A pair of Soviet television sets, an East German iron, the complete works of Lenin, burnt out garbage cans and some antiquated fitness videos.

Relics of the past, these are just a few of the hundreds of objects Budapest residents said they are not taking with them to the European Union and have offered to show at an exhibition opening at a downtown bus station.

The installation opens Friday afternoon just hours ahead of Hungary's integration to the EU at midnight (2200 GMT).

"I brought two Soviet-era TV sets because I had enough of them and to leave these here for me is a relief and symbolizes freedom," Laszlo Csorba, an artist who came to the bus station with his 12-year old son Adam, told AFP earlier this week as he handed in his objects to the exhibition.

The historic step of joining the EU, which comes for Hungary 15 years after the end of four decades of Soviet-directed communist rule, has led both ordinary citizens and politicians to dig up and confront the past.

The Budapest city council was expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to strip Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin of his title of honourary citizen of the capital, which was bestowed on him in 1947 in recognition of his troops having driven out the Nazis in World War II.

Less than a decade later, in 1956, Hungarians revolted against Moscow's domination, a revolution which was bloodily defeated after Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest.

The shots fired by Soviet tanks are still visible on many of the capital's weathered buildings, while Stalin's portrait -- among the objects at the exhibition -- still conjures up strong emotions in Hungarians.

"I would cut out Stalin's name from a book, shove it in the dirt then I would frame it and cross it out to the point where it would be hardly legible," said Jozsef Bajan, a 51-year old high school history teacher.

While selecting the objects was an act of catharsis for some -- Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky brought communist-era secret service records kept on democracy activists like himself -- for others it was just a chance to clear out the attic.

Jozsef Gyori, accompanied by a poodle, said he brought two fitness videos to the city hall-organized exhibition.

"My wife stopped exercising a long time ago so I thought someone else may want to keep fit in the EU," Gyori said.

Other objects, such as a rusty bathtub on which "EUROPA" was written in bold yellow letters, underlined the fears of some that joining the EU may yet be another empty promise for those hoping to raise their standards of living.

Though Hungarians overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the EU in a referendum last year, only 45 percent of eligible voters showed up at the polls and a considerable number still view accession with skepticism.

"Nothing will change in the EU," said 35-year old Barnabas Kiss, who brought an old record to the bus station. "I may no longer need a passport to go to another EU country but my life won't improve because of this."

Not everyone had objects to contribute.

Jozsef Miko, a 71 year-old pensioner, said he brought nothing because there was nothing for him left to give after living through communism, marked for many by a scarcity of products on occasionally empty store shelves.

"I used up everything I had," Miko said as he leaned on his cane and mused about the past and future.

"The past was as it was, one had to survive," he said. "Now that we are joining the EU, I think I want to travel and discover Euroupe for myself."