The documents of Cultural Forum and Counter-Forum Budapest 1985

The documents of the Cultural Forum and Counter-Forum of Budapest in late 1985 reflected on the major changes which had just begun at the time in East-West relations, politics, and diplomacy, together with the challenging concept of cultural freedom as a basic part of human rights. For the official Forum, some 850 participants were accredited to Budapest, thus the city was home for six weeks to a legion of diplomats and experts. However, instead of the protocol-like program of the official Forum, the real novelty which caught the attention of the world, the samizdat press, the Western public, and dissidents from the East (not to mention the Hungarian secret police, who were busier than ever) was an open dispute among writers and intellectuals from both East and West that was held at a poet’s flat and then at a film director’s apartment, and which lasted three days. The rich and versatile sub-collection contains many exciting documents which are of potential interest both to Hungarian and international visitors.

1985年晚期的布达佩斯文化论坛与反论坛文献，反思了当时东西方关系、政治和外交领域刚刚开始的重大变革，以及对文化自由作为人权基本组成部分的挑战性概念。对于官方论坛，约有850名参与者获准前往布达佩斯，因此这座城市成为了众多外交官和专家的六周之家。然而，与官方论坛的礼仪化议程不同，真正引起世界关注的创新之处——即地下出版物、西方公众以及来自东部的异见者（更不用说忙碌无比的匈牙利秘密警察）的注意——是在一位诗人的公寓内以及随后在一位电影导演的住所内进行的、持续三天的东西方作家和知识分子之间的公开论战。这个丰富多样的子集包含了许多令人兴奋的文献，这些文献对于匈牙利和国际访客都具有潜在的兴趣。