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' authorities.223 Junger reckoned that Schellpeper was playing the odds, since the Americans could have arrested him if he got caught, and yet he went on promoting Hungarian trade interests continuously, for example, by feeding Hungary secret information from the Ministry, or by releasing consignments held up by the American authorities to allow them to continue their journey to Hungary. The latter occurred dozens of times. Schellpeper was surprisingly successful in setting the annual quotas for purchases, whereby Hungary was given a framework budget of 500,000 dollars to export goods of her own choosing to the territory of West Germany without any additional export licences. This framework was the same as the volume foreseen for France. The Hungarian foreign trade mission also had Schellpeper to thank for making sure Germany did not debit amounts in free foreign currency for a long time to the bank accounts kept to settle accounts at the expense of the Hungarians. Why the German official did all this is a legitimate question to ask. We have no evidence to suggest that he was bribed to the extent Bickenbach or Süssmilch were, although small gestures were frequently made, for example, when Junger would accompany Schellpeper to the tailor with whom Junger had previously agreed to have the German officials suit made from the most expensive fabric at the price of the cheapest material, with the difference to be paid by Junger.224 However, Schellpeper shared the same political views as Emil Hoffmann, and he was prepared to do anything to see Germany reunited, the greatest obstacle to which was, he believed, America. On top of all that, Schellpeper was convinced that the German economy needed its traditional markets, and that giving in to pressure from the Americans to slam the door on the Eastern Bloc would have been tantamount to treason. Junger was probably not exaggerating when he described Schellpeper as a chauvinist man, and it is also more than telling that this kind of Nazi attitude was expressly welcomed by the new Hungarian political elite.225 223 Ibid. 224 ÁBTL 3.2.4 K-472, p. 7 Note about Schellpeper, undated. 225 ÁBTL 3.2.3 Mt-425/1, p. 88 Jungers report on the ministerial line, undated. 79
