History of the Center
Activities
Research Philosophy
Working Philosophy
Project Plans
History of the Center
The Cold War History Research Center (Center) was established in December 1998, following a pioneering civic initiative, as the first scholarly institution founded as a non-profit organization in East Central Europe. The Center was founded with the aim of continuing within a new, independent institutional framework the international research that had been coordinated for several years by the international research section of the 1956 Institute in Budapest. Since January of 1999 the Center, an NGO, has been functioning as an independent legal entity as a foundation.
One of the main goals of the Center is to provide research of Cold War history in Hungary with an organizational framework and material conditions that make it possible for Hungarian research to be on the cutting edge of the international Cold War history research and to help Hungarian research be integrated with the international level of scholarship.
The Center continues the intensive cooperation that developed between the the 1956 Institute and the network of international Cold War history research coordinated by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) and the National Security Archive (NSA) in Washington D.C. since the early nineteen-nineties.
Thus, from the time of its establishment the Center has been contributing to the flourishing of the "new Cold War history" aimed at transforming the previous one-sided approach based primarily on Western sources, finally into a real international discipline through the systematic exploration of the once top secret documents found in the archives in the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries.
Activities
1. English language web site on East Central Europe in the Cold War
One of the Center’s main goals is to become a virtual center for Cold War research in East Central Europe and through the Center’s web site (www.coldwar.hu), established in 2000 to become the main provider of English language online materials concerning research on contemporary history in the whole region.
Besides publishing articles
and documents online, our focus is on disseminating information concerning publications,
ongoing research, researchers, conferences, etc. hitherto available only in
the native languages of the region. Such materials, as well as specially compiled
chronologies and bibliographies will considerably facilitate acquiring up to
date information on the state of research in the countries of the former Soviet
Bloc for the international community of scholars. At the same time the materials,
offered by the Center will drastically increase the chances for direct communication
between scholars in the West and the East but also among scholars from different
countries of East Central Europe. It is also important to stress that we interpret
Cold War history in the widest possible way, that is, besides concentrating
on international relations we will cover internal political and economic developments,
culture and everyday life as well.
Besides providing valuable information for scholars the web site will also be
turned into an educational medium offering useful material on the history of
East-Central Europe in the Cold War for undergraduate, graduate and post graduate
education all over the world.
Currently the Center provides the following types of English language online materials:
2. Archival
research projects in Hungary
The Center fosters research on the following research projects in the period 1945–1991 in Hungarian archives:
3. International research projects
The Center was/has been involved in the following international research projects:
4. International cooperation
Through the development of East–West cooperation the Center seeks to become one of the most important East-Central European academic partners and thus be on the cutting edge of this international research. We also strive to establish intense connections and cooperation with Eastern European institutes and scholars pursuing similar research. On the Center’s web site we gladly publish English language contributions on the Cold War period (articles, documents, chronologies, etc.) by colleagues from the region but also from any other country.
We would also welcome establishing institutional cooperation with any research center in the field in Europe and other parts of the World.
Our main international cooperating partners are:
Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC.
National Security Archive, Washington D.C.
Parallel History Project on On Cooperative Security (until 2006: Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact,), Zurich –Washington, D.C.
Cold War Studies Centre, London School of Economics
Harvard Project for Cold War Studies, Harvard University
The CSCE–Transforming Europe Project – Mannheim University
Institute for Contemporary History, Prague
Cold War Research Group, Bulgaria, Sofia
Institute for Contemporary History, Potsdam
Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Cold War Studies Center, Institute for World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Technical University, Dresden
5. International conferences co-oorganized and hosted by the Center
Political Transition in Hungary, 1989–1990
Cold War History Research Center Budapest; 1956 Institute; Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.; National Security Archive, Washington D.C.
Budapest, 10–12 June, 1999New Central and Eastern European Evidence on the Cold War in Asia
The George Washington University Cold War Group; Cold War History Research Center Budapest; 1956 Institute
Budapest, October 31–1 November, 2003
Earlier conferences co-organized and hosted by the same staff in the framework of the 1956 Institute:
Hungary and the World, 1956: The New Archival Evidence
1956 Institute; Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.; National Security Archive, Washington D.C.
Budapest, 26–29, September, 1996European Archival Evidence on Stalin and the Cold War
1956 Institute; Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington D.C.
Budapest, 3–4 October, 1997
6. The Center’s representation at international conferences
1999
Political Transition in Hungary, 1989–1990
Budapest, June 10–12, 1999.
Csaba Békés: East–West Relations and the Hungarian TransitionThe Democratic Revolution in Czechoslovakia. Its Preconditions, Course and Immediate Aftermath
Prague, October 14–16., 1999.
CWHRC Director Csaba Békés participated at the conference as an observer.Poland 1986–1989. The End of the System
Warsaw–Miedzeszyn, October 21–23, 1999.
Csaba Békés: Political Transition in Hungary, 1988–19902000
New Cold War History: Historiography, Theory,and Methodology
Moscow, 7–11 May, 2000.
Csaba Békés: The “New Course” in East–West Relations, 1953–1956
Annual conference, Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Zurich, December 2, 2000.
Csaba Békés: Hungarian archival sources on the Warsaw Pact.2001
2002
Ten Year Anniversary Cold War Summit, Cold War International History Project
Washington D.C., March 2–3, 2002.
Csaba Békés: The Cold War History Research Center in Budapest.Towards an International History of the War in Afghanistan
Washington, D.C. ,Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, April 29–30, 2002.
CWHRC Director Csaba Békés participated at the conference as an observer.L’Europe en mutation. Le processus d’Helsinki: de l’Europe divisée au perspectives de la Grande Europe
Paris, Sorbonne III. 7–8 June, 2002.
Csaba Békés: The Human Rights Issue in HungarySawyer seminar. International Center for Advanced Studies, New York University
New York, 27 September, 2002.
Csaba Békés: Eastern Europe and the Cold WarRomania and the Cold War
Bucharest, October 3–6, 2002.
CWHRC Director was chair of the panel: Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1969–1989Annual conference, Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Zurich, November 16, 2002.
Csaba Békés: New Hungarian archival sources on the Warsaw Pact.2003
Between East and West: Hungarian Foreign Policy in the 20th Century
Indiana University, Bloomington, March 29, 2003.
Csaba Békés: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the SuperpowersAnnual conference, Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Vienna, October 11, 2003.
Csaba Békés: New Hungarian archival sources on the Warsaw Pact.New Central and Eastern European Evidence on the Cold War in Asia,
George Washington University Cold War Group–Cold War History Research Center, Budapest, 31 October – 1 November, 2003.
Csaba Békés: Hungarian mediation during the Vietnam War, 1965–1966.Foreign policy and national interest. Continuity and discontinuity in 20th century Hungarian foreign policy.
Teleki László Institute, Budapest, Center for Foreign Policy Studies, December 8, 2003.
Csaba Békés: Magyar külpolitika a szovjet szövetségi rendszerben, 1968–1989. [Hungarian foreign policy in the Soviet alliance system, 1968–1989]2004
NATO and the Warsaw Pact: Intra–Bloc Conflicts
Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Union Studies, Kent State University, April 23–24, 2004.
Csaba Békés: Why Was There No „Second Cold War” in Europe? Hungary and the Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan in 1979.The Helsinki Process: a historical reappraisal
University of Padova, June 7, 2004.
Csaba Békés: Hungary and the CSCE Process, 1965–1970Annual conference, Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Urbino, October 1–2, 2004.
Csaba Békés: Hungarian archival sources on the Warsaw Pact.Eastern Europe and Western Europe in the Cold War [1965–1975]
Münster, October 23–23, 2004 [University of Duisburg-Essen and the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne].
Csaba Békés: The Warsaw Pact and the Helsinki Process2005
The Warsaw Pact: From its Founding to its Collapse, 1955–1991
Washington D.C., 2005. May 26–27.
Csaba Békés: Warsaw Pact Coordination and the CSCE process, 1965–1970The Helsinki Process and the Demise of Communism
Prague, 2005 June 5–7.
Csaba Békés: Hungary and the Making of the CSCE process, 1965–1970At the roots of the European security system: thirty years since the Helsinki Final Act
Zurich, September 8-10, 2005
Csaba Békés: The Warsaw Pact and the Preparation for a European Security Conference, 1964–19702006
Conference for the Creation of an International History of the Cold War. The Origins and Early Development of the Cold War, 1945-1962.
(Workshop for the forthcoming 3 volume Cambridge History of the Cold War)
The Truman Presidential Museum & Library, The Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs and the University of Missouri – Kansas City, March 30 - April 2, 2006.
Csaba Békés: East Central Europe from 1953 to the Aftermath of the 1956 RevolutionsThe 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Historical Perspective. 50th Anniversary Reassessments.
Harvard University, Cambridge, October 30, 2006.
Csaba Békés: Soviet Decision making During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.Fifty Years` Perspective on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, September 18-20, 2006.
Csaba Békés - Keynote speech: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution in World PoliticsThe 1956 Hungarian Revolution 50 Years Later - Canadian and International Perspectives.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, October 12-14, 2006.
Csaba Békés - Keynote speech: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution in World Politics1956 and Its Impact on the Soviet Bloc
Columbia University, New York, November 2-3, 2006.
Csaba Békés: Could the Hungarian Revolution Have Succeeded in 1956?Traveling scholars project. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Fifty Years On
( Charles Gati, Attila Szakolczai, Csaba Békés)
New School, New York, October 2, 2006.
Princeton University, Princeton, October 3, 2006.
George Washington University, Washington D.C. October 4, 2006.
City University of New York, New York, October 5, 2006.
Hungarian Cultural Center, New York, October 6, 2006.
New York University, New York, October 9, 2006.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Ma. October 10, 2006.
Revolution, Ideology and Memory. Roundtable discussion.
Participants: Ágnes Heller, Paul Berman, Csaba Békés.
Hungarian Cultural Center, New York, October 24, 2006.2007
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and After: Impact and Contribution
Bard College, NY, February 15-17, 2007.
Csaba Békés - Opening keynote speech: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and World PoliticsTransformation through Communication: Changes in the East-West Conflict in the Era of Détente (1966-1975)
Budapest, 2007 October 19-20.
Csaba Békés: The interdependence of Ostpolitik and West German-Hungarian economic relations 1963–1973Dealing with the Past in East Central Europe
Columbia University, 2007, December 2-3:
CWHRC Director Csaba Békés was chair of Panel 2. (Czechoslovakia, GDR, Romania)2008
Döntéshozatal és külpolitikai tanácsadás. [Decision making and foreign policy advising] Hungarian Institute for Foreign Policy
Budapest, February 21, 2008.
CWHRC Director Csaba Békés participated in a roundtable on Hungarian foreign policy strategy and foreign policy thinking.Edward Teller seminar
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, January 16. 2008.
Csaba Békés: Szuperhatalmi politika a hidegháborúban, 1945–1962. [Superpower politics in the Cold War, 1945–1962]Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968
Center Austria, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, April 3-4, 2008.
Csaba Békés: Hungary and the Prague Spring.Modern Hungarian foreign policy – the present and its past
Institute of Habsburg Studies –Teleki László Foundation, Budapest, April 11, 2008.
Csaba Békés: Magyar külpolitika a bipoláris világban, 1945–1991. [Hungarian foreign policy in the bipolar World, 1945–1991]Der "Prager Frühling": Das Internationale Krisenjahr 1968
Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für Kriegsfolgen-Forschung, Wien–Graz, August 20–22.
Csaba Békés: Hungary Between Prague and Moscow.Security Apparatus, Propagandism and the Prague Spring
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR); Institute of National Remembrance;1956 Institute, Polish Institute, Faculty of Arts, Charles University; Prague, September 7–9, 2008.
Csaba Békés: Hungary and the Prague SpringThe „Prague Spring” and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, October 9–10, 2008.
Csaba Békés: The 'Prague Spring', Hungary and the Warsaw Pact Invasion.Détente and CSCE in Europe. The States of the Warsaw Pact and the Federal Republic of Germany in their Mutual Perception and Rapprochement, 1966–-1975.
Volkswagen Stiftung-project "Détente and CSCE in Europe" at the University of Mannheim in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Prague, October 12–15, 2008.
Csaba Békés: Hungary, the German question and the CSCE Process, 1965–1975
Research philosophy
The essence of the Center’s research conception and the novelty
of its approach lies in its integration of research and study of Hungary’s foreign
policy with the newest results of the international Cold War research that has
become increasingly intense since the beginning of the 1990’s. Besides the emphasis
on the comparative feature of the research, this is reflected first of all in
the aim of analyzing what the documents, information and new interpretations
based on the systematic exploration of the Hungarian archival sources can contribute
to the authentic reconstruction of the global history of the Cold War.
Due to this approach we were able to discuss the international context of the
1956 Hungarian revolution, with special regard to the role of the Soviet leadership.
However, our research projects aimed at the examination of Hungary’s international
role in the Cold War hitherto conducted with very modest material support, could
already provide several important and often surprising contribution to the general
history of the period. Just to mention a few of them: it became known to the
international public through a Hungarian document published in the CWIHP Bulletin
No. 10 (1998). that the idea to form Cominform in 1947 was conceived in Moscow
as early as February, 1946; hence the establishment of this organization can
no longer be regarded simply as a Soviet reaction to the Marshal Plan. Similarly,
the decisive role of the Chinese leadership in the Vietnam war, that had been
only suspected previously, was finally proved by secret Soviet information contained
by contemporary Hungarian documents. The reports on the Moscow visit of Kádár
in November, 1964, published in the 1998 Yearbook of the 1956 Institute contained
significant novel information concerning the history of Khrushchev’s fall and
the subsequent Chinese attempt for rapprochement with the new Soviet leadership.
The favorable Hungarian conditions concerning archival research make it possible
for Hungarian research projects coordinated by the Center to significantly advance
the international reconstruction of the history of the Cold War.
There have been important research activities at other Hungarian
academic institutions in the recent years, which have contributed in numerous
fields to fill the blank spots of contemporary history. Thus we know now much
more about the European peace settlement following the Second World War, the
Soviet economic penetration, the international context of the show trial of
László Rajk in 1949, the Hungarian–Soviet and the Hungarian–Yugoslav relationship
during the nineteen-forties and the fifties, just to mention the most important
subjects. This research has, however, been little known within the international
community of scholars. It is one of the aims of the Center, therefore, to support
the integration of these findings with international scholarship.
Working philosophy
Besides its director, the Center has only one research coordinator.
The commission and financing of the researchers participating in the given projects
depend on the current financial possibilities of the Center. The Center seeks
to raise the necessary funds from Hungarian and foreign foundations, research
funds and last but not least from the regular support of sponsors with special
regards to foreign enterprises and joint ventures settled in Hungary, as well
as Hungarian private companies with significant international interests.
The Center follows new philosophy concerning the use of financial means that
will not come primarily from state budget sources: it is our aim to offer support
for every Hungarian researcher conducting important basic research in the field
of Cold War history, regardless of his/her institutional affiliation. Primary
importance will be given to the members of the younger and middle generation
of historians and Ph.D. candidates who are interested in this topic. One of
the main goals of the Center is to promote the international recognition of
Hungarian research and sources. On the basis of voluntary association and cooperation,
the Center seeks to harmonize the work of the different academic institutions
and rationalize the use of financial sources.
Project Plans
Among the plans for expanding the Center’s activities some of the most important ones are as follows:
Creating an English language online Cold War History Researchers’ database
The Center has initiated the creation of an English language online database containing all important personal and professional data of scholars working on Cold War topics in East Central Europe.
This database will help researchers of the former Soviet bloc to make their work and results known to the international scholarly community. The database will also enable researchers from the region to get basic information about each other’s work and findings what will facilitate the organization of regional comparative projects that are so much needed for the authentic reconstruction of the post Second World War history of the former Soviet Bloc countries. Last but not least Western scholars could also acquire up to date basic information about the important research projects and new findings in the countries of the former Soviet bloc.Completion of an English language comparative chronology of the Soviet bloc countries’ international relations, 1945–1991
The chronology will be the result of an international cooperation, whereby the material concerning individual countries will be compiled by local research teams using both published and archival sources. In addition to the individual countries’ relationship to the Soviet Union and the West, an important goal of the project coordinated by the Center is to give a detailed and document based presentation of the bilateral and multilateral connections inside the Eastern camp. The chronology promises to be a unique and indispensable source of both the international Cold War research and university level education.Creation of a Permanent Cold War History Workshop in Hungary
For Hungarian researchers dealing with this topic, the Center will regularly organize discussions, seminars and workshops, occasionally with the participation of foreign guest speakers from both East and West. For this purpose we seek to establish close cooperation with institutions in Budapest like the Institute for Foreign Affairs, Central European University, Corvinus University, the Open Society Archive, the History Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Europa Institute and Collegium Budapest.
Creation of a Cold War History library
In order to facilitate the work of the researchers the Center seeks to create a workshop library collecting the latest publications on Cold War history. This collection that would consist of books and articles (either as original publications or copies) could provide an up-to-date aid for the researchers in the region.Launching of a Cold War History Ph.D. Program
In cooperation with a Hungarian university and involving the best experts the Center would like to organize a Ph.D. course that besides offering a high level theoretical education lays also stress on the practice of working in archives. In this way the students can not only acquire skills in the technique and methodology of archival research and in using primary sources, but can join outstanding international research projects, coordinated by the Center already during their studies that can positively influence their future academic carrier. The program could, therefore, also play an important role in the formation of a new generation of internationally oriented well skilled young historians dealing with contemporary history.
Contents of this website Copyright 1999-2012 Cold War History Research Center Budapest. All rights reserved.
For further information, please, contact Csaba BÉKÉS Ph.D., Director
Közraktár u. 4-6. V. 513., H-1093 Budapest, Hungary.
Tel: (+361) 482 7236. Fax: (+361) 482 7255.
E-mail: bekes@ella.hu
www.coldwar.hu