As it is of public knowledge, on the instruction of the director general of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA LIC), the removal and transfer of the manuscripts held at the Lukács Archive began on 15 January 2018. The manuscripts will be taken over by the Department of Manuscripts & Rare Books of the LIC, and the process will last a couple of weeks. The manuscripts will thus no longer be researchable at the Lukács Archive.

We the undersigned, who have had the opportunity to work at the Lukács Archive and/or enjoy the support and help of the Archive during our research, and for whom access to the printed and written manuscripts held at the Archive will continue to be an ineluctable necessity in our future work, were appalled to learn that despite the earlier promises and reassurances, the Library of the MTA is preparing to remove the manuscripts from the Lukács Archive. Such a step would destroy the independent character of the Lukács Archive—which should also be important for the MTA to maintain—and would cause inestimable damage to research. This is why we ask those responsible for the MTA and the Library of the MTA to stop this plan, in the interests of research.

The Lukács Archives also play a vital role in the maintenance of critical, progressive thought and activism in Hungary. We the undersigned see these actions by the MTA as part of an ongoing assault on civil society institutions in Hungary.