Cseh Valentin szerk.: „70 éve alakult a MAORT” – tanulmányok egy bányavállalat történetéből (2009)
Lajos Srágli: Hungary's Economy, Politics and MAORT
spent on "readying" the defendants and the witnesses. In the course of preparing for the trial, attempts were made for convincing not only the defendants, but the witnesses as well. AVH tried to do away with any and all evidence that could have gone against the accusations. 1 4 The verdicts were handed down on December 9. During the trial, the defendants only acknowledged a part of the accusations made against them —despite the threats they received. The verdicts reached and handed down on December 9,1948 on the basis of Act VII of 1946 on the Protection of the Democratic State Order and the Republic, moreover Act XXXIV of 1947, were harsh: Simon Papp was sentenced to death, Bódog Abel was convicted to 15 years in penitentiary, Béla Binder to 4 years imprisonment for crimes aiming to overthrow 7 the democratic state order, while Kálmán Barnabás was acquitted. Defence attorneys lodged a complaint of nullity. 1 5 The National Council of People's Courts heard the case on appeal on January 20, 1949. Those convicted were not present at the hearing. The heavily politicised accusations were reiterated at the appellate hearing, but the verdicts were amended as a few extenuating circumstances were taken into consideration: Simon Papp's death sentence was abated to life imprisonment, Bódog Abel's sentence reduced to 10 years in penitentiary, the terms applicable to confiscation of property* and other sanctions were dispensed with in the case of Béla Binder, and the court agreed with Kálmán Barnabás' acquittal. 1 6 It is apparent from the proceedings on the whole that punishing the defendants was not the objective - seeming as how thev were innocent -, rather to be able to justify' the legitimacy of taking MAORT into state management in the eyes of the world, along with why Hungary was not able to honour its export obligations derived from restitution and international economic treaties on account of sabotage. At the same time, the trial served political purposes as well. Its organisers emphasised the malicious intent of American imperialism, the presence of internal enemies, and the necessity of vigilance. The fate of those sentenced in the trial was determined bv the verdict for the rest of their lives. The sabotage accusation and trial against MAORT's managers also had an unusually disadvantageous effect on the Hungarian oil industry, as well as its specialists and workforce. Having worked at a company that "sabotaged" the building of the people's democracy determined the lives of a whole generation of the sector's employees. Political criteria played the leading role in the way MAORT and its managers were perceived for four decades following 1948. These professionals maintained the correctness of MAORT's production principles throughout, most of them knew that no sabotage occurred. Thev did not, however, voice their opinion. Written sources, and the documents proving that the trial was put on for show remained under seal almost up to this very day. 1 It is true that taking into state management did not legally mean nationalization - that is to say this had no bearing on ownership conditions - but in practice there was hardly anything to distinguish these two things. NlAORT's placement into state management was terminated as of December 31, 1949, concurrently it was taken into state ownership through law-decree no. 20 of 1949. Its properly functioning organisation was done awav with sooner (before 1948). '"' MOIM Arch., Gy. 49/9. MOIM Arch.,Gy. 53/1. 176 MOIM Arch., Gy, 53/1, 1( ír the economic and political afterlife of the MAC )RT case: SRÁGL] 2005.
