Post-Holocaust Transitional Justice in Hungary – Approaches, Disputes, and Debates

Abstract

AbstractThe article examines post-Holocaust transitional justice in Hungary, starting with a concise overview of the establishment and functioning of the Hungarian people’s tribunal system. It then explores historians’ approaches in analyzing these tribunals, including “grand trials” and micro-historical analyses of prominent individuals’ cases published after 1989. The paper deals with the connection between the Holocaust and the people’s tribunals, as well as the gendered analysis of these proceedings. Furthermore, it delves into the contentious issues and debates surrounding the people’s tribunals, encompassing questions about their definition, legal legitimacy due to retrospective justice, effectiveness, and potential exploitation by the Hungarian Communist Party for power consolidation and elite transformations. Lastly, the paper explores the divided memory of the people’s tribunals.