A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve 2015., Új folyam 2. (Szeged, 2015)
TÖRTÉNETTUDOMÁNY - Suba János: Kémvédelem - Egy tapasztalati jelentés 1919-ből
lános Suba Protection of Spies. Report from 1919. Protection of Spies - Report from 1919 János Suba The military leadership ofthe country gaining independence in 1919 was to organize the military intelligence and counterespionage of the military force. Department 1 of the Ministry of War was appointed to carry out the mission. Miklós Horthy issued a decree on 6 June 1919 to organize a National Army. Following the regulations of the decree, the National Army also founded its intelligence and counterespionage service. Miklós Horthy, as Minister of War, approved the petition of the Operational Division of the National Army (Division No 1] aimingatestablishingthe departmentof military intelligence. Major Károly Ottrubay was appointed to lead the department. After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a duality was formed between the two centres in Budapest and Szeged. On 17 November 1919, the Military Intelligence Department of the Ministry of War (5b) and Division II (registry) of the Commandership were united, this way eliminating parallelisms that decreased efficiency and encouraged rivalry. These two units made up Division II ofthe Commandership led by Demeter Stojakovics. Károly Ottrubay’s assignment ended. The document published here is a partly typed, partly hand-written draft issued by the military intelligence and counterespionage registry of the Ministry of War. There is no serial number or date on the draft issued without a cover page. The document presents the activity of the registry seated in Szeged, on the first floor of the Central Railway Administration Office. The registry department with 42 officers belonged to Department I, led by Major-General Károly Soós, together with the operational department and the department of the French liaison-officer. The offensive service was organized in three departments: one responsible for Communists, one for Romanian and Serbian matters, and one for propaganda. Diplomatic officers served in Cluj-Napoca, Arad, Oradea, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Zrenjanin, Novisad and Timisoara. From the ranks of the group, four officers served in the city and four officers served in the police. Three groups of military intelligence were formed. Group 1 was seated in Cegléd, monitoring Szolnok, Cegléd, and Nagykörös. Group 2 was seated in Kiskunfélegyháza, with Kecskemét, Kiskunfélegyháza, Szentkút and Kistelek in its district. The area of reconnaissance was (1) the territory between the rivers Danube and Tisza from the line marked by Kiskunfélegyháza- Kiskörös to the line marked by Vukovar-Titel; (2) the Banat; (3) Transylvania; (4) and in the Croatian-Slavonian region the area between the Danube and Sava from the line marked by Vukovar-Bracka to Zemunoni. The directions of military and political reconnaissance were finally drawn. Also, the responsibilities of the police in the field of military intelligence were declared. The responsibilities and duties of the registry department were also elaborated, the presented report being one of the documents informing on the activity of the military intelligence. 222
