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 key to success
'THE HUNGARIAN MAFIA' as the Americans believed him to be. Junger dined and wined the ministry employee on a regular basis, occasionally giving him gifts, and Süssmilch, or ‘Milky’, his cover name at state security, asked for the occasional favour from the Hungarian trade attaché in return. Sometime in 1951, he came up with the idea that the Hungarians should help him leave his government job, because he was not earning enough to make a decent living and that he should be allowed to join Bickenbachs company as a trade agent.216 He regarded Bickenbach as his old fellow fighter, they knew each other from Nazi times, and he was trying to make his request appealing by explaining in detail what a great help his nexuses could be to the company representing Hungarian interests in the ministry, since, with their assistance, he could tackle the company’s import troubles. It would have been unhelpful to Hungarian interests had Süssmilch left the ministry, but they did not want to deny his request because that could have cost his cooperation. Junger eventually persuaded him to stay at the ministry, but he was made a secret partner in Bickenbachs company, pocketing 600 to 700 deutschmarks in commission a month, exactly the amount he was earning at the Ministry.217 Süssmilch proved himself to be far from ungrateful later on. He made sure, for example, that Hungary was allowed to export salami to Germany again; something the country had not had the opportunity to do since the war, given that German salami manufacturers prevented the issue of import licences. The quota issued enabled the export of meat products worth 200,000 US dollars. With help from Süssmilch, Hungarian companies were able to transport three times the volume of wine stated in the trade agreement to West Germany, which meant they sold more wine to the Germans than before the war. Süssmilch helped not only to manipulate trade quotas, but was also present at the German-Hungarian trade negotiations, where he constantly gave away the position and negotiation intentions of his own delegation, giving the Hungarian partner an advantage over the Germans. In the autumn of 1952, he visited Hungary as a member of a trade delegation, where the agents of the State Protection Authority blackmailed him during a night of excess at a pub 216 ÁBTL 3.2.3 Mt-425/1. 87. Jungers report on the ministerial line, undated. 217 Ibid. 77
