Anna WESSELY, sociologist-art historian, 1951

Author: zsuzsa

How did the change in regime influence your professional activity and interest?

While the regime change had no effect on my professional interests, it – not so much the change of regime, per se, but the Soros Foundation and the free internet – did facilitate access to literature and international discourse.

What part of your role in the regime change do you consider most important today?

I played no role in the transition. Immediately afterwards, “salvaging” the Institute of Sociology and Social Policy of Eötvös Loránd University (1990-92) and – while working in the Board of Trustees of the Hungarian Public Foundation – preventing significant damage from occurring in a few instances became important.

What sources and experiences have determined your view of the transitional period – both during and in retrospect?

My opinion of the regime change and the years that followed were – and perhaps still are – based on my experiences of the preceding decade; in other words, what has been realized of the vision of the former democratic opposition.

Has your picture of the regime change and its ideas been altered – if yes, in what way, and as a result of what – in the past 20 / 10 / 5 / 1 year(s)?

It hasn’t changed.