Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
INTRODUCTION
FABULOUS SPY GAMES associates, they could make themselves understood in snatches of sentences. An hour later, he left the building that hosted the meeting with a satisfied smile and was off again. During the day he visited the headquarters of a number of foreign trade companies, none of the meetings lasted longer than 30 minutes. On his way back, he stopped at Vörösmarty Square and entered the renowned confectioners shop there. Searching for someone, he looked around. Since the person was not there, he returned to his car and drove to the hotel. The black car rolled lazily past the parked Opel to stop somewhat further away. The two men glanced at their watches again. With his jacket over his arm, the mysterious chap left for a walk a few more times. Every time his destination was the confectioners, where he entered, looked around and left. He strolled casually, stopping at shop windows now and then to stare for minutes on end at the reflection of the goings-on of the street. It was getting late, he would surely not meet whoever he was expecting that day. This time around, he would have dinner alone at the hotel. The two men were standing around across the street for some time. They looked at their watches and left their posts. The report was typed at the central office to be placed by tobacco-stained fingers inside a dossier with a cover that read: ‘Fabulous’.1 1 The Historical Archives of Hungarian State Security (ÁBTL) holds 20 volumes of information gathered while observing Emil Hoffman, including countless reports of his outside surveillance. ÁBTL 3.1.5 Series 0-12344. The teaser above was written based on such reports. Only part of the story above is a figment of the imagination. Emil Hoffman, or ‘Fabulous’ as he was known to counterintelligence, was indeed a prominent person of interest to the state security apparatus. His every move was carefully watched every time he arrived in Hungary, which happened often. In the early 1960s, he was a key figure in East-West trade and knew nearly everyone, as well as everything and anything about foreign trade transactions through his 8
