Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
EMIL HOFFMAN AND HIS CIRCLES - Nazis reloaded
EMIL HOFFMAN AND HIS CIRCLES Nazis reloaded Triska seems to have been instructed by the Americans to forge relations in the Eastern European region, the region he had already developed a profound understanding of before the war, and particularly of Hungary, where he served during the conflict. He could not enter the country and therefore needed an intermediary. 1947 saw the establishment of a retail company, the Commission und Handelsgesellschaft, founded by a grain merchant called Karl Bickenbach.62 Bickenbach was a trader during the war and even before it, and had close links to the Nazi circles who were trying to influence the persecution of Jewish people based on economic considerations, naturally with their own interests in mind. I am referring to Kurt Becher first and foremost, who arrived in Hungary as Heinrich Himmlers man with the assignment to seize major industrial facilities and to acquire the fortunes of families of Jewish origin for the SS.63 He used the most refined methods of blackmail, promising better treatment to desperate and vulnerable people to prompt them to hand over their assets. Driven by cold financial interest, Becher arranged the rescue of the wealthiest Jewish families from Hungary with help from Rezső Kasztner. In return, entire industrial complexes were transferred to SS ownership. The train that became known as the Kasztner Train transported families like the Weisses and the Chorins to Switzerland, and even the Hungarian government was shocked to find that the most significant industrial facilities in the country had been seized by the Nazis overnight.64 Although Becher was a great rival to Adolf Eichmann, who oversaw the deportation of Hungarian Jews, he was 62 ÁBTL 3.2.3. Mt-425/1. 87. Report, no date indicated. 63 Kovács 2014, p. 80 64 Ibid. p. 90-91 The price of the ‘train ticket’ to life was unaffordable for anyone other than the families of industrial tycoons and bankers, consequently, it brought desperate bitterness to those who did not make it on board. Although Kasztner was acquitted in court after the war, he was murdered in 1957 by Jewish nationalists who were unable to forgive him. More on the topic cf. Mrs Strasser, C. - Bán D. 1999 29
