I am an associate professor in Modern History at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, my specialization is Modern American/ British History and Intelligence History.
Shortly after the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 approximately 21000 refugees arrived... more Shortly after the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 approximately 21000 refugees arrived in Great-Britain among whom, according to the contemporary evaluation of the Home Office, a large number of the State Protection Authority’s agents would appear. In practice this meant that many of the former members of the state security’s internal network of informants also defected to the west, p.e. István Vörös who was Transylvanian origin. The webster having previously been incarcerated for war crimes started to approach the Legation of the Hungarian People’s Republic with the intent to repatriate from the beginning of 1957 while emphasizing that he deemed his intelligence assignment dated back to 1952. However, it soon turned out that the British police had already known his past, thus compelled him to cooperate. Unfortunately, the other side has not made the agent's file available, but it seems that Vörös was compelled memorize an unlikely scheme that he was parroting for two years in order to distract the London Residency of the Hungarian Intelligence Service from the more valuable recruits.
Mesismerni a megismerhetetlent. Tanulmányok Baráth Magdolna tiszteletére, 2024
After the opression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 more than 20.000 people had immigrated to Bri... more After the opression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 more than 20.000 people had immigrated to Britain among whom approximately 1500 returned to the fatherland. This essay tells the story of a former university student in journalism who did not find his place abroad being critical about capitalism and came home but could not identify with the existing state socialism either . His decision was not met with appreciation since the ruling party did not authorize him to work in the press.
لا يعرف الكثير في المجر مدى التقدير والشعبية التي يتمتع بها الأسطورة الرياضية المجرية فرنتس بوشكا... more لا يعرف الكثير في المجر مدى التقدير والشعبية التي يتمتع بها الأسطورة الرياضية المجرية فرنتس بوشكاش في العالم العربي. ولا يرجع ذلك فقط إلى مهاراته الكروية المميزة وأدائه مع منتخب بلاده وريال مدريد، بل لعبت السنوات التي قضاها كمدرب في مصر والسعودية، والتي تمكن خلالها مرارًا وتكرارًا من تحقيق أقصى ما سمحت له ظروف ذلك الوقت، دورًا حاسمًا أيضًا في ذلك. الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تقديم سرد موجز لقصة حياة نجم كرة القدم، بالإضافة إلى ملخص لأحداث وتجارب المدة التي قضاها في البلدين العربيين الكبيرين، مع الإشارة إلى أصداء ذلك في بعض وسائل الإعلام العربية.
Shortly after the ’Hungarian Question’ had been taken off of the
agenda of the United Nations in... more Shortly after the ’Hungarian Question’ had been taken off of the agenda of the United Nations in 1963, certain members of the Hungarian émigré community, especially those who had departed in the late 1940s endeavoured to visit their relatives still living in the motherland. One of them was grammar school teacher Endre Gyuranyi who was taking refuge in Australia following his short detainment by the State Protection Authority in 1949. The London Residency of the III/I. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior contemplated his recruitment based on the certain degree of understanding he displayed toward the Kadar regime. However, Gyuranyi insisted on the democratic principles he had internalised during the liquidated democratic attempt of 1945–1947.
Miután 1963-ban a legfontosabb nyugati-európai országok többsége nagyköveti szintre emelte a dipl... more Miután 1963-ban a legfontosabb nyugati-európai országok többsége nagyköveti szintre emelte a diplomáciai viszonyt a Magyar Népköztársasággal (MNK), Radványi János washingtoni ügyvivő arra a (lehetetlen) feladatra vállalkozott, hogy egyidejűleg közvetítsen a vietnámi háború hadviselő felei között és érje el a magyar-amerikai kapcsolatok helyrehozatalát. Céljai elérésében számított az államszocializmus iránt valamelyest megértő / kevésbé ellenséges amerikai újságírók fiatal generációjára, amelyet pl. Bernard Gwertzman képviselt. Ám amint kiderült, hogy Péter János külügyminiszter rendezési tervét Ho Si Minh egyáltalán nem támogatja, az ügyvivő kiábrándult az államszocialista rendszerből, és átállt az Egyesült Államokhoz. Ez pedig akár azt is jelenthette, hogy a legfontosabb sajtókapcsolat felhasználása időközben más irányt vett…
Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diploma... more Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking another direction…
The majority of Hungarian refugees of 1956 had not dared to visit their relatives who had stayed ... more The majority of Hungarian refugees of 1956 had not dared to visit their relatives who had stayed behind in Hungary before the decree on the general amnesty of 1963 because they were simultaneously afraid of the retaliation of the Hungarian State Security and negative reaction of the counterintelligence of the western countries granting asylum for them. István Jászay taxi driver who had been living in New York since 1956 endeavoured to spend a relatively long time in Hungary in 1962 despitethe fact that – due to his family background – he was not favoured by the party state, while his service in the State Police of Hungary that lasted to 1951 must have arisen suspicion in the eyes of the American counterintelligence. Jászay’s behaviour displayed serious contradictions: he volunteered his collaboration in the surveillance of the Hungarian Émigrés, at the same time, on the occasion of his third trip to Budapest, he lurked around the centre of Hungarian intelligence. In the absence of an American source, we cannot prove it, but it is very likely that the FBI used the New York taxi driver as a bait to uncover the interests and methods of Hungarian state security.
The Man from Buenos Aires. Julio Jelinek, the most "promising" 'agent perspeftif' of the New York... more The Man from Buenos Aires. Julio Jelinek, the most "promising" 'agent perspeftif' of the New York Reisedency of the Hungarian Intelligence, was a security guard of the UNO Palace in New York whose family had emmigrated from Hungary to Buenos Aires in the 1910's. The parents belonged to the 'Törekvés' Sports Association that was affiliated with Communist Party of Argentina before its suspension in 1961. Julio Jelinek must have followed a strong socialist political line as well while been amazed by the victory of Fidel Castro's guerilla movement. The 2nd residency chief of the New York station recruited him on a financial bases while Lieutenant Jozsef Horvath also hoped that Jelinek would convert to the ideology of the Kadar regime. The Hungarian Intelligence urged Jelinek to fight for promotions or a better job outside the UNO, even started to pay his university fee, but the new post that the agent could find was not in an institutiton/company of interest while the defection of Police Captain Erno Bernat must have unfolded Jelinek's association with the Hungarian State Security
Shortly before the Hungarian-American relationship which had been frosty since the inception of t... more Shortly before the Hungarian-American relationship which had been frosty since the inception of the Cold War rose to ambassadorial level any further improvement was blocked by the defection of police captain Ernő Bernát who served as a press attaché in Washington since 1965. Later on Charge d'Affair Janos Radvanyi also sought the poltical asylum of the governement of the United States. Bernat's deceison was not unprecedented since police major Laszlo Szabo had acted the way in the Fall of 1965 in London. While the latter was continously making guest appearances at the US Senate and Congress the former just vanished from the public. It is highly propable that Erno Bernat was doing greater harm to his former employers than Laszlo Szabo by the assasination of the future, i. e. unfolding the potential recrutees and the perspective of the then Hungarian Intelligence on the American Continent in general.
Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European
states had elevated the diplom... more Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking another direction…
Shortly after the culmination of the detente the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Kingdom of ... more Shortly after the culmination of the detente the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Kingdom of Spain had established diplomatic relations and an intelligence section consisting of a commissioned officer and half a dozen co-optees came to existence at the Hungarian Embassy in Madrid. The so-called residency was concentrating on the protection of the foreign representations of Hungary, but at the same time, it endeavored to carry out operations against the leading NATO-powers on a third-country basis. Based on our present knowledge, these experiments were taking place without proper success.
While the UN was preparing for taking the Hungarian question off its agenda in 1963 the Intellige... more While the UN was preparing for taking the Hungarian question off its agenda in 1963 the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Hungarian People's Republic decided to launch a campaign in order to dinamize the gathering of information on modern technologies the availability of which was constrained by the COCOM. One of the first hopeful candidates of this ambition was Company CEO Tibor Foldvari (ret.) who wprofessionaly eschewd the scientific attachés net. The FBI, with the active cooperation of Mr. Foldvari, was continually misleading police captain Tibor Bazso and police major Sandor Antall in charge of the illegal acquisition of the know-how of producing modern surgical instruments. The great invention of Mr. Foldvari, the bloodpump, that generated so much interest by attaché Bazso was a simple means of demonstration for schools not an equipment which substitutes the blood circulation.
Leaving ones’ native land.
Two Israeli public serv... more Leaving ones’ native land. Two Israeli public servants in the middle of the inquiry of the Hungarian Intelligence Service
In the late 1950’s, when the bilateral relation of the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Jewish State improved, the 2nd (Intelligence) Division of the Ministry of the Interior endeavored to dynamize its operations in Israel. In order to infiltrate the governmental organizations, the Hungarian Intelligence Service laid all its hope on the recruitment of tax inspector Avni Jakob who had departed Hungary shortly after the Holocaust and police officer Mihaly Koenig former member of the Habonim Association who relocated to Israel in 1949 parallel to the proclamation of the ban on the Zionist activities. However, the Intelligence Division proved to be oblivious to the two candidates’ tendency to escape from the tragedy of their past and leave their native country behind. The tax inspector was everything but popular in his new microcosmos, while the police officer had turned out to be elusive then stabbed the legation’s personnel to the back by mobilizing either the Shin-Bet or the Special Branch of the National Police Force of Israel.
In 1962 Hungarian Ministry of the Interior recruited the 40-year-old Holocaust survivor travel gu... more In 1962 Hungarian Ministry of the Interior recruited the 40-year-old Holocaust survivor travel guide Laszlo Back as an informer working on tourists from the western state. As Back was said to have had a (relatively) good command in English and an ability to imitate the American accent, the Intelligence Division started to deem the guide as a potential illegal agent for talent spotting and doing background checks in the US. Laszlo Back relocated to his brother who lived in New York in 1963 but would establish himself as a chemist in a parfume factory without any chance of obtaining access to anyhing important. On the other hand his entourage confined to a couple of other Hungarian-Americans, thus he did not even spot a single potential agent. In 1966 the Ministry of the Interior dropped the case, the informer deceased in 1974.
Zoltan Neumark, a private lawyer from New York, commenced to pay regular visits to Hungary 1958. ... more Zoltan Neumark, a private lawyer from New York, commenced to pay regular visits to Hungary 1958. Neumark Sr. had been an active participant of the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919 who had to escape after the fall of the short-lived communist regime, so he emmigrated to the United States in 1923. Thus, the Hungarian State Security deemed the Neumark Jr. as a potential candidate for recruitment to collect intelligence on the émigrés in New York. Finally, the case turned into a dead end street, presumably due to the intervention of the FBI.
During the composition of this short essay, it was half a century ago that the Soviet
Union, Pol... more During the composition of this short essay, it was half a century ago that the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Non Warsaw Pact Yugoslavia severed the diplomatic relations with Israel on the ground of the Israeli preemptive strike in the prelude of the Six-Day War. The end of the diplomatic representation also meant the expulsion of the intelligence services of the Eastern Bloc. True, except for the Russian and the Bulgarian intelligence, no substantial and enduring success was ever achieved by any of them. Our thesis aims at presenting a potential explanation for these failures.
While the bilateral relations between the Hungarian People's Republic and the United States reach... more While the bilateral relations between the Hungarian People's Republic and the United States reached their apex by the official visit of Károly Grósz, First Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, in 1988, the haressment of the personnel of the Washington residency returned to the level that it had experienced from the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt to the end of the 1960's This was due to following factors. The new residency chief was taking a much more active stance strictly in his diplomatic mission while the arrest of retired Army Sergeant Clyde Lee Conrad generated an unwanted attention to the Hungarian Embassy.
Ahogy az 1956-os forradalom bukásával Magyarország nemzetközi téren elszigetelődött,1 a nyugati t... more Ahogy az 1956-os forradalom bukásával Magyarország nemzetközi téren elszigetelődött,1 a nyugati turistaforgalom éppen megindult lassú növekedése is megtorpant. Bár Nagy-Britannia az Edgar Sanders letartóztatása és szabadon bocsátása közötti időszaktól (1949-1953) eltérően nem vezetett be utazási tilalmat, a szigetországból évente alig pár százan érkeztek hazánkba. A beutazók jelentős részét a 30-as évek során az érvényesülés korlátozása miatt kivándorolt vagy a második világháború kitörése előtti időszakban a faji és vallási üldöztetés elől elmenekült egykori magyar állampolgárok adták, akik életben maradt hozzátartozóikhoz jöttek látogatóba. Az állambiztonság a ”közös antifasiszta platform” alapján szinte automatikusan megkísérelte behálózni a sokszor megtört, gyámoltalannak látszó embereket. A többségük érthető módon még az erre irányuló tapogatódzástól is alaposan megijedt, ezért sokan az első megkeresés után már látogatóba sem tértek vissza, míg mások fokozatosan távolodtak el a...
Shortly after the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 approximately 21000 refugees arrived... more Shortly after the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 approximately 21000 refugees arrived in Great-Britain among whom, according to the contemporary evaluation of the Home Office, a large number of the State Protection Authority’s agents would appear. In practice this meant that many of the former members of the state security’s internal network of informants also defected to the west, p.e. István Vörös who was Transylvanian origin. The webster having previously been incarcerated for war crimes started to approach the Legation of the Hungarian People’s Republic with the intent to repatriate from the beginning of 1957 while emphasizing that he deemed his intelligence assignment dated back to 1952. However, it soon turned out that the British police had already known his past, thus compelled him to cooperate. Unfortunately, the other side has not made the agent's file available, but it seems that Vörös was compelled memorize an unlikely scheme that he was parroting for two years in order to distract the London Residency of the Hungarian Intelligence Service from the more valuable recruits.
Mesismerni a megismerhetetlent. Tanulmányok Baráth Magdolna tiszteletére, 2024
After the opression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 more than 20.000 people had immigrated to Bri... more After the opression of the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 more than 20.000 people had immigrated to Britain among whom approximately 1500 returned to the fatherland. This essay tells the story of a former university student in journalism who did not find his place abroad being critical about capitalism and came home but could not identify with the existing state socialism either . His decision was not met with appreciation since the ruling party did not authorize him to work in the press.
لا يعرف الكثير في المجر مدى التقدير والشعبية التي يتمتع بها الأسطورة الرياضية المجرية فرنتس بوشكا... more لا يعرف الكثير في المجر مدى التقدير والشعبية التي يتمتع بها الأسطورة الرياضية المجرية فرنتس بوشكاش في العالم العربي. ولا يرجع ذلك فقط إلى مهاراته الكروية المميزة وأدائه مع منتخب بلاده وريال مدريد، بل لعبت السنوات التي قضاها كمدرب في مصر والسعودية، والتي تمكن خلالها مرارًا وتكرارًا من تحقيق أقصى ما سمحت له ظروف ذلك الوقت، دورًا حاسمًا أيضًا في ذلك. الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تقديم سرد موجز لقصة حياة نجم كرة القدم، بالإضافة إلى ملخص لأحداث وتجارب المدة التي قضاها في البلدين العربيين الكبيرين، مع الإشارة إلى أصداء ذلك في بعض وسائل الإعلام العربية.
Shortly after the ’Hungarian Question’ had been taken off of the
agenda of the United Nations in... more Shortly after the ’Hungarian Question’ had been taken off of the agenda of the United Nations in 1963, certain members of the Hungarian émigré community, especially those who had departed in the late 1940s endeavoured to visit their relatives still living in the motherland. One of them was grammar school teacher Endre Gyuranyi who was taking refuge in Australia following his short detainment by the State Protection Authority in 1949. The London Residency of the III/I. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior contemplated his recruitment based on the certain degree of understanding he displayed toward the Kadar regime. However, Gyuranyi insisted on the democratic principles he had internalised during the liquidated democratic attempt of 1945–1947.
Miután 1963-ban a legfontosabb nyugati-európai országok többsége nagyköveti szintre emelte a dipl... more Miután 1963-ban a legfontosabb nyugati-európai országok többsége nagyköveti szintre emelte a diplomáciai viszonyt a Magyar Népköztársasággal (MNK), Radványi János washingtoni ügyvivő arra a (lehetetlen) feladatra vállalkozott, hogy egyidejűleg közvetítsen a vietnámi háború hadviselő felei között és érje el a magyar-amerikai kapcsolatok helyrehozatalát. Céljai elérésében számított az államszocializmus iránt valamelyest megértő / kevésbé ellenséges amerikai újságírók fiatal generációjára, amelyet pl. Bernard Gwertzman képviselt. Ám amint kiderült, hogy Péter János külügyminiszter rendezési tervét Ho Si Minh egyáltalán nem támogatja, az ügyvivő kiábrándult az államszocialista rendszerből, és átállt az Egyesült Államokhoz. Ez pedig akár azt is jelenthette, hogy a legfontosabb sajtókapcsolat felhasználása időközben más irányt vett…
Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diploma... more Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking another direction…
The majority of Hungarian refugees of 1956 had not dared to visit their relatives who had stayed ... more The majority of Hungarian refugees of 1956 had not dared to visit their relatives who had stayed behind in Hungary before the decree on the general amnesty of 1963 because they were simultaneously afraid of the retaliation of the Hungarian State Security and negative reaction of the counterintelligence of the western countries granting asylum for them. István Jászay taxi driver who had been living in New York since 1956 endeavoured to spend a relatively long time in Hungary in 1962 despitethe fact that – due to his family background – he was not favoured by the party state, while his service in the State Police of Hungary that lasted to 1951 must have arisen suspicion in the eyes of the American counterintelligence. Jászay’s behaviour displayed serious contradictions: he volunteered his collaboration in the surveillance of the Hungarian Émigrés, at the same time, on the occasion of his third trip to Budapest, he lurked around the centre of Hungarian intelligence. In the absence of an American source, we cannot prove it, but it is very likely that the FBI used the New York taxi driver as a bait to uncover the interests and methods of Hungarian state security.
The Man from Buenos Aires. Julio Jelinek, the most "promising" 'agent perspeftif' of the New York... more The Man from Buenos Aires. Julio Jelinek, the most "promising" 'agent perspeftif' of the New York Reisedency of the Hungarian Intelligence, was a security guard of the UNO Palace in New York whose family had emmigrated from Hungary to Buenos Aires in the 1910's. The parents belonged to the 'Törekvés' Sports Association that was affiliated with Communist Party of Argentina before its suspension in 1961. Julio Jelinek must have followed a strong socialist political line as well while been amazed by the victory of Fidel Castro's guerilla movement. The 2nd residency chief of the New York station recruited him on a financial bases while Lieutenant Jozsef Horvath also hoped that Jelinek would convert to the ideology of the Kadar regime. The Hungarian Intelligence urged Jelinek to fight for promotions or a better job outside the UNO, even started to pay his university fee, but the new post that the agent could find was not in an institutiton/company of interest while the defection of Police Captain Erno Bernat must have unfolded Jelinek's association with the Hungarian State Security
Shortly before the Hungarian-American relationship which had been frosty since the inception of t... more Shortly before the Hungarian-American relationship which had been frosty since the inception of the Cold War rose to ambassadorial level any further improvement was blocked by the defection of police captain Ernő Bernát who served as a press attaché in Washington since 1965. Later on Charge d'Affair Janos Radvanyi also sought the poltical asylum of the governement of the United States. Bernat's deceison was not unprecedented since police major Laszlo Szabo had acted the way in the Fall of 1965 in London. While the latter was continously making guest appearances at the US Senate and Congress the former just vanished from the public. It is highly propable that Erno Bernat was doing greater harm to his former employers than Laszlo Szabo by the assasination of the future, i. e. unfolding the potential recrutees and the perspective of the then Hungarian Intelligence on the American Continent in general.
Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European
states had elevated the diplom... more Shortly after the majority of the most important Western European states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking another direction…
Shortly after the culmination of the detente the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Kingdom of ... more Shortly after the culmination of the detente the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Kingdom of Spain had established diplomatic relations and an intelligence section consisting of a commissioned officer and half a dozen co-optees came to existence at the Hungarian Embassy in Madrid. The so-called residency was concentrating on the protection of the foreign representations of Hungary, but at the same time, it endeavored to carry out operations against the leading NATO-powers on a third-country basis. Based on our present knowledge, these experiments were taking place without proper success.
While the UN was preparing for taking the Hungarian question off its agenda in 1963 the Intellige... more While the UN was preparing for taking the Hungarian question off its agenda in 1963 the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Hungarian People's Republic decided to launch a campaign in order to dinamize the gathering of information on modern technologies the availability of which was constrained by the COCOM. One of the first hopeful candidates of this ambition was Company CEO Tibor Foldvari (ret.) who wprofessionaly eschewd the scientific attachés net. The FBI, with the active cooperation of Mr. Foldvari, was continually misleading police captain Tibor Bazso and police major Sandor Antall in charge of the illegal acquisition of the know-how of producing modern surgical instruments. The great invention of Mr. Foldvari, the bloodpump, that generated so much interest by attaché Bazso was a simple means of demonstration for schools not an equipment which substitutes the blood circulation.
Leaving ones’ native land.
Two Israeli public serv... more Leaving ones’ native land. Two Israeli public servants in the middle of the inquiry of the Hungarian Intelligence Service
In the late 1950’s, when the bilateral relation of the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Jewish State improved, the 2nd (Intelligence) Division of the Ministry of the Interior endeavored to dynamize its operations in Israel. In order to infiltrate the governmental organizations, the Hungarian Intelligence Service laid all its hope on the recruitment of tax inspector Avni Jakob who had departed Hungary shortly after the Holocaust and police officer Mihaly Koenig former member of the Habonim Association who relocated to Israel in 1949 parallel to the proclamation of the ban on the Zionist activities. However, the Intelligence Division proved to be oblivious to the two candidates’ tendency to escape from the tragedy of their past and leave their native country behind. The tax inspector was everything but popular in his new microcosmos, while the police officer had turned out to be elusive then stabbed the legation’s personnel to the back by mobilizing either the Shin-Bet or the Special Branch of the National Police Force of Israel.
In 1962 Hungarian Ministry of the Interior recruited the 40-year-old Holocaust survivor travel gu... more In 1962 Hungarian Ministry of the Interior recruited the 40-year-old Holocaust survivor travel guide Laszlo Back as an informer working on tourists from the western state. As Back was said to have had a (relatively) good command in English and an ability to imitate the American accent, the Intelligence Division started to deem the guide as a potential illegal agent for talent spotting and doing background checks in the US. Laszlo Back relocated to his brother who lived in New York in 1963 but would establish himself as a chemist in a parfume factory without any chance of obtaining access to anyhing important. On the other hand his entourage confined to a couple of other Hungarian-Americans, thus he did not even spot a single potential agent. In 1966 the Ministry of the Interior dropped the case, the informer deceased in 1974.
Zoltan Neumark, a private lawyer from New York, commenced to pay regular visits to Hungary 1958. ... more Zoltan Neumark, a private lawyer from New York, commenced to pay regular visits to Hungary 1958. Neumark Sr. had been an active participant of the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919 who had to escape after the fall of the short-lived communist regime, so he emmigrated to the United States in 1923. Thus, the Hungarian State Security deemed the Neumark Jr. as a potential candidate for recruitment to collect intelligence on the émigrés in New York. Finally, the case turned into a dead end street, presumably due to the intervention of the FBI.
During the composition of this short essay, it was half a century ago that the Soviet
Union, Pol... more During the composition of this short essay, it was half a century ago that the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Non Warsaw Pact Yugoslavia severed the diplomatic relations with Israel on the ground of the Israeli preemptive strike in the prelude of the Six-Day War. The end of the diplomatic representation also meant the expulsion of the intelligence services of the Eastern Bloc. True, except for the Russian and the Bulgarian intelligence, no substantial and enduring success was ever achieved by any of them. Our thesis aims at presenting a potential explanation for these failures.
While the bilateral relations between the Hungarian People's Republic and the United States reach... more While the bilateral relations between the Hungarian People's Republic and the United States reached their apex by the official visit of Károly Grósz, First Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, in 1988, the haressment of the personnel of the Washington residency returned to the level that it had experienced from the oppression of the Hungarian Revolt to the end of the 1960's This was due to following factors. The new residency chief was taking a much more active stance strictly in his diplomatic mission while the arrest of retired Army Sergeant Clyde Lee Conrad generated an unwanted attention to the Hungarian Embassy.
Ahogy az 1956-os forradalom bukásával Magyarország nemzetközi téren elszigetelődött,1 a nyugati t... more Ahogy az 1956-os forradalom bukásával Magyarország nemzetközi téren elszigetelődött,1 a nyugati turistaforgalom éppen megindult lassú növekedése is megtorpant. Bár Nagy-Britannia az Edgar Sanders letartóztatása és szabadon bocsátása közötti időszaktól (1949-1953) eltérően nem vezetett be utazási tilalmat, a szigetországból évente alig pár százan érkeztek hazánkba. A beutazók jelentős részét a 30-as évek során az érvényesülés korlátozása miatt kivándorolt vagy a második világháború kitörése előtti időszakban a faji és vallási üldöztetés elől elmenekült egykori magyar állampolgárok adták, akik életben maradt hozzátartozóikhoz jöttek látogatóba. Az állambiztonság a ”közös antifasiszta platform” alapján szinte automatikusan megkísérelte behálózni a sokszor megtört, gyámoltalannak látszó embereket. A többségük érthető módon még az erre irányuló tapogatódzástól is alaposan megijedt, ezért sokan az első megkeresés után már látogatóba sem tértek vissza, míg mások fokozatosan távolodtak el a...
Followed by the Affected Compassion of the Free World, 2023
Following the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungary was placed under almost co... more Following the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungary was placed under almost complete diplomatic isolation, as the NATO Member States and their distant allies introduced a series of retaliatory and punitive measures against Hungarian diplomacy. After the French Embassy in Budapest was placed under strict official control from February 25 to March 2, 1957, the Prefecture of Police in Paris also opted for similar measures:the Central Directorate of Public Security ordered uniformed police officers to guard and observe the Hungarian Legations in Paris, and the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (the French political police) started harassing clients and visitors.Later, in June 1957, the United States expelled Captain Pál Rácz (1928–1986), who had worked for the Hungarian intelligence station or residency in New York and was later appointed as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Hungary. The British government did not immediately follow the American example of taking measures against Hungary, but had other means of demonstrating that the slow mending of bilateral relations that started in 1953 had come to another halt.In March 1957, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the return of Hungarian Ambassador to London János Katona; however, the Foreign Office (FO) utterly refused to approve the agrément of his proposed successor, former Minister of Transport Lajos Bebrits. According to British diplomacy, Bebrits was objectionable because the FBI had expelled him from the United States in 1932, due to illegal entry.British diplomacy was aware that, from the perspective of the US government, Bebrits had been involved in politically undesirable activities as a member of the Communist Party of the USA, and therefore rejected his candidacy in consideration of Washington policy. In the end, on October 8, 1957, the FO approved the appointment of Pál Földes, the former director of the Textile Industry Research Institute in Budapest, which, according to the representatives of the FO, equaled the de jure recognition of János Kádár’s government. Shortly after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, approximately 20,000 Hungarian refugees had arrived in Great Britain, the majority of whom settled in England. According to Home Office statistics, between November 1956 and May 1959, a total of 16,648 Hungarian citizens entered Great Britain, of whom 6,104 people traveled on to a third country (the majority to Canada) and 1,767 returned to Hungary, with 13,837 remaining on British soil.11 (It is important to note that, in contemporary Hungarian language use, England and Great Britain were technically interchangeable; for stylistic reasons, the authors of this study decided to use the adjective ‘British’ to encompass the entirety of the United Kingdom. From the very moment of its reorganization at the beginning of 1957, Department II/3 of the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior (the Hungarian intelligence) dedicated considerable effort to the repatriation of “dissidents” as well as mapping and infiltrating the new Hungarian émigré community in Great Britain; therefore, its London residency sought to recruit as many collaborators as possible from the ranks of the Hungarian refugee waves of 1956. However, it is important to note that while there were always volunteers who willingly cooperated, such as the subject of this study, we would argue that the wavering loyalty of network persons posed serious challenges to Hungarian intelligence, as MI5 (Military Intelligence Section 5 or the Security Service)13 more precisely its “D” (counterespionage) Branch14 was quick to expose these makeshift agents in order to mislead and double-cross the London residency.
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Papers by Pál István
agenda of the United Nations in 1963, certain members of the Hungarian
émigré community, especially those who had departed in the late 1940s
endeavoured to visit their relatives still living in the motherland. One
of them was grammar school teacher Endre Gyuranyi who was taking
refuge in Australia following his short detainment by the State Protection
Authority in 1949. The London Residency of the III/I. Directorate
of the Ministry of the Interior contemplated his recruitment based on
the certain degree of understanding he displayed toward the Kadar
regime. However, Gyuranyi insisted on the democratic principles he had
internalised during the liquidated democratic attempt of 1945–1947.
since 1956 endeavoured to spend a relatively long time in Hungary in 1962 despitethe fact that – due to his family background – he was not favoured by the party state, while his service in the State Police of Hungary that lasted to 1951 must have arisen suspicion in the eyes of the American counterintelligence. Jászay’s behaviour displayed serious contradictions: he volunteered his collaboration in the surveillance of the Hungarian Émigrés, at the same time, on the occasion of his third trip to
Budapest, he lurked around the centre of Hungarian intelligence. In the absence of an American source, we cannot prove it, but it is very likely that the FBI used the New York taxi driver as a bait to uncover the interests and methods of Hungarian state security.
states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s
Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in
Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate
between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised
by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the
state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as
well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking
another direction…
Two Israeli public servants in the middle of the inquiry of the Hungarian
Intelligence Service
In the late 1950’s, when the bilateral relation of the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Jewish State improved, the 2nd (Intelligence) Division of the Ministry of the Interior endeavored to dynamize its operations in Israel. In order to infiltrate the governmental organizations, the Hungarian Intelligence Service laid all its hope on the recruitment of tax inspector Avni Jakob who had departed Hungary shortly after the Holocaust and police officer Mihaly Koenig former member of the Habonim Association who relocated to Israel in 1949 parallel to the proclamation of the ban on the Zionist activities. However, the Intelligence Division proved to be oblivious to the two candidates’ tendency to escape from the tragedy of their past and leave their native country behind. The tax inspector was everything but popular in his new microcosmos, while the police officer had turned out to be elusive then stabbed the legation’s personnel to the back by mobilizing either the Shin-Bet or the Special Branch of the National Police Force of Israel.
Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Non Warsaw Pact
Yugoslavia severed the diplomatic relations with Israel on the ground of the Israeli
preemptive strike in the prelude of the Six-Day War. The end of the diplomatic representation also meant the expulsion of the intelligence services of the Eastern Bloc.
True, except for the Russian and the Bulgarian intelligence, no substantial and enduring success was ever achieved by any of them. Our thesis aims at presenting
a potential explanation for these failures.
agenda of the United Nations in 1963, certain members of the Hungarian
émigré community, especially those who had departed in the late 1940s
endeavoured to visit their relatives still living in the motherland. One
of them was grammar school teacher Endre Gyuranyi who was taking
refuge in Australia following his short detainment by the State Protection
Authority in 1949. The London Residency of the III/I. Directorate
of the Ministry of the Interior contemplated his recruitment based on
the certain degree of understanding he displayed toward the Kadar
regime. However, Gyuranyi insisted on the democratic principles he had
internalised during the liquidated democratic attempt of 1945–1947.
since 1956 endeavoured to spend a relatively long time in Hungary in 1962 despitethe fact that – due to his family background – he was not favoured by the party state, while his service in the State Police of Hungary that lasted to 1951 must have arisen suspicion in the eyes of the American counterintelligence. Jászay’s behaviour displayed serious contradictions: he volunteered his collaboration in the surveillance of the Hungarian Émigrés, at the same time, on the occasion of his third trip to
Budapest, he lurked around the centre of Hungarian intelligence. In the absence of an American source, we cannot prove it, but it is very likely that the FBI used the New York taxi driver as a bait to uncover the interests and methods of Hungarian state security.
states had elevated the diplomatic relations to the Hungarian People’s
Republic to ambassadorial level, Janos Radvanyi, charge d’affaires in
Washington, undertook the (impossible) mission that he would mediate
between the belligerents of the Vietnam War and restitute AmericanHungarian relations. For this purpose, he relied on the more understanding / less hostile American journalist of the younger generation that was represented by Bernard Gwertzman. But as soon as it was unfolding that Ho Chi Minh did not at all support the peace settlement plan devised
by Foreign Minister Janos Peter, the chargé d’affaires disenchanted the
state socialism and defected to the United States. It could have just as
well meant that the role of the most important press contact was taking
another direction…
Two Israeli public servants in the middle of the inquiry of the Hungarian
Intelligence Service
In the late 1950’s, when the bilateral relation of the Hungarian People’s Republic and the Jewish State improved, the 2nd (Intelligence) Division of the Ministry of the Interior endeavored to dynamize its operations in Israel. In order to infiltrate the governmental organizations, the Hungarian Intelligence Service laid all its hope on the recruitment of tax inspector Avni Jakob who had departed Hungary shortly after the Holocaust and police officer Mihaly Koenig former member of the Habonim Association who relocated to Israel in 1949 parallel to the proclamation of the ban on the Zionist activities. However, the Intelligence Division proved to be oblivious to the two candidates’ tendency to escape from the tragedy of their past and leave their native country behind. The tax inspector was everything but popular in his new microcosmos, while the police officer had turned out to be elusive then stabbed the legation’s personnel to the back by mobilizing either the Shin-Bet or the Special Branch of the National Police Force of Israel.
Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Non Warsaw Pact
Yugoslavia severed the diplomatic relations with Israel on the ground of the Israeli
preemptive strike in the prelude of the Six-Day War. The end of the diplomatic representation also meant the expulsion of the intelligence services of the Eastern Bloc.
True, except for the Russian and the Bulgarian intelligence, no substantial and enduring success was ever achieved by any of them. Our thesis aims at presenting
a potential explanation for these failures.
distant allies introduced a series of retaliatory and punitive measures against Hungarian diplomacy. After the French Embassy in Budapest was placed under strict official control from February 25 to March 2, 1957, the Prefecture of Police in Paris also opted for
similar measures:the Central Directorate of Public Security
ordered uniformed police officers to guard and observe the Hungarian Legations in Paris, and the Central Directorate of General Intelligence (the French political police) started harassing clients and
visitors.Later, in June 1957, the United States expelled Captain Pál Rácz (1928–1986), who had worked for the Hungarian intelligence station or residency in New York and
was later appointed as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Hungary.
The British government did not immediately follow the American example of taking measures against Hungary, but had other means of demonstrating that the slow mending of bilateral relations that started in 1953 had come to another halt.In March 1957, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the return of Hungarian Ambassador to London János Katona; however, the Foreign Office (FO) utterly refused to approve the agrément of his proposed successor, former Minister of
Transport Lajos Bebrits. According to British diplomacy, Bebrits was objectionable because the FBI had expelled him from the United States in 1932, due to illegal entry.British diplomacy was aware that, from the perspective of the US government, Bebrits
had been involved in politically undesirable activities as a member of the Communist Party of the USA, and therefore rejected his candidacy in consideration of Washington policy.
In the end, on October 8, 1957, the FO approved the appointment of Pál
Földes, the former director of the Textile Industry Research Institute in Budapest, which, according to the representatives of the FO, equaled the de jure recognition of János Kádár’s government.
Shortly after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, approximately 20,000 Hungarian refugees had arrived in Great Britain, the majority of whom settled in England. According to Home Office statistics, between November 1956 and May 1959, a total of
16,648 Hungarian citizens entered Great Britain, of whom 6,104 people traveled on to a third country (the majority to Canada) and 1,767 returned to Hungary, with 13,837
remaining on British soil.11 (It is important to note that, in contemporary Hungarian language use, England and Great Britain were technically interchangeable; for stylistic reasons, the authors of this study decided to use the adjective ‘British’ to encompass
the entirety of the United Kingdom. From the very moment of its reorganization at the beginning of 1957, Department
II/3 of the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior (the Hungarian intelligence) dedicated considerable effort to the repatriation of “dissidents” as well as mapping and infiltrating the new Hungarian émigré community in Great Britain; therefore, its London residency sought to recruit as many collaborators as possible from the ranks of the Hungarian refugee waves of 1956. However, it is important to note that while there
were always volunteers who willingly cooperated, such as the subject of this study, we would argue that the wavering loyalty of network persons posed serious challenges to Hungarian intelligence, as MI5 (Military Intelligence Section 5 or the Security Service)13 more precisely its “D” (counterespionage) Branch14 was quick to expose these
makeshift agents in order to mislead and double-cross the London residency.