Balázs Apor specializes in the history of East-Central Europe under communism, especially on the leader cult. He has co-edited two volumes, including The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc (2004), and The Sovietization of Eastern Europe: New Perspectives on the Postwar Period (2008). He is currently at work on a monograph on the leader cult of the Hungarian Stalinist Mátyás Rákosi.
Interview Themes
How Apor came to the study of communist leader cults (1:00)
How
Apor's view of Rákosi
and the leader cult has changed since starting work on it (2:20)
How the assessment of Rákosi’s legacy has changed (or not) since 1956 (4:00)
How the assessment of Rákosi’s legacy has changed (or not) since 1956 (4:00)
On the inadequacy of the term "cult of personality" versus "leader cult" (7:45)
On the challenges of doing research on Rákosi's leader cult and what Apor found in his research that surprised him (11:15)
On the challenges of doing research on Rákosi's leader cult and what Apor found in his research that surprised him (11:15)
The extent to which people were willing participants in leader cults and why (18:30)
Comparison of Rákosi to other leaders like Miklós Horthy and Imre Nagy in terms of leader cults (29:25)
Comparison of Rákosi to other leaders like Miklós Horthy and Imre Nagy in terms of leader cults (29:25)
On whether writing about the leader cult speaks to how Hungarians come to terms with their own history (45:15)
On teaching East-Central European history in Ireland and where the field is headed (49:05)
To access interview, click here: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/30795
