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
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' the Magyar Nemzeti Bank to deal with cash flow related to trading. Similarly, another account was opened with a German bank.168 The mutual clearance budget of the accounts depended on annual agreements and was increased tenfold from 100,000 dollars to one million dollars by the second year, 1948. Following this, the sum was raised significantly each year. Research by Péter Gábor shows that the trade balance between the two countries was positive on the Hungarian side until 1949, when the territories under French occupation also joined the agreements. By 1950, this was reversed, leaving the Hungarian side continuously in the red;169 in 1952, Hungary owed its West German partner 5 to 6 million dollars, even though a deficit of only 3 million dollars was approved. The secretary of the German trade administration in charge of Hungarian matters, Herbert Schellpeper, lent the Hungarian partner a helping hand by not charging the Hungarian debt in dollars to the Hungarian account, but this magnanimity was clearly not something to rely on in the long run.170 Hungary was offering mostly agricultural produce and hoping to purchase heavy industry goods and raw materials from Germany. The unfolding Cold War undoubtedly made foreign trade difficult, as far more stringent trade quotas were applied to Eastern countries than to the countries in the free world, and the annually updated quotas set a limit on the distribution of certain products. On top of this, embargo rules were imposed increasingly strictly due to pressure from America. As a result, the Hungarian foreign trade office had tough negotiations to conduct with the German ministries to raise quotas and purchase embargoed raw materials and products, not without success. 168 Ibid. p. 243 169 Ibid. p. 271 170 ÁBTL 3.2.3 Mt-425/1, p. 371 Report, 6 May 1952 As mentioned previously, István Brody arrived at the foreign trade office in Frankfurt as its first permanent representative in 1949. According to state security, he was the man who built a close relationship between the office and Bickenbachs company. Trade agent Hans Englert, who spoke excellent Hungarian as he had previously spent 12 years in Budapest as the trade attaché 63
