From Death to Revolution: A Memoir of the Hungarian Revolution

On a murky January day in 1952, after five months of “investigations” by the Military section of the State Security Agency of Hungary, I was brought before a three-member court-martial convoked by the Supreme Military Court of Budapest. No witnesses for the defense were heard. The counsel assigned to my defense first saw me when I entered the courtroom, was not allowed to see the documents of the proceedings, and was not permitted to talk to me. He had to make his five-minute plea on the basis of what he had heard in court.

I “confessed,” of course. After two hours, the jury withdrew to deliberate. Thirty minutes later, the four sentences—for there were four charges—were drawn up. The jury filed back in and the chairman read: In the name of the Hungarian people…. This court finds Major General Bela K. Kir£ly guilty of espionage for the United States imperialists; of sabotaging the training of officers of the Army; of organizing subversive gr...