Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - Economic diplomacy
'FABULOUS' IN HUNGARY the representatives of Hungarian diplomacy established connections with West German journalists to use them as intermediaries.265 In return for arranging meetings between the representatives of West German political parties and the officials of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the journalists were allowed to attend these meetings and report on them.266 Winning over the sympathy of the western press had already begun, although the benevolent treatment of the journalists of free countries temporarily turned frosty after the revolution was crushed and János Kádár illegitimately took power, but this disappointment was quickly set aside and enthusiastic reports were written about Kádár s maverick politics as early as the second half of 1957.267 By the mid-1950s, Hungarian diplomacy was using western journalists sympathetic to the cause, so Emil Hoffmanns appearance around the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin is hardly surprising, particularly in the knowledge of Hoffmanns previous life, as we saw that the former Nazi turned businessman tried his secretary of the Adenauer Government and established the hard-liner policy in 1955 that the Bonn administration would sever diplomatic relations with any state that recognised the German Democratic Republic. The Doctrine set the course for West German foreign policy up until 1969, when Willy Brandt took office. 265 Horváth & Németh 1999, p. 125 266 Ruff 2007, p. 306 267 Some western journalists (sympathetic to the cause) took a rather lenient tone as early as February 1957 when writing about János Kádár taking power. An agent of the Ministry of Interior had an interview with Swiss correspondent Otto Frei on 19 February 1957, right when the retributions hitting tens of thousands of people were unfolding in Hungary: “He underlined that he believes the situation would return to normal pretty soon, and that János Kádár’ s government would strengthen. He considered todays state of affairs already close to normal, adding that he personally holds János Kádár in high esteem, and believes him to be a very honest and upright man. I asked him what other journalists thought of this in western countries. Frei, who has extensive contacts, said the overwhelming majority of correspondents in western countries shared his views. They found it tragic that Kádár was forced to take office with the help of Soviet troops, they found Kádár ’ s character as a person impeccable, and they respected him also for his unshakeable behaviour during his time in prison. Nobody who had seen Rákosi ’s prisons from the inside, said Frei, can ever go back to the old methods. Frei also voiced his concerns over whether János Kádár would be strong enough to push through his own ideas against the apparatus of old functionaries, and against the Stalinism he thought was being revived in the Soviet Union.” ÁBTL 3.2.3 Mt-536/2, p. 20 Report on the conversation with Swiss correspondent Dr Otto Frei. Place and date of conversation: Berlin, 19 February 1957 99
