Bálint Nagy

Bálint Nagy: This was the Bem square, where we put up a notice signed by the four of us, that there will be a big function commemorating the Polish takeover. (László) Rajk, (Miklós) Haraszti, (Gábor) Demszky and I. Demszky and I were taken from the square, Rajk was late so he was tracked down somewhere down the Margit Boulevard, or the Road of Martyrs, as it was called back then. In order for the times to be correct, he got tracked down there.Strangely enough, we were taken to the Tolnai street, too. Not to the district police headquarters. It was neither that district, nor the one where we lived. I don’t think any of our circle lived in that district. Our story might have been assigned to them. Then they questioned us one by one. We were driven there in separate cars, in Audis. Zsuzsanna Kőrösi: Audis, back then? NB: Yes, Audis, well, the highest ranking cars of the Interior Ministery came to pick us up. It does have an aspect of flattery to it, doesn’t it? They had no sirens on, but they drove along the tram line all along the Körút and the four Audis turned left into József street , which they weren’t supposed to do. I think there were three Audis and one Mercedes. And there were policemen on both sides. They were expecting us. And then everyone reacted according to their temper. I’m not the kind who gets agitated. I keep chatting. If they ask me something,I’ll tell them what their business is and I won’t answer them if it is none of their business. Ott vártak bennünket. És ott mindenki vérmérsékletének megfelelően reagált erre a dologra. Én nem szoktam ilyenkor hepciáskodni, én beszélgetek. Ha kérdeznek, ami rájuk tartozik, azt megmondom, ami nem tartozik rájuk, azt nem mondom meg. KZs: And what was their business? NB: The fact that that we organized an event like this was their business, for example. I signed it, so there was no point in denying. There were those, who looked at their watch every five minutes and said „I ’d like to know why you took me here” then kept quiet for another five minutes, then asked it again. Hogy szerveztünk egy ilyet például, ez rájuk tartozott. Aláírtam a nevemmel, tehát ezen nincs mit tagadni. Volt, aki nézte az óráját, és ötpercenként azt mondta, hogy „szeretném tudni, hogy miért hoztak be”. Aztán nem szólt egy szót sem. Aztán öt perc múlva megint. ZSK: Who was that? BN: The thing is, I don’t remember. That’s why I won’t say that it was Haraszti, Rajk or Demszky. No, Demszky usually kicks up a fuss. And so he did on this ocassion as well. Then they emphatically warned us to go home and keep out of trouble.And i said straight away that I was sorry but I had to go to a party at someone’s place, where theyhave the opening party of a house that I designed, where, by the way, the whole opposition showed up. So after we had been released at about 2 a.m., everyone learnt about what happened in half an hour.