We Are Many, Yet Few – Solidarity and the Hungarians
We Are Many, Yet Few – Solidarity and the Hungarians // Exhibition Opening
Exhibition in partnership with the Polish Institute Budapest
Venue: CEU Nyitott Galéria – 11 Nádor St., 1051 Budapest
“Polak–Węgier, dwa bratanki, Gdańsk, Gdańsk, tak, tak, tak” sang Ági Bárdos Deák in one of the songs of Kontroll Csoport. In the 1980s, a handful of Hungarian dissenting, nonconformist artists and underground musicians openly challenged the mendacious state propaganda and expressed solidarity with the Polish mass movement fighting for democratic rights, Solidarity.
Trips to Poland, underground “flying university” lectures, smuggling and publishing samizdat, signing open letters, distributing leaflets, painting slogans on walls, putting up stickers, organizing demonstrations, hunger strikes, fundraising and collecting donations, organizing summer camps for children—these were just some of the many ways in which Hungary’s dissenters of the 1980s responded to the events. This is what the exhibition We Are Many, Yet Few. Solidarity and the Hungarians is about: recalling stories of cross-border solidarity and anti-regime resistance. If solidarity itself were in need of support today, how many of us would come to its aid?
The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” (NSZZ “Solidarność”) and pays tribute to the Hungarian recipients of the Order of Gratitude.
Curators Dr. Gábor Danyi (University of Szeged), Jerzy Celichowski (Jeż Węgierski)
The exhibition was organized and supported by the Polish Institute Budapest.
Partners: CEU Nyitott Galéria; Blinken OSA Archivum; European Solidarity Centre; Fundacja Ośrodka KARTA; Instytut Pamięci Narodowej; Ośrodek Pamięć i Przyszłość
The exhibition will be on view from March 3 to March 27, 2026, at CEU Nyitott Galéria (11 Nádor St., 1051 Budapest). The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12:00–6:00 PM
Opening event
March 3, 2026, 6:00 PM
Please register at https://forms.gle/SVtAffFkNzjRHPSR7
During the exhibition period, several guided tours will be offered by the curators and by individuals who personally experienced the events.
Opening remarks by:
Jarosław Bajaczyk, Director of the Polish Institute Budapest
Agnieszka Detko-Osipowicz, International Projects Department, European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk
Reminiscences by:
Wojciech Maziarski, Hungarian studies scholar and journalist, expelled from Hungary in 1981 due to his contacts with the Hungarian opposition
The exhibition will be presented by:
Dr. Gábor Danyi (University of Szeged)
Performance by:
The founders of Kontroll Csoport
feat. Árpád Vajdovich, Csaba Németh, and Balázs Balogh
Guided Tours
During the exhibition period, several guided tours will be offered by the curators and by individuals who personally experienced the events.
March 5, 2026, 5:00 PM – Guided tour by Dr. Gábor Danyi, co-curator of the exhibition
March 12, 2026, 5:00 PM – Polish-language guided tour by Jerzy Celichowski, co-curator
March 19, 2026, 5:00 PM – Joint guided tour by Róza Hodosán and Bálint Magyar, former members of the democratic opposition
