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 - End game
FABULOUS SPY GAMES Back in 1957, when Hoffman promised to prepare a study for the FDP about the situation in Hungary, he was also directed to the Chamber, where he met chairman József Búzás. Búzás was later posted to Frankfurt, replacing János Sebestyén as the head of the trade office. At the time, his relationship with Hoffmann was not unclouded either, but he was still ready to help gather the materials required to write the article in 1957.395 At the Chamber, László Lindner was the person Hoffmann maintained contact with for many years. Lindner was the head of the Press and Propaganda Department, and his superior, Endre Jonai, the committed source of MNVK-2 under the cover name of ‘ Vadas’, introduced the two men to each other. Jonai is the first player in this story to be in contact with Hoffmann expressly on the instructions of military intelligence and counterintelligence. He regarded Israel to be his home as a Zionist,396 and based on the available documentation it appears he was not at all keen on cooperating with the former Nazi officer. Jonai also worked for the Soviet secret services for a while and was linked to the Soviet resident officer when he was posted to Ceylon as a trade adviser. The Soviets, however, certainly looked unfavourably on Jonai maintaining a particularly good relationship with members of the Israeli Embassy, or his dealings with semi-precious stones he bought in Ceylon, had cut in Israel, and sold in Western Europe.397 Jonai chose to emigrate to Israel in 1970. 1948, it was a chamber only in name. Keeping the name was important to ensure it was accepted by western partners, but the organisation had no autonomy whatsoever and was relegated to being part of the state administration. It was subjugated to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and only state-owned foreign trade companies could be its members. After the new economic mechanism came into being, the chambers powers and activities were slightly expanded, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that more serious changes were introduced. Zachar 2017 395 ÁBTL 3.1.5 0-12344/1 p. 33 Note by MNVK-2, 16 March 1959 396 ÁBTL 3.1.5 0-15409, p. 33 Evaluation report, 13 December 1971 397 Ibid. László Lindner contacted Hoffmann through Jonai, and given that Jonai was controlled by MNVK-2, this liaison is likely to have been established in accordance with their plans. MNVK-2 held documents on Linder, too, but the documents provided to the Ministry of Interior only show that he was 146
