Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-09-01 / 9. szám
14 FRATERNITY July 16, 1957, a decree was passed enabling the regime to detain people without trial indefinitely. By mid-July 1957 the number of death sentences admitted by the Kádár regime was 104, but the International Commission of Jurists has quoted estimates of over 2,000 executions. On November 21, Kádár, after Imre Nagy had rejected his proposal to offer selfcriticism, in a written note to the Yugoslav Government guaranteed safe conduct to Nagy and his friends to proceed freely to their homes. But as soon as they left the Yugoslav Embassy they were abducted by Soviet officers, and a year and a half later Moscow and Budapest radio announced simultaneously that Nagy, together with General Maleter and three other leaders, were sentenced to death and executed. The announcement shocked and horrified the world. Members of the UN Special Committee were summoned to discuss the secret trial and executions. Tito’s Yugoslav regime joined the protests of non-Communist countries. In the eyes of Hungarians, Imre Nagy became a martyr and a national hero. Professor Zinner correctly states in his book that no Communist before Nagy had ever achieved such distinction. The UN Special Committee report pointed out that “a most conclusive sign of the inability of the Hungarian Government to maintain its sovereign independence against Soviet intervention was the abduction of Mr. Nagy.” The same report added: “It is difficult to determine the precise extent of Soviet military administration after November 4, but that it involved far-reaching control of internal Hungarian affairs by foreign military authorities is apparent from available texts of military orders.” (To be continued)
