magyar

Authorized by:

Jenő Földesi police major-general
Deputy Minister

Subject: summary of the secret investigation into individual under code name “Painter”

R E P O R T

On the basis of a licensed proposal we have been conducting a secret investigation since August 1979 to uncover and hinder the hostile activities of the artist György G a l á n t a i (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), who is not a party member and resides at 68/b Frankel Leó St. in district II of Budapest.

We have established that György Galántai continues to pursue rebellious activities directed against the party’s general and cultural policies. He has consolidated his ties with prominent members of the domestic opposition, participated in some of SZETA’s actions, offered to assist them in their hostile activities and carried out the multiplication and distribution of illegal materials.

He continues to operate his archives established under the title Art Pool with no official permission. This activity has become more directly targeted and more akin to that of the hostile opposition. His samizdat publication titled “Aktuális Levél” [AL / Topical Letter] has been appearing since January 1983. He has produced six issues with a circulation of 2-300 copies each so far.
The compilation of the publication, which can be classified as being intermittent, sets out with the premise that it can include everything without any selection. A great part of the articles are a glorification of underground art, its propagation and call for the rehabilitation of its representatives who have gone abroad. Articles can also be found which maliciously smear the work of official bodies. Some articles are written in a highly biased way and call attention to the existence, activities and actions of the hostile opposition. They openly propagate the anthology published by SZETA under the title “In Black” (Feketében), and seek to popularize István Eörsi, László Rajk, Miklós Haraszti and other individuals.

The first five issues of the “Aktuális Levél” were produced in the MÜM. National Leadership Training Centre’s printing office, while the sixth issue was produced in Fotoelektronik I. Sz. using material appropriated from state property. Galántai dispatched his publications to several foreign individuals and sells them to his domestic circle of contacts for 60 forints each. The Hungarian College of Fine Arts, the Secondary School of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Directorate of the Baranya County Museums also purchased issues. Galántai has thus far made an illegal profit of some 65-70 thousand forints from the sales of his “AL”.

Because of Galántai‘s activities listed above, it is the opinion of department III/I of the Interior Ministry that “there was a strong suspicion of his violation of press laws, as a result of which it has been legally established that criminal proceedings can be launched. At the same time – because of his pursuing of publishing activities that qualify as economic activities requiring a license – the individual can be held accountable for the act of bungling by way of launching infringement proceedings”.

He actively supports the hostile activities of the opposition and participates in the planning and production of some of their propaganda materials. He has used his apartment to store illegally produced hostile materials and gave these to various individuals to distribute. He has been in constant contact with Ottilia Solt, András Nagy, Miklós Haraszti, László Rajk and Gábor Demszky.

He continues to support and promote the ambitions of his contacts who oppose the authorities through the pursuance of hostile activities. From this basic standpoint, he provides help to Péter Bokros and Tamás Molnár, the leaders of the “Inconnu Group”.

The above named persons used our target individual’s guidance in compiling their latest hostile publication and received support in its reproduction.

In recent years, Galántai has established ties - mostly through correspondence – with some three thousand Western citizens. As a result of the steps we have taken, the number of people with whom he remains in contact is now a few hundred.

A realigning of his domestic circle of contacts is perceptible. In tandem with the ever- increasing number of hostile individuals in the domestic opposition, the number of young people with whom he has established ties during the production, reproduction and distribution of the publication titled “Aktuális Levél” has also gradually increased. During this illegal reproduction work, he has established an acquaintance with 18 printing experts in various state companies.

We fundamentally completed the tasks we set in our work schedule.

We extended the operation of the 3/a operative technical tool (telephone bug) and applied it to his closest contacts (János Balázs and Imre Regős) to varying degrees.

The application of the telephone bug was extremely useful and from an operational standpoint, a lot of useful information came into our possession. We were able to apprise ourselves of his plans, ideas and actions in time.

We continued to maintain a close “K” monitoring (opening and sometimes confiscating post) of the individual [...].

We derived important information especially in respect to his networking efforts.

We carried out continuous preliminary research to find potential agents among his wide range of contacts. We made proposals for examinations to be carried out in regard to three individuals.

We continued to expand the opportunities to gather information from our embedded patriots under the cover names of “Zoltán Pécsi” and “Kalocsai.” Through our network of agents we obtained data on the target individual’s contacts with individuals of the hostile opposition, as well as on his illegal reproduction and distribution activities.

We were successful in planting a patriot under the cover name “Victor” and another under the cover name “Béla Gál” in the employment of the IM’s III/III-4-a subdivision in the environment of the “Painter” and his most important contacts.

In our efforts to limit and prevent the hostile activities of the target individual we successfully worked with departments III/III-2 of the IM and III/III-b of the Budapest Police Headquarters, as well as with the III/III departments of the police headquarters of Szolnok and Bács-Kiskun counties.

We continually assessed the materials we obtained. We kept the top leadership informed of his hostile activities, actions, illegal magazine reproduction and distribution activities.

We continually dispatched the issues of his illegally published sheet titled “Aktuális Levél” to them within this framework, and at the same time we suggested that the Information Office of the Executive Council should carry out a conversation with György Galántai, ordering him to terminate his illegal activity. Furthermore, we indicated that the Ministry of the Interior was planning to launch legal proceedings against him on suspicion of violating press laws.

In order to prevent and hinder the hostile activities of our target individual and his close contacts and to limit the number of his Western contacts, we have initiated a permanent halt upon approximately 650 pieces of propaganda material and mail items with hostile content arriving from abroad. We have suggested the selective retention of materials in some cases.

In order to prevent and limit his samizdat production and reproduction activities, we have devoted greater attention to dissolving his opportunities to print. We carried out secret investigations in two cases. We verbally informed the director-general of the National Pedagogic Library and Museum and the economic director of the National Leadership Training Centre. The passing on of this information resulted in halting his opportunities to print at the above institutions.

The hostile activities of our target individual under the cover name “Painter” have intensified and become more varied.

He is devoting ever greater energy to the illegal reproduction and distribution of his publication titled “Aktuális Levél.” The ties linking him to hostile opposition elements have grown and he supports the implementation of their hostile ideas and plans.

In summary, it can be established that the hostile activities of the target individual can be expected to persist, and we will therefore continue to pursue the secret investigation in accordance with Measure 4-1501/83 of the Interior Ministry. We have prepared a “Plan of Action,” the main emphasis of which is the limitation and prevention of his hostile activities.

We recommend that permission for the operation of the 3/a operative technical tool (telephone bug) – introduced for monitoring – be given for the duration of the investigation.

We recommend that the secret investigation be continued until December 31, 1984.

Budapest, February “ ”, 1984.

Tibor Horváth, police captain

Registry number: 4/5-1226/83.
Printed in 3 copies
1st copy for the file “Painter”
2nd copy for III/III-B subdivision
3rd copy for Táj.vonal. [Intelligence]

Galántai • Artpool