Orban claims he spurned communist secret‑service recruitment and endured surveillance
Former Hungarian premier Viktor Orban says communist secret police tried to recruit him during his military service and later put him, his wife and opposition allies under constant watch.
Budapest, Nov 3 – Former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban announced on Tuesday that communist secret services tried to recruit him as an informer while he was completing his military service, but he declined.
In a Facebook post accompanied by declassified secret‑service documents dated 1982 and the late 1980s, Orban wrote, “During the early part of my military service, they attempted to recruit me, but I refused, so the attempt proved unsuccessful.”
He continued, “Later, I, my wife, and my fellow opposition members were kept under constant surveillance. We were all targets of the state party’s secret investigations.”
Informants were set upon us, and listening devices were installed in our workplaces, our homes — and even in our bedrooms, Orban claimed, referring to the newly released files.
The disclosure comes as Hungary prepares to launch an online public database on Wednesday, allowing anyone to search the archives stored in a vast basement in Budapest. The move fulfills a promise by Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose centre‑right Tisza party ousted Orban after a 16‑year nationalist rule ended in April.
Since the fall of communism in 1989, successive governments have delayed full access to the files, limiting searches to researchers or individuals requesting personal records. The upcoming release will enable the broader public to examine lists of informers and collaborators used by the former state security services.
Reuters notes that between 1956 and 1989, roughly 55,000 secret collaborators were recorded in Hungary.
The opening of the archives is presented as a step toward confronting the country’s totalitarian legacy.
