How East Berlin Lied about Hungary

The main part of the Berlin ADN transmission of October 31 was attributed to the Austrian correspondent under the label ADN Vienna.

But it did not originate from him, and was from beginning to end a tendentious invention. Here is what ADN Vienna reported on October 31:

VIENNA, October 31 (ADN). According to Free Kossuth Radio (this is the name of Budapest Radio since Tuesday evening) the revolutionary council of the Hungarian police command has expressed special pride in the fact that the police did not take action against the people's uprising. A list of factories demanding thorough examination by the United Nations of the Hungarian problem was read in the 12 o'clock news reports. A further number of plants are demanding once more the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary. The revolutionary council of the army has agreed on a joint programme of demands including immediate negotiations with the Soviet command over the departure of the Soviet troops from all of Hungary . . . Free Kossuth Radio expressed satisfaction on Wednesday evening over the fact that the foreign Press was reporting the Hungarian freedom fight so positively. It was painful to hear the old Stalinist tune from the Press of Czechoslovakia and Rumania . . . The Revolutionary Council of the Budapest Electricity Works declared that no current would be supplied to industry until Soviet troops had left Hungary . . .

And here is the text put out by ADN Berlin:

83. ON THE SITUATION IN HUNGARY. FASCIST 'ARROW CROSS' ORGANIZES. VIENNA 31 OCT 56 (ADN) — ACCORDING TO REPORTS ARRIVING IN VIENNA FROM HUNGARY COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS IN BUDAPEST ARE CONTINUING THEIR ARMED ACTS WITH THE AIM OF ABOLISHING THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. WITH THE INTENTION OF PROVOKING AN ATMOSPHERE OF PERMANENT CIVIL WAR AND IN ORDER TO PREVENT NORMALIZATION OF LIFE, COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES ARE SHOOTING FROM APARTMENT WINDOWS AND FROM ROOFS. PYRES ARE BEING ERECTED ON WHICH BOOKS, DOCUMENTS AND PICTURES TAKEN FROM A LARGE BOOKSHOP AND FROM THE HOUSE OF SOVIET-HUNGARIAN FRIENDSHIP ARE BURNED. EVEN A MOZART SCORE WAS THROWN INTO THE FLAMES BY THE FASCISTS . . . THE COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY TERROR IS DIRECTED WITH SPECIAL FURY AGAINST WORKING-CLASS FUNCTIONARIES . . . AS FOR THE SITUATION IN THE CITY OF GYOR, IT IS REPORTED THAT HERE TOO AGITATORS WITH FASCIST SLOGANS ARE ATTEMPTING TO WIN SUPPORT FOLLOWING SUNDAY'S DECISION BY THE CITY COMMITTEE OF GYOR TO SUPPORT THE NAGY GOVERNMENT. ESPECIALLY IN THIS AREA MANY HORTHY AGENTS, ARROW-CROSS MEN AND FORMER SS MEN ARE BEING BROUGHT INTO THE COUNTRY AND THEY HAVE SUCCEEDED IN GAINING A CERTAIN INFLUENCE. THEY ARE NOW CONDUCTING A HUNT FOR COMMUNISTS.

On November 2 the Vienna correspondent of ADN sent the following story:

VIENNA, November 2 (ADN). Free Kossuth Radio reports at 2230 hours that a Borsod mine has already produced 790 wagon-loads of coal after resuming work. In the Salgotarjan district more than half of the 13,000 miners have returned to work. A delegation of miners from the Petofi mine, Borsod, told a Free Kossuth Radio reporter that they were prepared to resume production. They appealed over the radio to the miners to resume work immediately, explaining that this 'resulted not from pressure but is for ourselves, for our country' . . . The radio reported on Friday that autumn work is being done in the fields. In all districts food for Budapest is being collected.

But this is what ADN Berlin reported in No. 118 of its foreign service dispatches on November 2:

DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE CURRENT HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE PRESS INDICATE THAT THE HUNGARIAN CAPITAL FACES A CATASTROPHE. QUEUES IN FRONT OF BAKERIES GREW EVEN MORE ON FRIDAY. SUPPLY DIFFICULTIES ARE EVIDENTLY CONNECTED WITH THE SERIOUS COAL SHORTAGE.

On the evening of November 3 I put an urgent call through to Berlin-East 20 04 21. I asked for the chief of the foreign section . . .

In the course of the telephone conversation I found out that ADN Berlin had issued a report of its own geared entirely to 'terror'. I said this was not correct; Radio Budapest had on the contrary reported that the whole country was quiet. The reply was that this could be taken into consideration 'tomorrow'. The conversation turned to my story of the previous day that a mixed Hungarian-Soviet commission was already negotiating the withdrawal of Soviet troops. I asked whether that story had already been issued. The reply was 'Not yet.' It was being held for the inclusion of the result of the negotiations. I was urged to get a good night's rest after the days of hard work. It would not be necessary to report before noon on Sunday.

Sunday came. I was wakened by the insistent ringing of the telephone. (The office was also my home). A special edition was being sold in the streets. Someone was knocking at the door of my room. It was a messenger bringing the early Sunday material. A woman interpreter had monitored the Budapest radio at home. A colleague was on the phone:

'The Russians have attacked.'

'No.'

'Yes.'

On the desk lay the monitor's report for the morning of November 4. I read:

'At 5.14 a.m. Prime Minister Imre Nagy issued a statement in which he informed the world of the Soviet Union's aggression against Hungary, maliciously and contrary to all international law: "The Soviet Union wants to overthrow the legal government of Hungary. I am notifying the people of our country and world public opinion."

'Free Kossuth Radio, Budapest, 7.45 a.m.: The writers and scientists appeal to the whole world to come to the aid of the Hungarian people, workers, peasants and intellectuals. Only very little time remains! Help! Help! Help! This SOS was sent also in English, German—and Russian.

'Free Kossuth Radio, Budapest, 8 a.m.: Only static noises.'

I put through an urgent call to Berlin. At the door the bell is ringing loudly. Two young Austrian painters, both communists, wanted to know what had happened in Hungary. They could not believe the special editions.

'It is true,' I said.

'But that business about a Kadar government is a joke. Yesterday he was still in the Nagy cabinet.'

Both were agreed that the attack of the Soviet Union was 'naked imperialism' . . .

* * *

My Berlin call came through. In the foreign section joy was raging over the 'turn in Hungary'.

'Everything is fine! And London is demonstrating in Downing Street because of the attack on Egypt.'

'Here they will demonstrate because of the attack on Hungary.'

After a long pause came: 'You think so?'

'I am quite sure. The feeling here is that way.'

'What do people say?'

'Vicious assault . . . communist aggression . . . Soviet treachery against Hungary and against the whole world.'

Again a pause. Then: 'Do you have anything for us?'

'Yes. Nagy's last declaration, the appeal of Hungarian writers and scientists to the world and the message of Free Kossuth Radio reporting the Soviet attack against Hungary on a broad front.'

This time the pause was still longer before the reply came:

'No. We won't need that now.'