Five cases in which the names of former secret informers who supplied information to the communist secret political police were unofficially disclosed are discussed in terms of the motivations of their authors, their timing relative to 1989 and their countries’ lustration and file access legislation, and the information they make available to the general public. After contrasting them with civil society efforts to promote transitional justice and unofficial truth projects, it becomes evident that these unofficial disclosures were animated by revenge as much as the quest for unveiling the truth about communist repression.

Keywords:
De-communization, Lustration, Politics and memory, Truth-telling initiatives
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2011 The Regents of the University of California. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
2011
The Regents of the University of California
You do not currently have access to this content.