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Philosopher János Kis (1943–) was a prominent member of the democratic opposition, founder of Beszélő (“Speaker”), and founding member and first chair of the Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége (SZDSZ) (“The Alliance of Free Democrats”).

He became familiar with the leftwing mindset and values in his family circle. His father was an antifascist resister and was killed during World War II. Other relatives of his became victims of the Holocaust. His mother worked as a party officer after the war, and numerous communist intellectuals had connections with his family. He studied in the famous Hungarian-Russian language Gorkij school, and he graduated from Eötvös Loránd University in 1967. He belonged to the youngest generation of the philosophical school related to György Lukács. He joined the state party in 1966. He criticized Marxism on scientific grounds, and because of this, he was banned from the party and was sacked from his workplace, the Philosophy Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He worked as a freelance translator.

In the late 1970s, he began to participate in the democratic opposition. He belonged to the inner circle of thinkers who were critical of the system, and he was regarded as a leading figure. He signed the Charta ’77 in 1977 and in 1979. Events in Poland shaped his thinking, and his knowledge of Polish made it easier for him to read the foreign samizdats. He held lectures at the Monday Free university in the 1980s, and he was one of the contributors to the István Bibó memorial book in 1981. In the same year, working together with others, he helped establish the most important samizdat journal, Beszélő (“Speaker”), and he became the editor-in-chief. He participated in the Monor Meeting.

It was understood among dissenters that János Kis and György Bence regularly worked at the library of the Academy of Science. The smoking room of the library was a special meeting point for people who belonged to the opposition. Kis and Bence were underground celebrities and symbols of meaningful, reflective opposition to the communist system, as philosopher Gáspás Miklós Tamás noted.

Vincas Kisarauskas is well known not only as a painter, but also as monumental artist, graphic artist, set designer and art critic. His first exhibition was closed down by the goverment, and his book illustrations were accused of Formalism in the local media. In 1963, the KGB opened a file on him, noting that 'the creative work of Vincas Kisarauskas negatively affects young people, especially students at the Art Institute.' There were attempts by the authorities and censors to marginalise the artist. However, he is a well-known proponent of the Lithuanian school of ex-libris.

Ferenc Kisbarnaki Farkas (1892–1980) was a general in the Hungarian Army and together with Count Pál Teleki served as the main organizer of World Scout Jamboree that took place in Gödöllő in 1933. From 1942 until his death, Kisbarnaki Farkas held the position of chief scout in the Hungarian Scout Association and remained the main preserver of Teleki’s legacy. As an army general, Kisbarnaki Farkas left Hungary for Germany in 1945 and following the capitulation was charged with oversight of the affaires of Hungarian soldiers held in POW camps. Beginning in 1946, he played a leading role in the organization of the Hungarian scouting movement in exile until his death in Germany in 1980.