Histories of communism

20 years after the fall of communism and after the publishing of an impresive amount of testimonies, books, collections of documents it is still waiting for a critical appreciation. Lacking the direct access to information, many evaluations were based on various interpretations local media or on testimonies of various disidents who escaped, having various reasons to tell their stories. The archives of Radio Free Europe, mainly the evaluation reports, from Open Society Archives from Central European University in Budapest are a valuable source in this respect. Nowadays, it is possible to fully use critical perspectives and a variety of sources before making statements. Here it is an example of a background report regarding intellectual purges in 1958 Romania. Background reports at Radio Free Europe were of internal use of the editors from the radio stations, as well as for decision-makers in US. Among other things, it involved a careful daily research of the communist media, both articles and photos (for example, the dissapearance from an official photography of a representative of a ruling communist elite was interpreted as a possible political isolation). Recently National Security Archives from George Washington University published new declassified documents regarding the Cold War.
For a long time from now, it will still be impossible to have a history of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, but various histories. A coherent narrative of these years is still impossible to achieve, mainly because the clarity of sources is concerned.