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
FABULOUS SPY GAMES and Hungarian fascist accessories.”157 Secret amounts drained from the country and its reconstruction passed through Nyerges hands in Switzerland. It was under his supervision and control that the trade network, the members of which were in fact former Nazi officers, was created, but the assets stolen from Hungary were sold off not by ‘Hungarian fascists’ but communist receivers through the very same network during the Soviet occupation after the War. 157 Nyerges 1962, p 15 158 To find out about the structural changes at the merged Ministry of the Interior in detail cf. Gyarmati - Palasik 2013 159 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 166 Recommendation to expel, 17 July 1953 160 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 169 Establishing contact, 6 October 1955 161 ÁBTL 3.2.1 Bt-481/1, p. 225-226. Relationship with László Kardos, 30 December 1965 The fall of Gábor Péter and his associates also caught up with Nyerges in 1953. When Prime Minister Imre Nagy ordered the merger of the ÁVH and the Ministry of the Interior on 17 July 1953,158 ÁVH ’s independence came to an end and its leaders were simultaneously brought to court. Péter too was excluded from the network based on the accusation that he had relations with Swiss counterintelligence.159 He was not, however, kept on the back burner entirely and for long, as the subdivision for counterintelligence in foreign trade of Department V of the Ministry of the Interior continued to maintain relations with him regarding trade matters.160 In 1955, he was yet again a man of the counterintelligence network, with his tasks including observation and recruitment. During the revolution, Nyerges probably tried to safeguard himself against all eventualities and sought out contacts in the newly organised bodies: he visited his former secondary school classmate, László Kardos, with whom he had previously had no relationship at all. Exercising self-criticism, Nyerges told him that he had re-evaluated a great many things in his head. Reminding him of their old friendship, Nyerges offered his services to Kardos, who was a member of the Revolution Committee of Hungarian Intelligentsia during the revolution.161 The suddenly re-discovered friendship was, however, rather shortlived: after the failure of the revolution, Nyerges avoided Kardos ’ company, and his classmate was sentenced to life in prison in 1958. His extremely skilful manoeuvring bore fruit in his career: János Nyerges became the indispensable 60
