Dr. Balazs Apor
Associate Prof in European Studies, Russian & Slavonic Studies
Associate Prof in European Studies, Centre fro European Studies
Biography
Born in Miskolc (Hungary) in 1976. Undergraduate and Graduate Studies: University of Debrecen (Hungary), 1994-1999. PhD in History, European University Institute, Florence (Italy) (2001-2006)
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Balázs Apor, The Stalin Cult in East Germany and the Making of the Postwar Soviet Empire, 1945-1961, Review of The Stalin Cult in East Germany and the Making of the Postwar Soviet Empire, 1945-1961, by Alexey Tikhomirov , The Stalin Cult in East Germany and the Making of the Postwar Soviet Empire, 1945-1961, 51, (6), 2023, p146-148
The "Trianon Trauma" and the Return of the Cult of Strongmen in Hungary in, editor(s)Laura P. Z. Izarra and Thiago M. Moyano , Transatlantic crises of democracies: Cultural approaches, São Paulo, Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo, 2022, pp23 - 47, [Balázs Apor]
Írország in, editor(s)Gusztáv Kecskés D. and Tamás Scheibner , Egy világraszóló történet. Az 1956-os magyar menekültválság kézikönyve, Budapest, Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont, Történettudományi Intézet, 2022, pp313 - 326, [Balázs Apor]
1949: A Rajk per. A sztálinizmus politikai erőszakkultúrája in, editor(s)Ferencz Laczó and Bálint Varga , Magyarország globális története, 1869-2022, Budapest, Corvina kiadó, 2022, pp258 - 262, [Balázs Apor]
Balazs Apor, Review of Ruler Personality Cults from Empires to Nation-States and Beyond: Symbolic Patterns and Interactional Dynamics, by Kirill Postoutenko and Darin Stephanov , The Russian Review, 81, (3), 2022, p592-594
Balazs Apor, Láthatatlan tündöklés - Rákosi Mátyás kultusza a sztálinista Magyarországon (1945-1956), Budapest, Jaffa kiadó, 2022, 1 - 406pp
Balázs Apor and John Paul Newman, Balkan Legacies: The Long Shadow of Conflict and Ideological Experiment in Southeastern Europe, West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University Press, 2021
From heroic lion to streetfighter: Historical legacies and the leader cult in twentieth-century Hungary in, editor(s)Susan Grant and James Ryan , Revisioning Stalin and Stalinism: Complexities, Contradictions, and Controversies, London, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp93 - 109, [Balazs Apor]
Balazs Apor, Review of Stalinism Reloaded: Everyday Life in Stalin-City, Hungary, by Sándor Horváth , European History Quarterly , 50, (2), 2020, p365-367
Balázs Apor, Review of Enyhülés és emancipáció [Détente and emancipation], by Csaba Békés , Hungarian Historical Review, 9, (1), 2020, p169-172
Balázs Apor, Review of Stalin and the fate of Europe: the post-war struggle for sovereignty, by Norman M. Naimark , Cold War History, 20, (2), 2020, p246-248
Rákosi's Travels: A Hungarian Communist's Journey to the West in, editor(s)Róisín Healy , Mobility in the Russian, Central and East European Past, London and New York, Routledge, 2019, pp137 - 151, [Balazs Apor]
Balázs Apor, Review of Eastern Europe in 1968: Responses to the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact Invasion, by Kevin McDermott and Matthew Stibbe , The Slavonic and East European Review, 97, (4), 2019, p789-791
Ohlmeyer, Jane, 'CHCI-Mellon Crises of Democracy Global Humanities Institute Curriculum', Dubrovnik, Croatia, Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, 2019, -
Cultural Opposition: Concepts and Approaches in, editor(s)Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and Sándor Horváth , The Handbook of COURAGE: Cultural Opposition and Its Heritage in Eastern Europe , Budapest, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp9 - 26, [Balázs Apor, Péter Apor, Sándor Horváth, Tamás Scheibner]
Ukraine in, editor(s)Balázs Apor, Péter Apor, and Sándor Horváth , The Handbook of COURAGE: Cultural Opposition and Its Heritage in Eastern Europe, Budapest, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp187 - 206, [Orysia Kulick, Balázs Apor]
Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and Sándor Horváth, The Handbook of COURAGE: Cultural Opposition and Its Heritage in Eastern Europe, Budapest, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018
Balazs Apor, Review of Curtain of lies: the battle over truth in Stalinist eastern Europe , by Melissa Feinberg , The International History Review, 40, (3), 2018, p709-711
Cultural Opposition Goes Abroad: The Collections of Diaspora Communities in, editor(s)Balázs Apor, Péter Apor, and Sándor Horváth , The Handbook of COURAGE: Cultural Opposition and Its Heritage in Eastern Europe, Budapest, Research Centre for Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp473 - 492, [Balázs Apor, Mikolaj Kunicki, Tatiana Vagramenko]
Hungarian Historical Review, 6, 2, (2017), Balazs Apor, [eds.]
Irish Slavonic Studies, 26, (2017), Balazs Apor, Hassan Ould Moctar, John Paul Newman, [eds.]
Balazs Apor, The Invisible Shining: The Cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 1945-1956, Budapest, New York, Central European University Press, 2017
Balazs Apor, Review of Crossing Borders: Modernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet Union., by Michael David-Fox , REGION: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, 6, (1), 2017, p153-155
The Stalin Cult and the Construction of the Second World in Hungary in the Early Cold War Years in, editor(s)Austin Jersild and Patryk Babiracki , Exploring the Second World: Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2016, pp49 - 76, [Balazs Apor]
Kevin Morgan, 'Communism and the Cult of the Individual', Youtube, University of Manchester, 2016, -
Balazs Apor, National traditions and the Stalinist Leader Cult in Communist Hungary, 1945-1956, University of St. Andrews, UK, 4 February 2015, 2015, School of History, University of St. Andrews
Balazs Apor, Review of David Brandenberger, Propaganda State in Crisis: Soviet Ideology, Indoctrination, and Terror under Stalin, 1927-1941, Hungarian Historical Review, 4, (1), 2015, p208 - 214
Sovietisation, Imperial Rule and the Stalinist Leader Cult in Central and Eastern Europe in, editor(s)Roisin Healy and Enrico Dal Lago , The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe's Modern Past, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2014, pp228 - 244, [Balazs Apor]
Balazs Apor, Review of Stalinist Terror in Eastern Europe: Elite Purges and Mass Repression, by Kevin McDermott and Matthew Stibbe , Slavonic and East European Review, 92, (1), 2014, p169-171
The Leader Cult in Communist Hungary, 1945-56: Propaganda, Institutional Background and Mass Media in, editor(s)Judith Devlin and Christoph Hendrik Müller , War of Words: Culture and the Mass Media in the Making of the Cold War in Europe, Dublin, UCD Press, 2013, pp18 - 29, [Balázs Apor]
Balazs Apor, Exporting Charisma? Interpreting Stalinist Leader Cults in Eastern Europe, Zentrum fur Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam, Germany, 20 June 2013, 2013, Zentrum fur Zeithistorische Forschung,
Balazs Apor, Review of The Unfinished Revolution: Making Sense of the Communist Past in Central-Eastern Europe, by James Mark , H-Soz-u-Kult, 2012
Balazs Apor, Review of The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, by Jan Plamper , Slavonica, 18, (2), 2012, p161-162
RTL klub, 'Akinek egy ország ünnepelte születésnapját', XXI. század, 2011, -
Ignorance is bliss': Cult-reception and Popular Indifference in Communist Hungary (1947-1956) in, editor(s)Benno Ennker and Heidi Hein-Kirchner , Der Führer im Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts, Marburg, Herder Institut, 2010, [Balazs Apor]
Balazs Apor, Review of The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, by Tomasz Kamusella , Ab Imperio, 2, 2010, p324-328
Balazs Apor, Rákosi a hõs." Sztálinista vezérkultusz Magyarországon, Transindex, (November), 2010, p0 - 0
Balazs Apor, Kommunikáció és rítusnyelv: "személyi kultusz" és kommunista nyelvhasználat, Korunk, 3, (3), 2010, p69 - 75
Communist Leader Cults in Eastern Europe: Concepts and Recent Debates in, editor(s)Anssi Halmesvirta , Cultic Revelations: Studies in Modern Historical Cult Personalities and Phenomena, Jyväskylä-Pécs, 2010, pp37 - 62, [Balazs Apor]
Balazs Apor, National Traditions and the Leader Cult in Communist Hungary in the early Cold War Years, Twentieth Century Communism, 1, (1), 2009, p50 - 71
Balázs Apor, Review of Die Erfundene Freundschaft / Das sowjetische Massenfest, by Jan C. Behrends / Malte Rolf , Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 9, (2), 2008, p9
Balázs Apor, Péter Apor, E. A. Rees, The Sovietization of Eastern Europe: New Perspectives on the post-Second World War Period, First, Washington, DC, New Academia Publishing, 2008, 356pp
Hagiográfia és kommunista vezérkultusz: Rákosi Mátyás életrajzai in, editor(s)Sándor Horváth , Mindennapok Rákosi és Kádár korában, Budapest, Nyitott Konyvmuhely, 2008, pp132 - 153, [Balázs Apor]
The Spatial Aspects of the Communist Leader Cult: The Case of Mátyás Rákosi in Hungary in, editor(s)Balázs Apor, Péter Apor and E. A. Rees , The Sovietization of Eastern Europe: New Perspectives, New Academia Publishing, Washington, DC, New Academia Publishing, 2008, pp149 - 169, [Balázs Apor]
Balázs Apor, A Rákosi-kultusz, Rubicon, 18, (9), 2007, p28 - 37
Balázs Apor, The Secret Speech and its Effect on the 'Cult of Personality' in Hungary, Critique, 35, (2), 2007, p229 - 247
Balázs Apor, Images of a mini-Stalin: the Case of Mátyás Rákosi in Hungary, Communisme, (90), 2007, p91 - 102
Balázs Apor, Jan C. Behrends, Polly Jones, E. A. Rees, The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc, First, Basingstoke, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004, 1 - 298pp
The Expulsion of the German Speaking Population from Hungary in, editor(s)Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees , The Expulsion of the 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the End of the Second World War, Florence, European University Institute, 2004, pp33 - 46, [Balázs Apor]
Leader in the Making: The Role of Biographies in Constructing the Cult of Mátyás Rákosi in, editor(s)Balázs Apor, Jan C. Behrends, Polly Jones and E. A. Rees , The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc, Basingstoke, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004, pp63 - 80, [Balázs Apor]
Balázs Apor, Tamás Fülöp, Forradalom és megtorlás Szolnokon, Sic Itur Ad Astra, 13, (3-4), 2001, p5 - 57
Balázs Apor, A Rákosi-kultusz kialakulása és megnyilvánulásai 1945 után, Sic Itur Ad Astra, 11, (1), 1999, p97 - 128
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Balázs Apor, Review of Klots, Yasha Yakov: Tamizdat. Contraband Russian Literature in the Cold War Era., Review of Klots, Yasha Yakov: Tamizdat. Contraband Russian Literature in the Cold War Era., by Yasha Klots , H-Soz-Kult, 2024
Balazs Apor, Memories and Identities in Central and Eastern Europe, 8-9 May 2015, 2015, Dublin, Trinity College Dublin
Balazs Apor, Man Amidst Inhumanity": THE CENTENNIAL OF THE BIRTH OF RAOUL WALLENBERG, 12 September 2012, 2012, Trinity College Dublin
Balazs Apor, Nineteen Fifty Sixes": Resistance and Memories in the Eastern Bloc, 7 October 2011, 2011, Trinity College Dublin
Research Expertise
Description
I am a historian of 20th Century Central and Eastern Europe with a particular interest in the history of communism in the region. My broad research interests embrace the social and cultural history of communism, the formulation and transmission of myths and ideologies in a communist context, and the popular reception of communist political systems. I am an expert on the symbolic dimensions of sovietisation in Eastern Europe after World War II with an emphasis on the history of communist leader cults ("the cult of personality"). In my publications on the subject, which includes a monograph, two edited volumes and several articles/book chapters, I have analysed the construction, popular perception, and the collapse of leader cults, using Hungary as my main case study. My current research is related to the history of resistance and opposition to communist rule in Eastern Europe. I am currently involved (as CO-PI) in the Horizon2020 project COURAGE (Cultural Opposition - Understanding the Cultural Heritage of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries) which explores the history of cultural opposition to communism from the perspective of the collections that were created by former oppositionists. I was the lead editor (and one of the authors) of the main publication that grew out of the project (The Handbook of COURAGE) in 2018. Apart from publishing books, articles and book chapters in English and Hungarian, I have organised 5 conferences and workshops in 3 countries and institutions in the past, participated in over 30 international conferences, and have applied successfully for research funding to various organisations, including the Irish Research Council, and the European Commission. My research plans for the future are related to the historical legacies of communism and will include (amongst others) the editing of a book that analyses the legacies of war and dictatorship in the Balkans in the 20th century.Projects
- Title
- COURAGE: Cultural Opposition - Understanding the Cultural Heritage of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries
- Summary
- COURAGE is a three-year international research project funded by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The project will create the first digital database of both online and offline, as well as private and public collections in Europe which testify to the survival of various forms of cultural opposition in the former socialist countries. These collections cover a period from the rise of communist regimes in the region to the fall of the Iron Curtain. COURAGE will further a more nuanced understanding of how these collections work, what functions they have in their respective societies, and how they present their holdings to national and international audiences. The project will contribute to the development of nuanced interpretations of dissent, and will advance the preservation of collections as part of common European heritage. The role of TCD is to explore collections of cultural opposition in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, and to address the importance of Ukrainian diaspora collections in the preservation of the legacy of dissent.
- Funding Agency
- European Commission
- Date From
- 1 February 2016
- Date To
- 31 January 2019
- Title
- Communist Leader Cults in 20th Century Europe
- Summary
- The main aim of the project is to prepare the grounds for the submission of a grant proposal on the topic of Communist leader cults in modern Europe (East and West) to an Irish and/or European fund. The first phase of the process will be devoted to the creation of an international (initially, Europe-wide) research network, starting with the Central European University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary. Activities, other than travelling and meeting potential research partners, will include the identification of priority research themes in co-operation with the proposed partner institutions, and the purchase of computer and digital equipment.
- Funding Agency
- Irish Research Council
- Date From
- 26/02/2015
- Date To
- 07/11/2015
- Title
- Memories and Identities in Central and Eastern Europe
- Summary
- The aim of the project is to organise the conference, 'Memories and Identities in Central and Eastern Europe'. The conference will be organized by the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, in cooperation with the Center for European Studies at TCD, and the Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies. The project enjoys the support of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, and it will also be advertised as the 2015 annual conference of IARCEES. The conference grows out of a series of lectures, seminars and workshops organized by the Centre for European Studies in the past few years. The notions 'memory' and 'identity' have enjoyed significant scholarly attention in the past few decades. The 'memory boom' in the humanities has resulted in several collaborative projects, and in the publication of numerous articles and books on the subject. Memories of traumatic events-the Holocaust and Stalinist terror-and their impact on the transformation of individual as well as collective identities have been in the limelight of research, especially since the collapse of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the conference is to attract and/or invite renowned scholars working in the field, and to provide an opportunity for the new generation of researchers to present their findings. Due to the interdisciplinary character of memory (and identity) studies, it is envisaged that the conference will attract scholars in politics, sociology, history, and cultural studies. A selection of the best papers will be published either as an edited volume or as a special issue of the journal of IARCEES, the Irish Slavonic Studies.
- Funding Agency
- Trinity Long Room Hub
- Date From
- 2014
- Date To
- 2015
- Title
- The "Invisible Shining": The Cult of Matyas Rakosi in Stalinist Hungary, 1945-1956
- Summary
- The aim of the project is to commission the translation of my book manuscript.
- Funding Agency
- Trinity College Dublin, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
- Date From
- 02/02/2015
- Date To
- 02/02/2017
- Title
- Methods of Cult-building in Communist Hungary
- Summary
- The overall attempt of the project was to analyse the emergence, the development and the decay of a satellite leader's cult in the peripheries of the Stalinist Empire - namely the Soviet bloc - in the post-war era (1945-1956). The project was the first endeavour to systematically study the construction of the cult of a mini-Stalin, in this case, the secretary of the Hungarian Workers' Party, Mátyás Rákosi. Such a scrutiny of the methods of cult-building in Hungary would likely enhance our understanding of the dynamics of the post-war Sovietisation project in the region and the similarities/differences in the process of adopting the 'Soviet pattern', including the leader cult phenomenon, in Eastern Europe. The project focused on three different aspects of cult-construction in Hungary and was divided into three main parts accordingly. (1) The major strategies of the party centre to implement the Soviet system of myths and rituals - the requisites of a new political religion - in the country. (2) The party's strategies to monitor the development of the cult, and the popular reception of the worship of rulers. (3) The methods of dismantling the cult in the period of the 'New Course' after June 1953, and after the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February 1956.
- Funding Agency
- European University Institute
- Date From
- 1 September 2001
- Date To
- 29 September 2006
- Title
- Election Campaigns in the Press in Hungary in the 1930s
- Summary
- The aim of the project was to prepare an article on political election campaigns in Hungary in the 1930s. The focus was on the 1935 election campaign in the Hungarian press. The article analysed 8 major political newspapers published at the time focusing on different ways of self-representation and representations of the political other.
- Funding Agency
- Institute of Political History (Budapest)
- Date From
- 1 January 2007
- Date To
- 31 December 2007
Recognition
Representations
Series Editor, "Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies series", Anthem Press (New York-Delhi-London)
Editorial Board member, "Nationalisms Across the Globe" book series, Peter Lang
President of the Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies
External examiner, BA in European Studies, NUI Maynooth
External examiner, PhD viva, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University
External examiner, PhD defense, Department of History, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
External examiner, MA in History (Modern European History strand), University College Dublin
Awards and Honours
M.A. (Dubl.) - Trinity College Dublin
Memberships
Member, Irish Association for Russian, Central and East European Studies
Member, Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies