Intelligence Services in Central Europe during the Cold War

Intelligence Services in Central Europe during the Cold War

Veranstalter
Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest; Danish Cultural Institute Budapest; Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für Kriegsfolgen-Forschung; EUNIC
Veranstaltungsort
Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest, Benczúr u. 16, 1068 Budapest
Ort
Budapest, Hungary
Land
Hungary
Vom - Bis
03.11.2011 -
Deadline
31.10.2011
Website
Von
Orsolya Nemeshazi

During the Cold War, eastern and western secret services collided in Central Europe. Especially Austria was – above all as a result of its four-power occupation until 1955 – a hub for international espionage. It became a stamping ground for the secret and intelligence services of the Cold War protagonists, but also for services from neighbouring countries. Information on the other side was collected here, agents recruited and hostile activities exposed. The direct and indirect procurement of information quickly gained in strategic and political importance. Some Austrians, but also Hungarian emigrants, who had been recruited by, for example, the American military counterintelligence service CIC, were brought before Soviet military tribunals and received draconian sentences, even including death by shooting.

In the framework of this international conference, historians from Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Italy and the Czech Republic analyse the role and function of the intelligence services in Central Europe during the Cold War. Particular focus is placed here on Austria and the neighbouring states of Hungary and Czechoslovakia as well as on cooperation between Hungarian and Romanian state security services. Finally, the question will be pursued as to how agents and spies were recruited, and which consequences economic and scientific espionage had.

Programm

9.00 Registration

9.15 Welcome notes
Dir. Dr. Elisabeth Kornfeind, Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest
Doz. Dr. Barbara Stelzl-Marx, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences

9.30 Introduction
Chair: Barbara Stelzl-Marx, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences

Thomas Wegener-Friis, University of Southern Denmark
Why European Intelligence Studies?

Siegfried Beer, University of Graz
Anglo-American Intelligence Services as Vanguard in Post-war Austria

10.30–11.00 Coffee break

11.00–12.30 Panel I: Hungary-related Intelligence Operations in Austria
Chair: Siegfried Beer, University of Graz

Erwin Schmidl, Austrian National Defense Academy, Institute for Strategy and Security Policy: Contemporary History
Hot border in the Cold War: Secret Activities in Austria and Hungary

Magdolna Baráth, Historical Archives of Hungarian State Security
The activity of the Hungarian Intelligence Services on the territory of Austria 1944-1956

László Ritter, Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungary-related operations of the US Army's Counter Intelligence Corps in Austria 1945–1958

Barbara Stelzl-Marx, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
Shot Dead in Moscow: Hungarian Spies in Austria

Discussion

12.30–14.00 Lunch

14.00–15.30 Panel II: Central European Intelligence Services
Chair: Thomas Wegener-Friis, University of Southern Denmark

Philipp Lesiak, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
Targets and interests of the Czechoslovak Intelligence Services in Austria 1945–1989

Katerina Lozoviukova, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
Czechoslovak agents/couriers crossing the Austrian border: „Weapons“ of the Cold War?

Stefano Bottoni, Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian-Romanian state security cooperation and (later, from the early 1960s) conflicts

Discussion

15.30–16.00 Coffee break

16.00–18.00 Panel III: Recruitment and Industrial Espionage
Chair: László Ritter, Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Harald Knoll, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
The Broda Case: Austrian Scientists in the Focus of Foreign Intelligence Servies

Dieter Bacher, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
The Recruitment of Austrian Citizens by Foreign Intelligence Services in Austria 1945–1953

Walter M. Iber, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
Industrial Espionage. Western Powers and Soviet Companies in Austria 1945–1955

Peter Ruggenthaler, L. B. Institute for Research on War Consequences
The Soviet Military Intelligence GRU in Austria during the Occupation Era

Final Discussion

Kontakt

Orsolya Nemeshazi

Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest, Benczúr u. 16, 1068 Budapest
00361 413 3590

orsolya.nemeshazi@bmeia.gv.at


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