The Foot Soldier of Samizdat: The Ádám Modor Collection
The Blinken OSA Archivum has received a collection supplementing the history of the Hungarian democratic opposition: the records of journalist-historian Ádám Modor (1958–2009), head of the samizdat and post-samizdat publishing house Katalizátor Iroda.
Ádám Modor was born on November 9, 1958, in Debrecen, Hungary, into a family of intellectuals. From home, he brought with him a Christian consciousness and the influence of Dezső Szabó and populist writers, to which he remained faithful until his death. He encountered the activities of the opposition in the late Kádár era while studying at the Radnóti Miklós Secondary School, and entered the samizdat scene in 1983, reproducing the periodical Beszélő (Speaker). Between 1986 and 1989, he was a traffic light operator at the Rákosrendező railway station, beside prominent representatives of Hungarian samizdat and underground scene, such as Zoltán Illés or Vladimír Németh. In addition to the circle that wrote, edited, and produced the Beszélő, he was also in contact with Lajos Jakab, the editor-publisher of the samizdat publishing houses Áramlat (Current) and Szabad Idő (Free time), whose situation resembled that of Modor in many ways.
However, the unskilled samizdat worker soon evolved into an editor pursuing an independent publishing activity: he became acquainted with the already active team of the Katalizátor Iroda (József Gehér, Erika Laczik, Zoltán Kurdi, Gábor Rózsa), and edited prominent writings on history and the social sciences, as well as novels.
The Katalizátor Iroda remained active despite the 1989 regime change, operating as a post-samizdat publishing house, distributing publications in subways and, consequently, undergoing frequent police procedures. It was closed down in 1995. After that, Modor worked as a journalist for the newspaper Fővárosi Közmű (Capital utility) until 1999, also writing for a variety of periodicals (Holmi [Whatnot], Napi Magyarország [Daily Hungary], Népszabadság [People’s freedom], Beszélő, Kalligram, Bécsi Napló [Viennese journal], or the Munich-based Nemzetőr [National guard]). Between 2001 and 2003, he was permanent staffer at the daily Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian nation), and, from June to September 2000, he was a research fellow at the national radio and television authority. In the meantime, he conducted historical research on samizdat publishing and the democratic opposition.
He authored three books: A titok meg a nyitja (The secret and its key), Célkeresztben Krassó (Krassó in the cross-hairs), and the first volume of Fidesz: Ellenségből ellenzék (Fidesz: from opponent into opposition).
Modor was also involved with filmmaking. He formed an interest in this field, too, during secondary school. He worked at the Hungarian Film Institute, and as researcher he studied the works of István Gaál and István Szőts, among others. In parallel to his journalistic practice, he was commissioned by the Hungarian Gallup Institute to carry out media analyses. As a documentary filmmaker, he collaborated with János Gulyás from 1997, their films investigate specific periods of the Kádár era and underground groups. Their joint productions include the documentaries Szamizdatos évek (Samizdat years) and Katalizátorok (Catalysts), as well as a portrait of Tibor Pákh. In their films, they strived to go beyond the best-known figures of samizdat, and highlight, in the words of Ádám Modor, the role of “foot soldiers.”
Reflecting Ádám Modor’s career, his record have been arranged into nine series, including
- Manuscripts of the Katalizátor Iroda;
- Modor’s writings and documents related to his editorial work;
- His research and reference collection;
- Publications of other samizdat publishing houses;
- Electronic and audiovisual documents.
Textual and analog documents of the Ádám Modor Collection are now available in the Research Room! Born-digital and electronic materials will be accessible online soon.
