Rate My Professor Laszlo Borhi

László Borhi is the Peter A. Kadas Chair Professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. His academic background includes a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences earned in 2012 for his dissertation on Hungarian-American relations from 1942 to 1949, a “Kandidátus” degree in historical science from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1999, a University doctorate from ELTE University Budapest in 1993, a Master of Arts from Indiana University Bloomington in 1991, and studies at Exeter College Oxford in 1991, as well as earlier coursework at Indiana University and ELTE University Budapest. Borhi's research specializations encompass Cold War history, U.S. foreign policy after 1945, 20th-century Hungarian history, international relations in East Central Europe from 1815 to 2000, Eastern European history in the 19th and 20th centuries, and dictatorships under Nazi and communist regimes. He has authored key books such as Dealing with Dictators: The United States, Hungary and East Central Europe, 1942-1989 (Indiana University Press, 2016), Hungary in the Cold War – Between the Soviet Union and the United States (CEU Press, 2004), Survival under Dictatorships – Life and Death in Nazi and Communist Regimes, 1944-1953 (CEU Press, 2024), Magyarország a hidegháborúban (Corvina, 2005), and Magyar-amerikai kapcsolatok, 1941-1989 (MTA Történettudományi Intézete, 2009). He has also edited volumes including Soviet Occupation Policy in a Comparative Perspective: Austria, Hungary, Romania (CEU Press, 2015).

Borhi's career history features roles as Scientific Advisor at the Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; multiple appointments as Hungarian Chair Professor at Indiana University Bloomington in 1997, 2005-2006, and 2010-2012; Fulbright Visiting Professor at Indiana University in 2012-2013 and at Dartmouth College in 1996; Guest Professor at ELTE University Budapest; and Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1989 to 1999. Among his major awards and fellowships are the Pataki Ferenc Prize from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2017, Gold Cross of Merit from the Hungarian Republic in 2006, Bezerédj Zoltán Prize in 2006, Bolyai Scholarship from 1998 to 2002, a fellowship at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in 1998, and a Cold War International History Project fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1994. Borhi teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on topics including contemporary Central Europe, war and peace in East Central Europe, Europe between Hitler and Stalin, history of international relations, Cold War history, and Hungarian history from 1890 to the present.