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Imre Baász (1941-1991) was a Transylvanian Hungarian graphic artist. Baász was born in Arad on February 22, 1941 to a family of Jewish descent. In 1972, he graduated from the Department of Graphics at the Ion Andreescu Fine Arts University of Cluj as a student of graphic artist László Feszt. At the request of the Kriterion Publisher, he made illustrations for the Kalevala as his thesis work, for which he was awarded the second prize of the Graphic Art Salon of Bucharest. He moved to Sfântu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy) in 1977 and began to be active as a kind of one-man institution. He organized workshops in his atelier to introduce local artists and art lovers to modern ideas. As an artist, he mainly thought about the survival of the Hungarian minority living in Transylvania. His art is draws on Expressionist traditions, and it is related to Conceptualism and the action art. In 1981, Baász organized the exhibition “Medium I.” for international contemporary works. In 1986, he initiated the exhibition “Bird Action,” and in 1987-1988 he organized the exhibition “Drawing-Space-Form.” In 1990, he launched the AnnArt performance-days, which he organized until his death. In 1990, he began serving as the scenographer of the Hungarian theater in Cluj (Kolozsvár). In 1990-1991, he taught as a member of the faculty at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest. In 1991, he organized the “Medium II” exhibition.

László Beke is an art historian and curator. He studied at the Art History and Hungarian Language departments of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Beginning in 1968, he was a research fellow in art history at the Research Institute for Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. From 1988 to 1995, he was chief curator of the painting collections of the Hungarian National Gallery and from 1995 to 2000 was the general director of the Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle in Budapest. Between 2000 and 2011, Beke served as the director of the Research Institute of Art History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Since 1990, he has been a professor at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and teaches at several other Hungarian institutions as well. Beginning in the late 1960s, he began participating in the activities of the underground contemporary art movements in Hungary. Beke is the author of approximately 400 studies, articles and catalogue essays and has been the editor of 15 books.

The first two decades of Beke’s career ran along parallel paths: at his official workplace he researched Medieval goldsmithery (his doctorate was about cloisonné enamel pieces), while in his free time he participated intensively in progressive art events that took place primarily at marginal locations. He soon became one of the major organizers of these events. Beke initiated projects, participated and organized events at the Chapel Studio in Balatonboglár, organized exhibitions at the Club of Young Artists in Budapest and happenings at the Ganz Cultural Center that were formally conducted as educational lectures. In the meantime, he built an extensive private archive, wrote essays, organized many exhibitions and served as a consultant for many exhibitions abroad. In 1977, Beke received the Kassák Prize awarded by the Magyar Műhely in Paris for the documentation of Hungarian art.

Ante Beljo was born in the village Veliki Gornji Ograđenik near Čitluk, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1946. He attended primary school in his hometown and secondary school in Široki Brijeg. At the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, he studied physics, but he did not complete his studies, because in 1967 he emigrated to Austria, and then to Canada in May 1968. In Sudbury, the largest city in Northern Ontario, in addition to his regular work, he was also an active participant in Croatian cultural organizations in Canada and North America. He is one of the founders of the Croatian-Canadian Folklore Federation and was active in the work of Amnesty International. During the introduction of the multiparty system in Croatia (1989-1990), he became involved in the activities of the Croatian Democratic Union in Canada. In 1990 he returned to Croatia, and in January 1991 he established the Croatian Information Centre, an NGO with the mission of informing the international public and Croatian emigrants about events in Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. From 1993 to 2000 he served as director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation. He was a member of the Croatian Parliament for two terms (elected in 1995 and 2000). In 1995 he was awarded the Order of Danica for special merits in education.

Marina Benažić is a professor of art history and comparative literature. Since 2006, she has been the curator of the Tošo Dabac Archive, and its manager since January 2007. Her position as manager of the Archive means that she is the chief executive of the Archive, the main organizer of all events organized by the Archive, and also makes her the most conversant with the contents of the Archive.

Benažić was not associated with the socialist regime, nor was she involved in the cultural activities of the opposition. Her importance to the Collection rests on the fact that she is its manager.

Václav Benda was a signatory and spokesperson of Charter 77. He studied philosophy and Czech studies at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague from 1964–1969. He received his doctorate in 1970. Afterwards, he studied theoretical cybernetics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University from 1970–1975. After graduating, he worked as a computer expert. However, after signing Charter 77 in 1977, he was dismissed from his job and worked as a stoker.

Benda transferred his critique of the regime into civic activism. In 1968 he became head of the Academic Council of Students and was the founder of the Catholic Youth Club. During Normalization he was one of the founders of the Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS) in 1978. He was also a spokesperson for Charter 77 in 1979 and 1984. In 1988, he co-founded the Movement for Civic Freedom (Hnutí za občanskou svobodu). Benda represented the Catholic stream of Czech dissent. He published in samizdat volumes, and co-translated into Czech the book “New Paths in Biology” by Swiss zoologist Adolf Portmann, which was published in the samizdat edition Expedice. He also published and edited a philosophical samizdat journal Paraf (1985–1989), and wrote for the exile periodical Studie. He was imprisoned from 1979-1983 for his activities and political opinions.

Writer, scenarist, director, lyricist for Tamás Cseh, with whom he started to work in 1970. They composed some 1,200 songs, mostly in the early 1970s. However, they did not publicize these works in the early years. The songs, rather, were performed only privately. According to several people, they reveal more about life during the Kádár era than history books.

Born Géza Vetró, he later acquired the name Rozner from his foster father, which he replaced with his grandfather’s family name, Bereményi, when he became a legal adult. Studied Italian and Hungarian linguistics at ELTE and later worked as a dramaturg and as artistic director and a theatre director.

He published thirteen books, directed seven films and twenty-one plays, and wrote twenty film scripts and forty-six play-scripts. Member of the European Film Academy and the Hungarian Academy of Arts.