, Sylvie Richterová, Josef Škvorecký, Jan Vladislav, František Janouch and “in pectore” Ludvík Vaculík and Václav Havel, appreciated on these works by Tatarka that they “newly developed a genre of human monologue” and also “a bold testimony about a time and so far not reached depths of human mind”. Tatarka learned that he was awarded the prize from the Voice of America broadcasting on the very day. “Písačky” were officially published after 1989 in an edition by Ján Mlynárik (1998, together with “Letters to Eternity” and “Alone against the Night”) and by Oleg Tatarka as “Písačky pre milovanú Lutéciu” (1999, 2003, 2013).
Kolekcja polskiego punku Anny Dąbrowskiej-Lyons
Punk in Polish People's Republic began in 1978 and it quickly gained popularity in Warsaw, as well as in other cities. In its initial phase, the movement maintained close ties with student clubs and galleries, where performance art, mail art, and concrete poetry flourished at the time. The collection of a punk photographer Anna Dąbrowska-Lyons includes zines, photographs, and newspaper clippings from the years 1978 to ca. 1982. The most interesting of these materials were featured in the album titled Polski punk (Polish Punk) published in 1999. The album documents the first wave of punk in Warsaw, while also presenting original, artistic photographs, collages, and graphics which blend the Western influence of punk and the new wave with the poetry of futurism, Dada, and conceptual theories of the 1970s.
Sklevicky, Lydia. Žene ili o slobodi, Pitanja. 1978. Časopis
In 1978, Lydia Sklevicky edited the "Current Topic" section in the journal Pitanja (year 10 (1978), no. 7/8) and entitled it "Women, or about Freedom." Sklevicky wrote an introduction to the issue's topic in which one of the questions the articles should answer was: What is our response to the "women’s question" today, in the fourth decade of self-management socialism? Later in the text, she gave a partial answer to this question, and also a critique of Yugoslav socialism, claiming that there is no developed theoretical framework in Yugoslavia, nor a categorical apparatus and methodology for approach that would allow researchers to deal with this question, and she concluded that: "This situation clearly demonstrates inadequate social respect and the noticeable absence of the "women’s question" in Marxist thought (Sklevicky 1978, 4).
Besides Sklevicky, who edited the issues topic and wrote an introduction to it, articles were published by Žarana Papić ("Gender Relations - Neglected Discrepancy"), Nada Ler-Sofronić ("The Odyssey of Women's Human Identity"), Gordana Cerjan-Letica (“Indications of the Socialist Mercantile Production of the Family“), Anđelka Milić ("Employment of Women and Their Emancipation") and Đurđa Milanović ("Women's Press – the Industry of Happiness").
Letters from Viacheslav Chornovil to Iryna Stasiv-Kalynets, 1978.
Viacheslav Chornovil’s three letters sent to Iryna Stasiv-Kalynets in 1978 were donated to the museum-memorial along with much of her correspondence from her time in exile in the Chytynsk region of Siberia, in a village not far from the Chinese border. These letters penned by her close friend, fellow dissident and journalist Chornovil, while he served out his own lengthy sentence in Yakutia, are particularly illuminating about the conditions in which they lived. Curators of the collection note that this is a unique item, as its vibrant and accessible language brings to life Chornovil’s experiences in the camps, and later in exile, the changing circumstances of his day-to-day life, and ongoing discussions over the legality of the work regimen with correspondents. He and Stasiv-Kalynets also discussed Chornovil’s concerns over the agendas of likely well meaning, but unknown parties from the Ukrainian diaspora in North America. This was most probably tied to the fact that one such person, Yaroslav Dobosh, a member of a nationalist youth organization, came to Ukraine from Belgium to meet with dissidents, triggering one of the gravest campaigns of surveillance and arrests against Ukrainian dissidents—called Operation Bloc. These three letters chart a year in the life of political prisoners in internal exile in the Soviet Union and once translated and published are expected to provide a unique and illuminating window into this world for researchers, students and the general public.
Sbírka Nadace Charty 77 Československého dokumentačního střediska
The Charter 77 Foundation was founded in Stockholm in 1978 to support persecuted and imprisoned chartists and dissidents in Czechoslovakia, as well as to support opposition activities in the fight for human rights and civil liberties. The Charter 77 Foundation was led and organised by Frantisek Janouch.
Tripalo, Miko. Notes about Tito, 1978. Manuscript
