LOCATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF AVO PRISONS AVO INTERROGATION METHODS NOTEWORTHY HUNGARIAN POLITICALLY PERSECUTED PERSONALITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A000700960001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 28
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 10, 2008
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 8, 1957
• Content Type: REPORT

01-8
O
ARMY review
completed
 Approved For Release 2008/06/10 : CIA-RDP80T00246A000700960001-8
,
T
SPECIAL CO
SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR
Thin material contains WoralatiOn affecting the
National Defense or we United State. within the
meaning of the Espionage Lawn, Title 18, U.S.C,
PREPARED AND DISSEMINATED BY
Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation
of which in any manner to an unauthorised 125X1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
son is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY USAF review completed.
Hua~lay
SUBJECT
DATE DISTRIBUTED
% cx 1 S'1
~r,i -..ws
of
i ~ aTJFi yam 1 AVO P 9
NO. OF PA, rS NO. OFECLS 25X1
lotev ort+y
sg
AVO tnt~ation Ytathod
~
, ~
Hungarian politically perse Uteri ties
SUPPLEMENT IJ RLPUhI i
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
This report is the result of a joint collection effort of the Air Force,
[
Army and CIA, and is disseminated in accordance with the provisions
of NSCID #7]
25X1
le I was arrested on 16 Dec 46, and was imprisoned in the following AVO
prisons:
Military Political Police Headquarters, Nadar St 9, Budapest - I
a.
was here from my arrest until 22 or 23 Feb 46e This inataltation
has since moved to the Hadik Kaserne, Bartok St 16, Budapest flo
25X
the County Court Buildings Marko St, Budapest
be Detention cell of y ,
I was here during the period 23 Feb 46 to 16 Apr 46. This buttdlnq
consists of three stories; each floor had about 10 to 15 onedlnan
cells and four or five mass cells. Fhrile I was
sentenced to use iawrisonmento On file is an aver'- 25X
lay showing location of County Court House of Budapest.
Ce Prison, Kos= St 13, Budapest = [on file
m+ffi3 Collecting
,cert
location of Central Gang
h
i
l
.
ow
ng
eay s
is an over
I was here fora total of six and one=half years and was In this prim
25X
son when released by revolutionary forces. I left this prism for
other places of confinanent on four occasions fiumerated. in sub era=
graphs d, e, and f belawo
25X
de I was in the AVO Prison at Vac an two occasions; once fxrnt Ma
to Auril 1952 and again from August 1955 to Zino 1956. _ 25X
Headquarters of the Military Political Police note: 25X
Is
Source is referring to the Katooa-Politican Osstely, co m~only known
as r$atpolej in Hadik Kaserne, Bartok St 16, Budapest ix - I was
1
IF A
ROLS
N
1
1
1
1
 Police Head 25X1
quarters
f. The AVO Headquarters Building, Po St Buds at - I was here for three
Weeks during the summer of 1951. ZO'nr file .s an overlay
showing t h e location of t h e A V O Headquarters B Ae 25X1
2. The Central Collecting Prison consists of one large building with two star-
shaped Wings, two hospitals, a button factory, a very efficient engineering
enterprise staffed entirely by prisoners, work shops and AVO quarters.
LOn file 0 is Source?s memory sketch of this prison27
3. The AVO Prison at Vac consists of one, four-story, L-shaped building for 25X1
the more important political prisoners. I was imprisoned here. It also
had a boz-shaped building for prisoners who worked during the daytime in
the button factory. The button factory consisted of one, large, L-shaped
building and two or three smaller buildings. At Vac was the most modern
prison hospital. This hospital specialized in tuberculosis k eh of tthe 25X1
also treated other illnesses. foin file is a 0
Vac AVO Prison.]
b. The AVO prison at Vac also contains some solitary confinement cells. They
were located in an old mausoleum which was part of a beautiful. Gothict
style Church. The church building was used as a work shop. These "special
treatment" cells consisted of about five cells called "doberdoe " an unknown
number of black rooms, and about five other cells. Lou file
are rouCh diagrams of the solitary confinement cell o 25X1
nderwent the most intensive interrogation of my impr'tsomnent during the
UNCODED
'~.st three weeks following my arrest. Vany techniques of interrogation
were used : Some were mental, a were physical.., and str a aenkiivbtton
of both. Since the end resaatt of any technique employed is a cowpl.stp, core
fessin*+- T vill not limit my 'ks to a rs`ss axol:~a9. al disc-usaoia?!n nt the
tecy?UYCODEDed against men I win discuss eadi tevhui,que are it ramwsryto
my mind. A few of the interrogation. techniques 1Lexrciv-Ing physi a+n, v~n1e-rM*
employed by AVO personnel ageinet me and my' feller pisonere ate t'--.=owe:
a. Beatings with the fist or a bludge*an of the ha aarxl. ?u?'k.^s" . 'M-age
beatings usually had an adversab effect sia e I s}ou built at, isvma-1ty
to them. Beating of the kiatxeys vat also doneo ?O.?s t ?'f bee'carg
would usually be p7??fa-e4 artth a remax"t to this sffe ct trot it '.ram up
to us to either keep our kidnrys to they may prs:rfort the.Xr niYtm&._ ; w,e
tion, or to lose them. Beating of the instep of our baa feF't
also employed.
b. We were made to stand about orae-bait metf-- from a Ohl, khe*_a 'wi.t: Cx-
arms outstretched to rest only ,n r fcreraeariaa agsjx^ tt the ' o We
would have to stand this way for hoa-re at a Use. This wee ott. ,
accompanied by beatings.
Loss of sleep is perhaps the moat prena.eat t~ :.tvn;site A,1. 'se.:xd
t
?"^
o
gations were conducted at night and we were not perm?tted.
during the daytime.
With the legs outstretched the wrists would be ekiaokled to the rsenktes
with chains. We would be forced to sit on the floor and keep our legs
straight. If we bent them., a guard would jump on our knees for cixs
 the legs straight. The ~kles would toy sc them t nangge-
ment which permitted the guard
and tighter around the wrists and ankles. This was M?eedinglgy
painful and no man could endure this treatment without screaming
in pain, particularly if link shrine were used since they dig
into the flesh when tightened.. This treatment is usua ly' accom-
panied by complete loss of bowel and bladder control. At Budapest
link chains were used, while at Vac metal bracelets were used.
These bracelets were not nearly as painful since they did not
dig into the akin. If we would lose consciousness, the chains
would be loosened; we would be rerlvett. With water; then the pro-
cess would be repeated. This technique is very effective. Dur-
ing 1952 and 1953, indiscriminate use was made of this torture
as a method of punishment for committing minor icfrantions of
prison rules.
6. Some specific examples of the use or threatened use of force are
as follows:
a. A friend of mine was cemented into a brick wall into an area
that was so small that he could not sit down or even flex his
muscles. He was left in this dam, cold "living grave" for
two dayso He brake down and talked freely when finally released.
b. Once, about a week before my final con rssinn, I was brought
before an AVO interrogator who told me that he way an ex~bcsxer.
He was a powerfully built man. Two of my friends, who were
being investigated at the same time, were alreariv sitting in
this roam when I arrived.. I was confronted with some demsrging
documentary evidence, but I denied any knowledge of it. Then,
to my surprise, my friends urged me to confess ovrurship of
the doc ;O s, but I still refused. The interrogRtor theti
summoned an assistant to bring him his recall rubber gloves.
He took his shirt off and displayeed powerfu:->Ioekiwg m'lac'eso
He indicated to his assistant that he wo?uud b.*we me ta:.king
within two minixtes. He and his assistant talked in low toaome,
laughed and occaaionnally looked in my direction. Trip into: aglet r
made a gesture to his assistant which irjicated the' he wren
going to twist or otherwise mutilate my sr-_=&I or-ms. Jw4 as
the interrogator finished putting nn his gtovee h t ?max e:Y e l +.
opened a door to an ad?joiuiaag Wit.; I ^,oxld, se that tie ss > Ewa
vas padded in such a nusxter to make It sjr r1nt, he 5n*e; ~g
ator motioned for me to entv-r the root. I r,.vif'eaee+ . c'wa :'Shi'p
of the papers instead of as ? eying h3m,
c. Although I have never been at the AVO kx-&.sot in Ke, mkeu?t,. I
have heard that it was the worst in Hungary. I bsvae hex,,1-i of
instances where men were actually pl.mized In a ca"il+et. 1-'n ysd '_at/!
a grave, and covered with soil. Another ter:bni-pie
used there is to btnyr a man up to his then, at r-g' s t
intervals, to 1. At brie full of dirt t c^ e, g 10m +11v ?
he talked he wnuii;, be buvbek alive. I h.A.sd tJtri' TY t ..1.:: ?N
of tiring a man and piacttsg h si under a dripping f w9et vwA
also used.
 Some of the so-called mentsbl. techniques vhirh untitled ft peycvhmW
logical or mental prostration are as fol owes
a. During my second night of imprisormwnt, I suddenly heard my
wife sobbing. I was alarmed and very worried since my wife was
not an accomplice to my underground activities and I was told
by the AVS that she would not be arrested. I dearly loved my
wife and worried about her since she suffered frnm a goiter
condition. After about an hour of faintly hearing her sobbings,
a guard entered my cell and in a very polite manner said:,
"Excuse me sir, we have your wife with us tonight, but, she
did not bring a coat with her and It is cold. In her z e-11.
She requests that you give her your coat only if you do not
need it yourself." Naturally I surrendered my coat, to him
even though I knew that the guard himself could have given
her a blanket if he gated to. In about 20 minutes the guard.
returned with my coat and again, speaking very politely said,
"I an sorry sir, your wife said that you must take back your
coat. She said that she can't bear to think of you being cold
and suffering." The guard deported and. Loudly s'aarrnse