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 - The role of Frankfurt
'FABULOUS' IN HUNGARY unlawfully delivering mostly coins and similar assets to Vienna. Nothing material happened until 1968, when the Ministry of Interior launched investigations against a number of suspects. Among many others, Ferenc Pikler’s brother György Péter, who had been illegally delivering all sorts of valuables in his own car from Budapest to Vienna, was also investigated. A few weeks after the arrest warrant was issued, György Péter died in hospital, where he was being treated for the heart attack he suffered previously. Several theories have been proposed regarding his death, since the circumstances did not suggest suicide. According to one theory, he fell victim to the wave of anti-Semitism that rose following the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Because he collected precious metals and coins for Zionist circles, the Hungarian secret service regarded him as an Israeli spy. According to another common theory, he was framed by the opponents of the new economic mechanism introduced in 1968. Péter was a strong opponent of the orthodox, Muscovite line, and favoured reforms after coming face to face with the harmful effects of the command economy. In addition to Rezső Nyers, he can be regarded as one of the fathers of the new mechanism. Both explanations seem to be logical, but neither in itself is sufficient to order a liquidation, not to mention the fact that Israeli interests were continuously represented in foreign trade right until the late 1980s, which means that Péter s death did not rock the so-called Zionist line at all, and it was not merely a single person behind the new economic mechanism, but an entire team that was able to pave the way for the newly introduced reforms for years to come. There is, however, one angle that appears important, but is ignored by everyone. Interestingly enough, neither the investigation nor subsequent assessments connected his death to his brothers activities. Investigation documents show that György Péter s relationship with the smugglers’ network in Vienna dated back to 1958,321 but there is no indication that his brother, Ferenc Pikier, used his diplomatic immunity to commit similar crimes between 1958 and 1962. It seems unlikely that the detectives did not consider trying to find connections between the concurrent activities of the brothers taking place along the same route, but the surviving documents suggest they did 321 ÁBTL 3.1.9 V-155912/8, p. 172 Information for the Government on the case of Dr Péter, György, 23 January 1969 119
