Gábor Kiszely
One of Many
A Case History From the Secret Police Archives
[...]
Who László Bálint really was and the background of the whole affair continues to remain obscure. We know much more about the preconceived scenario. On October 10th 1952, Colonel László Juhász issued the following instruction. "Responsible leaders and group leaders must be allotted to the case. Accordingly-as we have done in the past-the organizational structure of the investigation of the case must be established, who are in charge of which part, who belong to them, what kind of work they must put their minds to, which of the accused are in their custody. A certain reserve force should also always be at the ready.
When the stable organizational structure of the case will be fixed, we shall approve it. Those in charge and the investigators will have to be convened either together, or in succession and the huge importance of this case-not just for Hungary, but internationally-will have to be pointed out, the fact what a blow all this will mean, not just for the Titoists but also for their principals, the imperialists, if we do our job well. It will have to be pointed out that, in all the people's democracies, this is the first terrorist case which is so amply shored up by material evidence, showing who is in favour of war, and what methods are employed by the other side."
Three weeks later, on November 5th 1952, those entrusted with carrying out the job are asking for further instructions:
"1. Will we process in the summing up those parts not clarified in the examination which they discussed amongst themselves, e.g. plans for attempts on the life of the Prime Minister of the Hungarian People's Republic connected with his home, and plans to blow up bridges?
2. To what degree can the names of Yugoslav exiles figure in the confessions of those in custody?
3. Must we keep quiet about the huge quantities of money and gold, or can these be mentioned in cases where the issue is a villa to be purchased for the terrorist group.
4. Should the shooting be left out altogether or may the puncturing of the tyre [...] and the alarming of the civilian population because of the firearms figure?
5. Should the policeman and the custom officer figure amongst the witnesses, which would mean that they would unjustifiably be raised to the rank of heroes, on the other hand they would stand unmasked as cowards?
6. Would it not be advisable to bring in one or two border guards as witnesses from the region where five Titoist bandits opened fire at the border police and cut through the wire?"
The answer is provided, and the 121 questions of which the proposal related to the case of László Bálint is made up can finally be classified under five headings:
I. The presentation of the accused as a debased, degenerate personality, capable of anything and socially exceptionally dangerous.
II. The UDB is where base criminals meet. Its agents are recruited amongst those who commit crimes.
III. The UDB is an organization that commits common crimes: robbery, looting, assault and murder.
IV. The UDB is financed by the Americans. It is an auxiliary of the American intelligence agencies.
V. The UDB trains agents to commit terrorist acts, espionage, murders, to blow up things etc. and sends them across the frontier."
The implementation itself is just about as smooth, as daily reports attached to the interrogtation reports of László Bálint-who soon recovered his health-show.
"November 4th 1952.
Attitude and behaviour: He is in a confident mood. He tensely looks forward to negotiations with Comrade Vice Marshal [Gábor Péter], when, as he puts it, he will discover his fate. He is confident that he will be given a chance to continue living. That problem very much concentrates his mind. He stated that he would very much like to continue living, but he is ready to obey the instructions of Comrade Vice Marshal in every respect. It is typical of his attitude that he sees his fate in every way in terms of the conversation to be held with the Comrade Vice Marshal, he expects the solution of all his problems from it. He frequently asks whether the senior officers of the ÁVH are perhaps angry with him. He has decided that at the earliest opportunity he will ask the Comrade Vice Marshal to forgive him for his initial attitude.
November 5th 1952.
Attitude and behaviour: Developing favourably, he is looking forward with great excitement to your being satisfied with his minutes. 'If the Vice Marshal is not satisfied with my minutes, they can take me to the gallows, there is no more I can tell.' Staying alive is constantly at the forefront of his attention. He speaks a great deal about the possibility that he might work for the ÁVH. [...] There is another new feature though. Occasionally he says that he does not care how long a sentence he gets, as long as he stays alive. [...] He speaks a lot about wanting to get instructions from Comrade Vice Marshal, which he would carry out, come what may.
November 8th 1952.
He is firmly resolved to carry out instructions received from Comrade Vice Marshal under all possible circumstances. [...] He reckons with an audience of the Comrade Vice Marshal this week.
November 9th 1952.
He reckons with being able to talk to the Comrade Vice Marshal within a day or two and that he will receive new instructions. He is full of plans for the big job ahead.
November 10th 1952.
He returned cheerful, almost enthusiastic from his audience with the Comrade Vice Marshal. He spoke a great deal about the Comrade Vice Marshal, about the trust he put in him. What impressed him particularly was the calm in which the audience took place.
His mother's fate bothers him and he decided that the next time he would ask the Comrade Vice Marshal that his mother should not be punished but set free.
It was in that state that the visit of Comrade Colonel came, after which he regained his balance. 'Sir, I am ready to do anything the big chief asks for, they can't just put me down, can they?'
November 11th 1952.
We reworked his confession in accordance with the principles laid down by the Comrade [Soviet] Advisers as questions and answers, we prepared the minutes of the suspect.
He stressed repeatedly that he put himself in the hands of the Comrade Vice Marshal, 'come what may.' He insists that he won't waver at the hearing. 'I will do everything that the Vice Marshal asks of me, even if they take me to the gallows two hours later, but why should they hang me?' Right through the day he repeatedly asked for the judge's questions, referring to what the Comrade Vice Marshal had said. 'Let me see those slips of paper so I can prepare myself properly. I'll show them that László Bálint is a man with his feet on the ground.'
November 12th 1952.
We reworked the suspect's minutes, he is relatively calm and he insists that he will do his bit at the hearing. [...] He does his best to learn the stuff as well as possible. Sometimes he complains that we should have started sooner, the hearing will be upon us in next to no time. 'László Bálint will do everything that is humanly possible.' He has great expectations regarding the conversation with Comrade Vice Marshal. He expects words which will allow him to weigh up his own fate even more clearly.
November 13th 1952.
We talked over his new, reworked synopsis.
In the last hours of the interrogation he repeatedly mentioned that tomorrow his testimony would surely be spoken into a microphone. The reasons he gave were that in 'big cases' (Rajk, etc) that was the custom, he too had heard them on the wireless long ago.
November 15th, 1952.
In the first break during the hearing-after his interrogation, he was tense waiting for the opinion of the top comrades-right from the first moment he stressed that he would have said more but they did not let him. The appearance of Comrade Vice Marshal calmed him and cheered him up. In the later breaks he repeatedly asked for my opinion, 'I wonder why the old man said that I should watch the behaviour of the others, that can only be explained in one way.' In the breaks he considered the judgement which was still to come. In his opinion he would receive a death sentence. 'The question now is whether the Vice Marshal can stop the carrying out of the sentence, I would really love to go on living!'
After the hearing he stressed repeatedly that he would have done better if he had been allowed to go on speaking, then his attention turned to next Monday. He wanted to know whether, after the judgement was given, he would be hanged, or would he really be allowed to live.
His affection for his interrogator grew more powerful, he asked anxiously if he will visit him on Sunday. All in all: once again he put greater trust in Comrade Vice Marshal.
His problem is whether Comrade Vice Marshal can stop the sentence being carried out.
November 16th, 1952.
He has anxious doubts concerning the sentence, he is afraid of a death sentence. 'But if it happens then let it happen quickly. Later I would really go mad.' From time to time his thoughts are wholly on a new life, he becomes altogether different speaking a lot about his plans of the things he would do for the ÁVH. It was interesting to hear him say that after the sentence, 'if they do not do away with me, I will write down my real life for the Vice Marshal'."
November 17 1952.
After the end of the hearing in the morning, during the six hour waiting period after it, his mood fluctuated. Pessimism dominated.
After the conversation with the Comrade Vice Marshal he was as transformed. None of the other conversations with the Comrade Vice Marshal had as big an effect on him as today's. After the proclamation of the sentence he was completely calm, in spite of repeated warnings by his officer in charge, he could barely restrain himself from drawing attention by an excessively cheerful look on his face, and an excessively cheerful attitude.
As regards his more distant future, he alluded to it once or twice, but optimistically. His problem is that he cannot carry out some of the tasks given to him by the Comrade Vice Marshal without exposing himself, bearing in mind that there are always two of them in his cell. He intends to speak about this to the Comrade Vice Marshal."
But on that day the Budapest County Court, in open session, sentenced László Bálint to death. Another twelve persons were sentenced to longish prison terms for aiding and abetting a criminal act.
November 18th, 1952.
He is generally calm but smaller doubts manifest themselves again. In the interests of maintaining his calm over a longer period of time, his officer in charge referred to the fact that Comrade Vice Marshal had travelled abroad for a fortnight's period of rest, and therefore he could not directly occupy himself with the case. Therefore essential changes could not occur. A rest was called for.
Following an enquiry by the Ministry of the Interior concerning László Bálint, the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office answered on February 1st 1966: "According to our data he was sentenced to death and executed."
Gábor Kiszely,
a historian, has published books on Israel, Rome and Freemasonry. His collection of essays on Israel won him the Pro Urbe Award of Jerusalem. At present his main interest is fascism, in all its manifestations, past and present.
