Hungary's Last Communist-Era PM Says He Read Informant Reports Signed With Young Orbán's Name; Orbán Denies He Was Ever Recruited
BUDAPEST — An investigation by the investigative outlet VSquare has disclosed a memorandum in which Miklós Németh, Hungary's last prime minister of the communist era, states that in March 1990 he personally read three handwritten informant reports bearing the name of a young Viktor Orbán. Orbán denies that he was ever recruited by the secret services, and a historian has cautioned against drawing conclusions from the allegation.
Németh's memorandum is dated March 30, 2026, and was deposited with the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL) in September 2026. It states that between March 15 and 25, 1990, weeks before Hungary's first free parliamentary elections, then Defence Minister Ferenc Kárpáti, in the presence of Géza Stefán, the longtime head of the Military Security Office (KBH), showed him three original, handwritten and signed reports. According to Németh, the reports contained observations Orbán made during his compulsory military service in Zalaegerszeg in 1981-82 about fellow soldiers' behaviour and their political, sexual and religious orientations. Németh states that he could not verify the author's identity or fully authenticate the handwriting and signature, though he believed he recognised them. He later learned from Kárpáti that the reports had been held by Stefán.
On November 3, the day before the public database launched, Orbán released communist-era secret service documents concerning himself and his wife, stating that the authorities had attempted to recruit him early in his military service but that he refused, and that he, his wife and fellow opposition members were subsequently kept under constant surveillance. Historian Krisztián Ungváry defended Orbán in a November 3 post, cautioning that a person's appearance in military counter-intelligence records does not in itself prove recruitment or cooperation with the secret services.
Hungary launched a searchable public database on November 4 containing basic records on roughly 50,000 to 60,000 people linked to the former state security network, including informers, collaborators and recruitment targets, with more detailed recruitment dossiers scheduled for release by February 2027. Archivists note that a name's presence in the database indicates contact with the services, sometimes coerced, rather than proven active reporting.
(Source: VSquare)
Source: VSquare
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：匈牙利布达佩斯国会大厦（资料图）。摄影 Pierre Blaché，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本站档案图复用。 / Photo: The Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest (file photo). Photo by Pierre Blaché, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; GSM archive reuse.
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