{"id":102,"date":"2012-08-10T14:14:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T14:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/?page_id=102"},"modified":"2022-11-22T00:22:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T00:22:35","slug":"english","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/?page_id=102","title":{"rendered":"English"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My name is Gellert Kovacs and I am an independent researcher in history and social sciences and lecturer.<\/p>\n

I was born in Budapest, Hungary but have been living in Stockholm, Sweden since 1982. My background in these two countries gives me an international outlook and that is the main theme in much of my work. I have experiences from many different fields in society and these experiences make possible for me to fill various roles, as historian, as lecturer, as organizational consult or marketing manager.<\/p>\n

Background:<\/em> I<\/strong>\u00a0have studied many different subjects at university and other higher educational institutions; Economics, history, social sciences, politics, psychology, project management, pedagogics, among others.<\/p>\n

I have worked for many years in the NGO sector, with smaller organizations in volunteer work and youth exchange. There\u00a0I was working with basically everything; fundraising, marketing, project management, teambuildig and organizational management as president in one of these associations for some years.<\/p>\n

Since 2001, I have also worked as teacher in various schools, primary education as well as high schools, and adult education. These years have been very different in terms of working conditions, I have worked in “elite schools” as well as in areas with very high percentage of immigrants and poorly integrated people in Swedish society. The challenge to cope with different groups in various environments \u00a0have given me an ability to develop my skills in communication, pedagogics and conflict resolution.<\/p>\n

Since four years I have also proven myself as a historian. Through careful and meticulous research, I have found lot of new information about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who was working in Budapest with saving people from Nazi persecution in 1944-45. These, sometimes dramatically new pieces of information, are presented in the book; ” Dark skies over Budapest<\/strong>“( Skymning \u00f6ver Budapest)<\/em> \u00a0which was released in May 2013 in Sweden. Hungarian and hopefully, English translations of the book are underway.<\/p>\n

\"\"For many years, I have been working on an English translation of the book, but this has yet to be realized, mainly due to difficulties to get funding for translation. So, all information or assistance in this direction will be greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

Here is a review of the book in English by the German-American historian Susanne Berger:<\/p>\n

\u201cDark skies over Budapest\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A new book by Swedish-Hungarian author Gellert Kovacs manages to shed\u00a0 light on important aspects of Raoul Wallenberg’s rescue mission, with potentially serious implications for Wallenberg’s fate.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The new findings presented by historian Gellert Kovacs in his fascinating\u00a0\u00a0book, \u201cSkymning i Budapest\u201d (\u201cDark skies over Budapest\u201d, Carlssons, 2013), give rise to important old and \u00a0new questions about Raoul Wallenberg’s activities in Hungary\u00a0in 1944 \u00a0as well as those of other\u00a0\u00a0diplomats at the Swedish Legation, Budapest.\u00a0\u00a0The same applies\u00a0to\u00a0the extent\u00a0of Allied intelligence operations in Hungary and\u00a0\u00a0what implications these activities may have had for\u00a0Wallenberg’s fate after 1945.\u00a0 The research \u00a0may help to shed additional light on Stalin’s\u00a0presumed reasons\u00a0 for arresting Raoul Wallenberg and his decision not to release him, as well as the motivations that may have guided Swedish handling of Wallenberg’s disappearance after the war.<\/p>\n

Kovacs\u2019 examination of statements given by witnesses who were active in the armed resistance in Budapest in 194\u00a0\u00a0paints a much more nuanced\u00a0picture of Wallenberg\u2019s network of contacts than\u00a0\u00a0previously understood These oral histories have often been neglected in favor of reliance on official documentary sources. \u201cDark skies over Budapest\u201d\u00a0\u00a0shows that in doing so, vital details and connections of Wallenberg\u2019s activities may have been overlooked. This includes, for example, Wallenberg\u2019s much discussed\u00a0involvement in saving the large Budapest Ghetto from destruction by the Germans as Soviet forces encircled\u00a0the city \u00a0in January 1945. Kovacs\u2019 well argued analysis makes it clear how Wallenberg had an essential role in the protection of the Ghetto and its 70,000 inhabitants,\u00a0even though he himself had already left Budapest at that time. The first-hand accounts \u00a0 Kovacs cites\u00a0 in some detail also provide\u00a0added\u00a0insights into the efforts by the resistance in the autumn of 1944 to provide the Western Allies with up-to-date information about the events unfolding\u00a0in Hungary, including\u00a0 efforts to smuggle out\u00a0evidence of\u00a0war crimes committed by the advancing Soviet army. According to witnesses, Wallenberg participated in several key meetings where these issues were discussed.<\/p>\n

The book provides a myriad of new details about how Wallenberg\u2019s organization was able to\u00a0function so effectively. As Kovacs puts it, Wallenberg made\u00a0\u00a0use of a then quite modern management style, functioning much like present day CEO,\u00a0\u00a0delegating tasks while intricately weaving together and steering his complex network of aides.\u00a0Wallenberg’s support staff\u00a0came from a cross section of Hungarian society – including the aristocracy, the church and\u00a0\u00a0the military –\u00a0\u00a0involving civil servants, diplomats, students, housewives, soldiers, scientists,\u00a0businessmen,\u00a0farmers\u00a0and even artists. Kovacs\u00a0\u00a0shows how the perception of Wallenberg as the lone hero who defeated his Nazi opponents while\u00a0\u00a0protected by little more than personal courage and his diplomatic passport definitely belongs to the realm\u00a0 of myth.\u00a0\u00a0One perhaps unintended\u00a0benefit of this\u00a0 book is that through\u00a0its in-depth examination of all facets of the Swedish rescue effort,\u00a0it manages to highlight the often understated\u00a0\u00a0depth and scope of the Hungarian resistance movement\u00a0\u00a0and its many dedicated members who have never received the recognition they deserve.<\/p>\n

However, the author also makes it clear that Wallenberg\u2019s near legendary reputation after the war is richly deserved. He traces in detail the day-to-day operations of the truly astounding rescue apparatus Wallenberg and his aides put together that allowed them to provide quick and effective aid across a wide spectrum of need, such as the delivery of food stuffs\u00a0and clothing, \u00a0the assignment of armed guards for the\u00a0 protected Swedish houses, as well as care\u00a0offered\u00a0\u00a0to the orphaned and the sick.\u00a0The use of well placed informers allowed for\u00a0quick, targeted responses to new arrests and even planned deportations.<\/p>\n

Kovacs\u2019 research underscores\u00a0Raoul Wallenberg’s\u00a0basic approach to his mission, namely one\u00a0that blurred \u00a0the lines\u00a0between humanitarian actions\u00a0and active resistance. Wallenberg obviously felt these two had to go hand in hand, since\u00a0defeat of Nazi Germany would\u00a0be the most \u00a0effective way of ending the atrocities committed against Hungary\u2019s Jews.\u00a0\u00a0Reading the book, one feels reminded of Wallenberg’s statements before his departure from Stockholm in July 1944, that he\u00a0\u00a0wanted to\u00a0provide truly meaningful assistance,\u00a0instead of\u00a0\u00a0becoming simply one more cog in the\u00a0bureaucratic machinery.<\/p>\n

Wallenberg\u2019s hands-on approach, which – as Kovacs now relates – apparently also included use of his diplomatic car for the transport of weapons and ammunition on behalf of the resistance, would\u00a0constitute the logical extension\u00a0of this thinking.\u00a0 Like the collection\u00a0\u00a0and sharing of actionable intelligence via a radio\u00a0transmitter\u00a0 that was supposedly located in the Swedish Legation, Budapest – to alert\u00a0\u00a0Allied forces in Malta who would then go on to bomb barges on the Danube river carrying vital oil supplies for the German Wehrmacht – Wallenberg’s alleged role in helping the Hungarian underground\u00a0\u00a0would have meant involvement of official \u00a0Swedish diplomatic personnel in military style operations. This, of course, would have constituted a serious breach of Swedish neutrality.\u00a0 If indeed\u00a0\u00a0confirmed, these findings also\u00a0\u00a0raise\u00a0\u00a0serious questions\u00a0\u00a0about Wallenberg\u2019s colleagues at the Swedish Legation, Budapest,\u00a0\u00a0especially about\u00a0 First Secretary Per Anger.\u00a0 What was his precise\u00a0role and were these\u00a0actions cleared with the Swedish Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in advance? Another important issue is what\u00a0 exactly Anger and his fellow diplomats told the Russians about their own as well as Wallenberg’s activities when they met Soviet officials in early 1945.<\/p>\n

Just as\u00a0relevant is the question\u00a0of \u00a0what happened after the Legation members returned home to Stockholm a few weeks later.\u00a0 Was the distinctly passive attitude of the Swedish government\u00a0\u00a0to Wallenberg\u2019s disappearance in January 1945, as Kovacs says, a direct result of his\u00a0\u00a0somewhat reckless actions in Budapest,\u00a0possibly exacerbated by\u00a0 Sweden\u2019s fear of Soviet authorities who now held vital evidence of Swedish breaches of neutrality, in a variety of matters (including the\u00a0\u00a0still largely unexplored deals involving Hungarian and German Nazi officials)? Such perceived violations would have counted even more because Sweden formally represented Soviet interests in Budapest.<\/p>\n

In this connection, renewed questions arise about the ultimate aim\u00a0\u00a0of Swedish\/Allied intelligence cooperation in Hungary. Very clearly, by 1944. Sweden had provided the U.S. with assistance on a relatively broad scale. A strong indication of this close support was the known\u00a0\u00a0deliveries in 1943 and again in September 1944 of at least three radio transmitters to Budapest by\u00a0\u00a0Swedish intelligence representatives via the\u00a0\u00a0Swedish diplomatic pouch. These sets\u00a0\u00a0had been intended for use by the resistance in preparation of a possible uprising, in the wake of a hoped for Allied invasion. Now we finally have some indication\u00a0\u00a0as to what other\u00a0purposes such transmitters may have served, even though the\u00a0\u00a0invasion plans fell through.<\/p>\n

The memoirs of SI Intelligence Chief in Stockholm, Robert T. Cole, make it clear that the Swedish-American clandestine exchanges directly involved\u00a0\u00a0Raoul Wallenberg.\u00a0\u00a0Cole says that before Wallenberg left for Budapest, the two met to discuss America\u2019s overall \u201cinterests and contacts\u201d in Hungary, with an eye towards\u00a0\u00a0U.S. post war interests throughout Central and Eastern Europe\u00a0\u00a0(as well as the Baltic states). These aims also\u00a0almost certainly included the wish to protect Hungary\u2019s considerable industrial assets which\u00a0\u00a0involved important Western economic holdings, including those of Sweden.<\/p>\n

If the new findings are confirmed, the engagement of Swedish diplomatic representatives\u00a0 in an \u00a0ongoing military conflict\u00a0\u00a0could have had truly significant ramifications, on a variety of levels; this includes the question how Stalin decided to handle Raoul Wallenberg\u2019s case in the decisive summer of 1947 (when Wallenberg is alleged to have\u00a0\u00a0died in Soviet captivity)\u00a0\u00a0and why at least three individuals\u00a0 who had been \u00a0closely associated with Wallenberg and Allied intelligence operations\u00a0 in Budapest ended up as highly secret, numbered prisoners in the Soviet Union’s notorious Vladimir prison in the early 1950\u2019s. Did Raoul Wallenberg indeed quickly outlive any usefulness for\u00a0\u00a0the Soviet leader? Or did Stalin delay a final decision about Wallenberg\u2019s fate, at least for a while,\u00a0\u00a0because he considered him relevant\u00a0\u00a0\u201cfor the larger political game\u201d, as a former high-ranking Soviet intelligence official suggested\u00a0\u00a0some years ago?<\/p>\n

\u201cDark skies over Budapest\u201d\u00a0\u00a0gives strong new\u00a0\u00a0impetus for additional research into\u00a0 the overall scope and purpose of Wallenberg\u2019s mission, its associated aspects, as well as possible Soviet perception of Wallenberg\u00a0\u00a0as an \u2018agent\u2019 of broader, long term Western aims in what Stalin considered a traditional Soviet sphere of influence. The military defeat of Nazi Germany would have been a mere technicality in this scenario. Stalin’s main \u00a0concern was that ultimately the U.S. and Great Britain would make common cause with their former enemy and turn as a united front against the Soviet Union. Wallenberg\u2019s elaborate plans for post-war restitution of Jewish property\u00a0\u00a0must have further added to Soviet suspicions about the fundamental nature of his mission.<\/p>\n

After almost seven decades since Raoul Wallenberg\u2019s disappearance, we\u00a0\u00a0should be able to obtain answers to many of\u00a0\u00a0these unsolved questions. Soviet field agents filed extensive reports about what they saw and heard in Budapest (and Stockholm!), yet almost none of this documentation has been made available to researchers. Similarly, important internal Soviet era correspondence records between the Soviet leadership and key figures in the Soviet\u00a0\u00a0Foreign and\u00a0\u00a0Military Intelligence services have remained inaccessible. Unfortunately, Swedish officials have not\u00a0made a determined\u00a0 push\u00a0to\u00a0facilitate a comprehensive\u00a0review of this material by international experts.\u00a0\u00a0Gellert Kovacs\u2019 instructive new book provides all the more reason for that to change.<\/p>\n

One small drawback: The book lacks an index and it could have benefitted from tighter editing, which overlooked a few basic mistakes.\u00a0 A more extensive bibliography would be equally helpful. These oversights\u00a0\u00a0will hopefully be corrected in future editions and are in part compensated for by a spectacular 16-page photo insert. The publication is currently only available in Swedish, but awaits very welcome translation into English.<\/p>\n

Susanne Berger<\/p>\n

I have also worked as a lecturer on a variety of subjects.\u00a0 <\/strong>I can offer lectures on following topics, amongst others:<\/strong><\/p>\n

European 19: th and 20: th century history.<\/p>\n

Central and Eastern European history and present society.<\/p>\n

First and Second World War.<\/p>\n

Military history.<\/p>\n

History of Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

European extreme right wing movements, historically and present.<\/p>\n

The Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Military intelligence<\/p>\n

Raoul Wallenberg.<\/p>\n

Political humor.<\/p>\n

Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have written a number of articles that have been bought or publicized in historical magazines in Norway and Sweden.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>15 th of october 1944.<\/strong> About the nazi coup and take over of Hungary, which was preceeded by many secret intrigues, also including Raoul Wallenberg.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Battle of Budapest<\/strong>. This battle, which was called the “second Stalingrad” by both German and Soviet soldiers cost 150 000 lives and brought destruction on one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Hungarian army between 1919 and 1945. A<\/strong>bout the Royal Hungarian army from the harsh restrictions after the first world war, to rearmament in the 30\u00b4s, to the disastrous partcipation in the second world war.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Marshall Tukhatchevsky- The red Napoleon.<\/strong>\u00a0This article is about the miltary genius who became army commander at 27 and had a decisive contribution tot he fact that the young Soviet state survived. His ideas for the army were revolutionary in the 30\u00b4s, but rose Stalins envy and hate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The damned soldiers. <\/strong>\u00a0About all the different Soviet citizens, balts as well as caucasians and slavs, who sided with the invading germans after 1941, by different reasons.In many cases, their destiny was doomed, seen as traitors by most people in their country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Raoul Nordling- The unknown swedish hero. <\/strong>” The other Raoul”, a Swedish attach\u00e9 in Paris, who saved several thousand lives and contributed to stop Hitlers crazy plans to destroy paris before liberation in august 1944.<\/p>\n

Several other articles are under preparation. Articles could also be ordered and written from scratch. My articles are allways carefully researched from many sources and well written. They have received very high recognition from the ordering magazines.They are written in Swedish, but could be translated to any language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Gellert Kovacs and I am an independent researcher in history and social sciences and lecturer. I was born in Budapest, Hungary but have been living in Stockholm, Sweden since 1982. My background in these two countries gives me an international outlook and that is the main theme in much of my work. I have experiences from many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-102","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499,"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102\/revisions\/499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gellertkovacs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}