ABSTRACT: The escalation of the Soviet–Yugoslav conflict had a fundamental impact on the South Slavic minorities in Hungary, too. They were generally regarded by the state security and law enforcement agencies as unreliable and as “Tito's fifth column.” The State Protection Authority (Államvédelmi Hatóság, ÁVH) began closely monitoring the villages of the Baja Triangle and the South Slavs living there. They were considered unreliable elements and it was assumed that because of their ethnicity, all of them would support Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav leaders in the conflict. However, their relations to the ÁVH were rather complex. This article highlights some aspects of this complex relationship in the so-called Baja Triangle border region, which had primary importance from a state security perspective. Based on Hungarian archival documents, this article attempts to reveal the criteria used and the tasks for which the South Slavs living here were to be recruited. Then, it examines the trials against South Slavs. It also focuses on those Hungarians who moved from Yugoslavia to Hungary in the final years of or shortly after World War II. As they originated from Yugoslavia, they were considered unreliable by the State Protection Authority just like the South Slavs. The article briefly touches upon their fate after 1953, too.

KEYWORDS: South Slavic minorities in Hungary, Baja Triangle, Minorities and State Securities, Soviet–Yugoslav conflict, Hungarian–Yugoslav relations

SUMMARY: As the Soviet–Yugoslav conflict unfolded and the Hungarian–Yugoslav relations started to deteriorate, the ÁVH began closely monitoring the villages of the Baja Triangle and the South Slavs living there. They were considered unreliable elements and it was assumed that because of their ethnicity, all of them would support Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav leaders in the conflict. However, their relations to the ÁVH were rather complex. The ÁVH not only kept a close eye on them, but also recruited informants, spies, and agents among them. Although it is not possible to form a comprehensive picture of how many people were employed as intelligence agents, informants, or agents, nor of how effectively they carried out their work, the different examples in this article show that they had different characteristics that made them suitable to spy on their local environments or carry out tasks in Yugoslav territory. It was certainly an advantage if someone was of South Slavic nationality or originated from Vojvodina, knew Serbo-Croatian, and had connections among the South Slavic minorities or among immigrants from Yugoslavia, owned land near the border, was well known in the community, or had prestige among the locals. To intimidate the local communities, the ÁVH arrested, interned, and sentenced South Slavs to long prison terms, especially if they were teachers in minority elementary schools or were members and local leaders of the MKP and MDDSZ. The ÁVH also tried to relate these trials to the Rajk trial or other nationally known figures. The ÁVH were suspicious of those ethnic Hungarians who originated from Vojvodina as well. It also recruited them as spies and informants. Just like the South Slavs, they were also labelled as “Tito’s fifth column.” Their rehabilitation was protracted, and in many cases their affairs were dealt with only after the suppression of the 1956 revolution, during the Kádár era, although sources are very sparse regarding the further developments in their lives. Over time, even the internal security services no longer considered it important to monitor their daily lives. Their lives returned from the turmoil of history to the privacy of the private sphere.