The Robin Hoods of class conflict? Interpretation practice of notable crimes in the press and entertainment literature of the Kádár era

Nevezetes bűncselekmények interpretációs gyakorlata a Kádár-kori sajtóban és szórakoztató irodalomban

Abstract

Between 1956 and 1989 in Hungary, during the socialist era named after János Kádár, writings in an unusually friendly tone, concerning cases of infamous Hungarian criminals, who committed crimes in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918), as well as in the Horthy era (1920–1944), were published in state-supervised journals and several books, even films and operettas dealt with them in a similar way. At the same time, the purpose of such portrayals was not only entertainment but had specific memory policy background as well. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the specific mechanisms involved in shaping political memory during the period from 1956 to 1989. It also seeks to highlight a trend in the press and entertainment literature of that era, where specific stories of criminal activities were used to communicate political memory messages.