My Own Trial

Man...did u fool me. (Matyas Rakosi)

Late August, 1950.

Mátyás Rákosi had just informed me that former Social Democratic party leader Árpád Szakasits pleaded guilty for being a spy with the opposing capitalistic regime. Unfortunately, his arrest led to a domino effect on all former Social Democrats, and basically anybody who held any form of power. The purging of these officials numbered in the millions, and I was undoubtedly among those who were being questioned of communist fidelity. Moreover, Rákosi had sprouted a new sense of distrust towards my well being, which led me to my resignation as Minister of the Interior. In hopes of mitigating my offenses, I wrote a series of letters to rebuff my supposed actions, but that backfired as it instead aggravated my position among the communist leaders.

Ultimately, I gave in to my actions and admitted my mistakes, and even offered to resign from my beloved politics. But that seemed out of the question as I retained, and even renewed, my seats in the Central Committee and the Politburo (Political Bureau).

Whewww…was my initial reaction.

But…Rákosi is a devious man. He definitely had me fooled.

It was March, 1951, and I was at home taking care of my sickly wife, Maria, when I was called by the Hungarian hierarchy to meet them at their party headquarters. Shortly after I left the house, I was stopped by some men who claimed to be ÁVH (Államvédelmi Hatóság) officers and thus began the process of my incarceration. I then learned that I, along with my fellow peers, Sándor Zöld and Gyula Kállai, were ordered by Soviet leaders to be imprisoned and I, specifically, was to be interrogated for my supposed role as a spy for Horthy’s police (Miklós Horthy was the conservative leader of Hungary during the interwar years and WWII).

My interrogation process was dreadful…a severe understatement to say the least. I was physically beaten, covered in mercury to prevent my skin pores from breathing (who in the world does that?), and even forced to drink the urination of my fellow interrogation officer (haha…yeah). I was eventually found guilty and sentenced for life. But my confinement only lasted three years, and I was released to find that Imry Nagy had just been elected prime minister, carrying along all his liberal-minded reforms. Therefore, I, the great Janos Kadar, began my keen intervention in the Hungary Revolution of 1956.