Hangman's Downfall

In the trial of Cardinal Mindszenty in 1949, the president of the Hungarian court was a balding, saturnine man who directed a continuous stream of prejudice-laden questions at the accused. No Communist, Judge Vilmos Old had been an Arrow Cross (Nazi) leader up to 1945, switched his allegiance to the Red totalitarians when the Russians marched in. The Communists found him a useful tool, used him to press home distorted charges against such people as Robert Vogeler and Edgar Sanders. Archbishop Joseph Grosz, numerous Yugoslav "spies" and Hungarian "saboteurs." Old soon became known as the "hangman of Budapest." Last week the Communist bosses of Hungary degraded Judge Old along with some 200 other Budapest legal stooges, including the hated.Public Prosecutor J. Domokos. With the new Soviet, peace offensive in full swing, the period of show trials seems to be over--at least for the time being.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.