Fragments from the Archives: The Federation of Free Hungarian Jurists

Type of Abstract (select): Individual Presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
At the dawn of the Cold War, a group of exiled Hungarian jurists in the United States formed the Federation of Free Hungarian Jurists (of America) (FFHJ) to wield the rule of law against communist tyranny. Led by former Hungarian minister Vince Nagy, they rallied émigré lawyers, judges and professors to scrutinize communist regimes and expose their crimes. From New York, this ideologically driven legal cadre lobbied Washington and the United Nations with memoranda denouncing Soviet and Hungarian Communist authorities for their abuses. Relying on archival materials this paper represents a first-ever attempt at uncovering the details of the activities of the FFHJ. The paper goes beyond the publications of the FFHJ and looks at the political links that drove the formation of this informal organization. The identified archival sources reveal the circles in which the FFHJ jurists operated, from the Hungarian political exile, to the American authorities, and the network of like-minded organizations. These materials reveal some of the motivations driving the jurists that formed the FFHJ.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Bálint Kovács is an assistant professor at the University of Szeged and a senior researcher at the Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law. His areas of expertise include international economic law, private international law, and international dispute resolution. He is also a recurring guest lecturer at Sapientia University and the University of Miskolc. Alongside his research activity pertaining to his narrower field of expertise, he is also interested in the work of lawyers, researching the work of various legal minds especially in the 20th century.