Mr. MONAGAN. It was definitely that.

Mr. ALBATS. Some people have had permission. They have very many restrictions on what they can do, and what they cannot do. For example, say, you see a bridge. They will not tell you: "You can't take a picture." They will say: "This bridge has been many times photographed. Don't take a picture." And he understands that he cannot do that. If he does, prison awaits him, and that is all.

Mr. MONAGAN. We certainly appreciate your coming here, Mr Albats, and giving us the benefit of your experience and knowledge. Your statement has been very helpful to us. Thank you very much. Mr. ALBATS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Madam, members of the committee. (Whereupon, at 4:47 p.m., the committee adjourned.)

CAPTIVE EUROPEAN NATIONS

TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1962.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EUROPE,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in room P-58, U.S. Capitol, at 2:05 p.m., Hon. John S. Monagan presiding.

Mr. MONAGAN. We will call the hearing to order.

This is another in a series of hearings held under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Europe of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The purpose of these hearings is to inquire into the subject of the captive nations. Many years have gone by since the last attempt was made by any committee of the Congress to look into this is subject of the captive nations. There have been many changes since that time, and we believe that it is a very significant area of interest for the United States of America.

We believe that the Members of the Congress have shown great interest in this subject through resolutions that have been introduced and otherwise, and therefore we are looking into this subject to see what our relations with these countries are, what conditions are in these countries, and what our policy should be in relation to these countries from this point on.

We are very fortunate to have with us today Mr. Ferenc Nagy, who is a former Prime Minister of Hungary.

We are honored to have you with us, Mr. Nagy. We will be glad to hear any statement you may care to make on the subject of captive nations and particularly on the subject of Hungary.

STATEMENT OF FERENC NAGY, CHAIRMAN, ASSEMBLY OF CAPTIVE EUROPEAN NATIONS

Mr. NAGY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Gentlemen, I consider it a great honor and privilege to have been invited by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to ap appear in the group of distinguished American and foreign witnesses who will testify before the Subcommittee on Europe. I appear here as the chairman of the Assembly of Captive European Nations, the organization which is comprised of the national representatives living in the free world of the nine countries behind the Iron Curtain.

I therefore feel that I cannot limit myself to deal only with the problem of one country, my homeland, but that in my statement I must examine the situation now prevailing in central and eastern Europe as a unit.

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I would like to deal in my remarks with two points. First, the internal situation in these nine eastern European countries; and second, the stand that the problem of these nine countries have taken in international politics.

First of all I think it necessary to point out a few facts in connection with the central and eastern European nations which are, in general, well known, yet bear repeating from time to time.

One such fact is that there is not a single country in central or eastern Europe which established Soviet colonial rule and Communist government through the will and support of the people. Communism came to power in every country of Eastern Europe through the military and political intervention of the Soviet Union.

My other statement is this: Communism did not usurp the power in any single country of eastern Europe from so-called conservative or reactionary elements. In every case communism crushed the existing democratic regimes in order to insure its own rule and Soviet influence in these countries.

War itself eliminated the conservative political, economic and social forces. Democratic coalitions were established in every country of eastern Europe, without exception, after the war. These coalition governments included the representatives of the peasantry, the workers and the working intellectuals. Communist and Soviet power, therefore, eliminated democratic governments in the countries of eastern and central Europe and subjugated their independence as democratic countries to Soviet oppression.

I thought it necessary to mention this, since it is an accepted practice in political and diplomatic statements, in newspaper articles, in various studies and political plans to refer to satellite nations, whereas these do not exist in reality-there are only satellite governments. Mr. MONAGAN. You make a distinction between the people of these countries and the governments of the countries?

Mr. NAGY. I must do so, Mr. Chairman, because we know how small the minority is behind the Communist governments.

The leaders of the Communist minority in certain countries naturally did not secure the support of the Soviet Union without paying the price for coming into power and remaining there. These Communist leaders must pay the Soviet Union for achieving their local dictatorial positions. Without exception, these Communist leaders are paying by sacrificing the well-being of their people and by accepting the dictates of the Soviet Union. They were forced, in every country, to eliminate the democratic constitutions and to accept the constitution of the Soviet Union; they had to close their borders toward the free countries; they had to accept Communist doctrines as their governing ideology; they had to end private ownership; their churches are subject to gradual liquidation; their citizens are forced to give up their individual rights and human dignity; their economic systems were integrated into the Communist world empire: and finally they had to participate in an alliance with the Soviet Union within the framework of the Warsaw Pact.

The nations of eastern Europe had to sacrifice a great deal more for the benefit of the Soviet Union than any other former or present colony of the West, simply because the countries of eastern Europe had more to give up and more which they could give the oppressor than any of the colonies of the underdeveloped world.

Naturally, the greatest blow to the central and eastern European countries was the separation from the Western World.

These countries, in general, had belonged for almost a thousand years to the Western political, cultural and economic community. Their general culture, their political and economic system, even though it varied with the individual countries-absolutely bound them to the Western World. But with the spread of the rule of the Soviet Union to central Europe, this tie has practically ceased.

To the 100 million civilized people living in the Central Eastern European sphere, it is the greatest hardship to feel that a foreign Eastern power wants to force foreign ideas and doctrines upon them, creating an Eastern character for peoples who belong to Western civilization with every fiber of their being.

This Soviet aspiration is causing more individual and national suffering to the peoples of central and eastern Europe than Western colonization has caused to the colonized peoples of Asia and Africa. With few exceptions, the Western colonial powers never strived to change the character of the peoples of their colonies by their colonial

rule.

The suffering is increased manifold since these people resist and often fight against the aspirations of the oppressor. As a result, the prisons, the concentration camps and the gallows have become the most important institutions of the state life.

Even though the persecution of the individuals has lessened somewhat in certain Eastern European countries, this only means that, because of the consolidation of the regimes, there is no longer a necessity for the former degree of persecution, but does not, in any event, indicate a change of the system.

The conquest of the countries of central and eastern Europe have naturally meant more of a gain to the Soviet Union than the conquest of similarly populated colonies have meant to any former colonial power.

The Soviet Union by its conquest and occupation of Eastern Europe did not acquire underdeveloped countries which, at the most, produced only food and raw materials for the conquering power, but countries which were culturally, politically, and economically much more progressive than the Soviet Union herself. While the old colonial powers had to process industrially the raw materials received from the colonies, the more developed industry of the countries of Eastern Europe are able to convert the raw materials of the Soviet Union herself, and are thereby aiding Communist economic and military power.

Let us take as an example the export capacity of the central, eastern European countries and compare it with the export capacity of the Soviet Union.

Thus, for example, in 1960 the exports of the Eastern European countries totaled $7,468 million while that of the Soviet Union was $5,652 million.

Mr. MONAGAN. May I ask a question there?

Is this all within the bloc?

Mr. NAGY. NO; this is the total export of the Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union.

But if we take into consideration that the Eastern European exports consist chiefly of inner exports; that is, their goods are sent mainly to the Soviet Union and to each other, and if we also take into consideration that the Soviet Union demands more from the countries of Eastern Europe for export goods than she does from free countries, paying less to these countries for goods imported from them and if the export-import trade between the Soviet Union and the East European countries would be transacted at the same price ratio as her imports with other free countries-the exports of the Eastern European countries would be transacted at the same price ratio as her imports with other free countries the exports of the Eastern European countries would total $8,293 million, while Soviet exports would have been $4,809 million in 1960.

The difference between the export capacity of the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe are also indicated by the fact that the per capita Soviet export volume in 1960 barely reached $25 but the exports of the Eastern European countries amounted to $75.80 for each individual.

Countless other economic examples could be brought up which would show how important and exceptional the economic role of the Eastern European nations is in the life of the Communist world empire. From these examples it can also be clearly discerned that if the countries of Eastern Europe were free and independent, and if their economic capacity would be joined to that of the Western World, to what degree this would increase the already unparalleled pace of economic progress in Western Europe.

Much greater than the economic gains made by the Soviet Union are those of a political and military nature. In the first place, for the first time in history, the Soviet Union reached the territory west of the Carpathian Mountains, which had always been the ancient and natural defense line of southeastern Europe. The troops of the Soviet Union now stand in the heart of Europe. If ever there should occur a conflict, even transitorily, between the Communist system and that of the free world, this would mean an immeasurable danger for Western Europe.

This great strategic gain of the Soviet Union can be lessened only by the fact that in the event of a catastrophic conflict the peoples of Eastern Europe would not fight with the Soviet Union, but against her, and would endanger rather than insure the communication lines of the Soviet Union toward Western Europe.

Similarly to the strategic position, the Soviet Union has gained a great deal from a political viewpoint with the conquest of the Eastern European countries. Since the Western Powers did not refuse recognition for these Soviet conquests, but established ties with the Communist Eastern European governments, also permitting them to join the U.N., the Soviet Union was able to create a bloc from these Eastern European nations in which the votes and the stand taken by all of these countries is naturally dictated by Moscow.

Without the countries of Eastern Europe the Soviet Union would stand alone and would share the Communist world empire only with China. If the Soviet Union had not been able to consolidate communism in this area, we would not today have communism in any single small country of Asia.