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’ - A chink on the peace front: Frankfurt am Main
FABULOUS SPY GAMES Similarly to Russia, Hungary was also a traditional partner of German industry and trade, and her significance demonstrated itself best in her ability to build a bridge between East and West during the Cold War, which became even more apparent after Kádár took power. As a member of the Soviet occupation zone, Hungary effectively became one of the links that enabled the influx of capital and technology to the Bloc even during the iciest years of the Cold War by opening up routes for western companies to reach markets in the East, and ensuring the survival of German-Russian economic cooperation in the bipolar world. Foreign trade between Hungary and the western occupation zones of Germany took off surprisingly quickly. Hungarian exports practically ceased to exist in 1945-46 as there was no surplus to sell. Any extra that was produced left the country as war reparations. From 1947, the economy gradually returned to normal, and exports resumed, focused mainly on agricultural produce. Our most important economic partner, Germany ranked only 25th on the list of countries in a trade relationship with Hungary in 1947. It is interesting, however, that Germany ranked third two years later, right behind the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, in terms of total exports across the country’s four zones.165 Export and import activities between Germany and Hungary did not fall considerably over the subsequent years, even once the Iron Curtain was erected. The Hungarian trade office in Frankfurt, which, in the absence of a diplomatic relationship between the two countries, also represented Hungary politically in the western provinces of Germany, played a pivotal role in this trade relationship. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a proposal as early as 1947 to set up an office in Frankfurt,166 but, due to international political tensions, the first head of office, István Brody, who liaised between the two parties at the business negotiations, did not arrive until 1949.167 From 1947 onwards, trade agreements were concluded between Hungary and the Britishoccupied territories in West Germany, under which an account was opened with 165 Gábor 2013, p. 238 166 Lázár 2005 167 Gábor 2013, p. 240 62
