In 1958, a group of 55 Latvian scientists and cultural figures signed a petition against the Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) project, because it envisaged the flooding of part of the Daugava valley, one of the most beautiful areas in Latvia, which was rich in archaeological and historic monuments. It also had a symbolic value as part of the Latvian nation-building narrative. Due to the efforts of the Soviet authorities to suppress the protest, very few documents are available, some of which are in the Museum of the River Daugava.

The Doina Cornea Private Collection is an invaluable historical source for those researching the biography and especially the dissident activities of the person labelled by the Western mass media as the “emblematic figure” of the Romanian resistance to Ceauşescu’s dictatorship. This collection comprises manuscripts of her open letters of protest, her diary, samizdat translations, correspondence, drafts of her academic works, photos, paintings, video recordings, and her personal library. This private collection is by far one of the most significant and valuable collections reflecting the cultural opposition to the Romanian communist regime.

The report is dated March 15, 1958, signed by a major general who was head of the Third Department of State Security. The original is stored in the archive of the "Commission for the Disclosure of Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens with the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian People's Army", commonly called "Commission for Dossiers" (Comdos) in Bulgarian.

The report of 15 typographic pages is a report on the work of a special section "Clergy and Sects" at the State Security on the "development" and the observation of the "enemy elements in the Catholic and Orthodox clergy, the Protestants, and in Religious Sects" in the period 1956–1958. The "enemy contingent” is described by place of residence, and statistics are also provided. After the description of specific "enemy manifestations" and the measures against them, the report on the Danovist sect writes: "In 1957 more than 50 tons of reactionary literature, written by author P. Danov throughout the country was seized, and a financial audit was made, the leadership of the Danovist sect will be obliged to pay to the state over 570,000 BGN of misused funds. The gold estate of the sect at the value of about BGN 30,000 discovered and seized." (p. 4) (The annual average salary in 1957 was 8,151 BGN.) In the operational report is noted that "the institution available is insufficient". The main task is the need to "recruit a force capable of undertaking the destruction [of the sects]" (p. 14).  The result of the financial audit of the Danovist sect is suggested to be used as an argument for the sect to be closed down as a 'faith community'." (p. 15)

"Summary report on the state of the agency-operational work in respect of the enemy intelligentsia in the country", Sofia, January 29, 1958.

This report gives a summary assessment of activities and expressions by intellectuals that the state security considered hostile, for the year 1957. This was a period of heightened state altert about (potential) opposition in Bulgaria in the wake of the revolution in Hungary, and its brutal suppression by the Soviets, in 1956. The report claims that after the revolution in Hungary, "capitalist representatives" are stepping up their efforts to create networks of friendly intellectuals and to "brainwash" certain intellectual circles in Bulgaria. A particular problem are cases of intellectuals who escaped abroad. The report describes intellectuals who are said to deny Soviet art, which they consider outdated and "smelling of mold." There is unrest among the writes against the "suggested" guardianship" by the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party; there is widespread talk about creative freedom. According to this State Security report, the intelligentsia numbered 26,799 people at that time. The report, thus, gives insight into the increased fears of the regime about the loyalty of the intelligentsia after the 1956 events and shows the dynamics of oppositional tendencies among them (in the eyes of the state security).

This letter, written on September 11 1961, from the Schriftstellerverband to Annelies Loest, pertains to the period of detention of 1957 to1964 of her husband, author Erich Loest. After events involving the suppression of the People’s Uprising on June 17 1953, the author was increasingly critical of the German Democratic Republic regime. When he expressed his view on the need for de-Stalinisation, Loest was arrested in 1957. Considered a problem to the regime due to supposedly “forming counter-revolutionary groups,” he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison, which he served at the Bautzen II prison. During the sentence, Loest was banned from writing. The Schriftstellerverband petitioned for repeal of the ban. In the letter, the association informed Annelies Loest that the head of the GDR Public Prosecution Office had denied the petition, deeming a lift of the ban to be “special treatment within the penal system,” which was considered un-justified.

In the second correspondence, the GDR Public Prosecution Office informed Annelies Loest of the termination of all investigative proceedings against Erich Loest in December 1958, described as the due course of concluding the operation. From then on, further correspondence would be transferred to the Public Prosecution Office in the Halle district.