Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA’ - The secret man behind the scenes: János Nyerges
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' killed, but this does not seem to have limited young Nyerges ’ opportunities. He was raised by his mother and his uncle, graduating from high school in Újpest in 1937 with classmates who included László Kardos, future director of the Györffy Dormitory and founder of the peoples dormitory movement. Nyerges started his university studies in Vienna and later moved to Paris to earn a degree in commerce at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales. 130 Over the next few years, he travelled the world as a commercial trainee, but at this stage it is unclear what company or organisation provided him with the funding to do so; the summary of his biography reveals only that he went to South Africa, and was later ‘delegated’ to Switzerland.131 This is all rather vaguely put, without any explicit conclusions to be drawn, but the state protection authority later made several mentions of Nyerges ’ good relations at the companies of the Swiss Communist party,132 and relied on his expertise to oversee various banking transactions.133 This seems to support the CIA information that he was in charge of overseeing the finances of international communism, at least the part managed by Hungarians. It is certainly not beyond the imagination that he had already joined some underground organisation between the two wars, which helped him get some global trade experience under his belt. His knowledge and experience made him indispensable after 1945. 130 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 27 Report, 9 November 1950 131 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1 p. 14 Report, 3 October 1950 132 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 91 Negotiations in Switzerland, 11 September 1951 133 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 68 Report, 18 April 1951 134 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 9 Autobiography, 11 May 1950 135 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 130 Report, 28 January 1953 According to his autobiography, he returned to Hungary in 1939 and was forced into labour service from 1940. In 1944, he was sent to Bor, from where he escaped; he joined Yugoslav partisans and then the Red Army, participated in the Transdanubian offensive, and was discharged within the territory of Romania in August 1945.134 Nyerges worked at the Directorate for Foreign Trade from 10 September 1945 and was delegated to Bern in October 1946 (there is a document, though, that says he was already in Switzerland from October 1945 onwards),135 where he was in charge of organising the local foreign trade 53
