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' and how István Brody came into contact with the communist secret service, but his posting to Germany suggests he was already working with them at the time. In 1947, he travelled to the western occupation zone to conduct trade negotiations on behalf of the Economic Council with several economic politicians. Brody is highly likely to have visited the economic leaders of the Bizone with a mission of coaxing them into signing a trade agreement, and to this end he brought along an assortment of produce from the Hungarian agriculture and food industries: “My luggage was rather unusual this time around: it was not a journalist’s pencil, notebook and camera that were lying under the shirts and clothes, but dried vegetable stews in small cellophane packages, some jam described as mixed flavour, pea and bean samples, and goose down in paper bags: a travellers collection of samples.”176 In 1947, strict border controls were in place and persons were only allowed to travel with extra permission, particularly to the West German territories occupied by the Allied Forces. Yet, Brody’s account of crossing the border was a jovial story that reeked of propaganda: “the customs officer glanced into the car, asked us (and believed) how much money we had on us, and then asked me to produce my passport. ‘Brody’, he said, looking at me. Another Brody has just crossed here, heading home to Budapest, he was coming from America, also by car. Are you related?’ ‘He’s my younger brother’, I replied and started laughing out loud. [... ] Well, there you go, this is the real Iron Curtain for you: on the very same day, two sons of the very same family cross the border this way and that, two brothers sharing the very same name, neither of whom is a member of any political party whatsoever, or belongs to any kind of strong interest group. They are not even what you could call rich as they live from hand to mouth, beyond their means, not giving a hoot about tomorrow. Two independent men, two restless little engines, driven across the border by nothing other than the desire to be active, to act and explore. The Iron Curtain: a tale for grown-up and gullible children.. .”177 176 ‘Neither butter, nor cannons’ by István Bródy Haladás, 22 May 1947, p. 5 177 Ibid. István Brody set off to Germany on behalf of the Economic Council. The supreme management body of the Hungarian economy was set up in 65
