Borvendég Zsuzsanna: Fabulous Spy Games. How international trade networks with the West developed after 1945 - A Magyarságkutató Intézet Kiadványai 24. (Budapest, 2021)
‘FABULOUS’ IN HUNGARY - The powerhouse of industrial espionage
FABULOUS SPY GAMES also because private companies were willing to hand over any embargoed items to the Hungarians - subject to varying degrees of haggling.331 This is demonstrated by a memo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, which states that “the Germans have not been overly strict in adhering to the embargo restrictions.”332 (In the previous chapter, we learned that the embargo did not pose insurmountable difficulties prior to 1945 either.) This obliging behaviour was also maintained later on, so Hungarian intelligence services and technical experts could rely on help from the Germans in obtaining embargoed products one way or another. In view of this, giving preferential treatment to German industry seems fully justified, but Sebestyén became involved in a number of alleged cases of corruption over the coming years, which prompted state security to relentlessly investigate the leadership and staff of OMFB, but Sebestyén was considered too big a fish for them to get a real handle on him. 331 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-16586/1. 146 Károly Bárd hearing, 2-26 April 1974 Károly Bárd (1924- 2012), former state security officer, then insurance lawyer. After 1989, he worked at the same legal practice as Miklos Bauer, who was also his colleague at the State Protection Office previously. 332 Lázár 2005 333 ÁBTL 3.1.5. 0-15829/1, p. 65 Evaluation report, 2 September 1968 During the investigation against Hoffman, information continued to arrive that Sebestyén was applying strong pressure on foreign trade companies to buy Siemens products. This put Siemens’ rival AEG, also trying to open up towards the eastern markets, on the back foot by leaking information that counted as business secrets to manipulate price negotiations. The head of the eastern division at Siemens was a man with some Hungarian background called Hans Müller, who was fluent in Hungarian and very familiar with the majority of the Hungarian foreign trade elite. He was in also contact with Hoffmann. Their acquaintance dated back to Hitler’s time as Müller was also an SS officer during the war.333 The chief engineer of Siemens, Viktor Fritz Sieglohr, who worked as an engineer for the research institute carrying out the infamous Peenemünde rocket developments during the war, often visited 124
