Kemény István Collection

The collection includes around two dozen interviews in which the Roma genocide is mentioned. The collection, which consists of 283 documents, is about the research that was done on the Roma communities in 1971. Most of the documents are transcriptions of interviews, but the collection includes some studies too. The interviews are based on discussions which were recorded on tape and later transcribed. When the participants in the project typed the material, their aim was to remain as faithful as possible to the original interviews, so the texts give one the impression of hearing the people speak in their own voices. Because the interviews were not broadly representative of the entire Roma population of Hungary, there are many interviews from some counties but fewer from others. Havas copied them and gave them to the Voices of the 20th Century Archive. [István Kemény](https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kem%C3%A9ny_Istv%C3%A1n_(szociol%C3%B3gus)), a sociologist who was always on the periphery under state socialism, was asked by the government Office of Councils to do a survey on the lifestyles and circumstances of **Hungarian Roma**. He did the research within the framework of the Sociological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which was his working place at the time. The survey was done in 1971. The researchers formed their questionnaires in selected counties. They did interviews with Roma and non-Roma people (who worked in local councils, schools, or for the police). The researchers typed the recorded interviews in some copies, using indigo. They gave one to István Kemény and one to the Sociological Institute. As part of the project, Kemény held “seminars” in the Institute every Tuesday to give the participants a chance to improve their knowledge of the subject.