Balint Boda
For the reader to better understand the importance of Balint Boda in the years leading up to
the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, here is some detailed information: "In Radio Free Europe broadcasts, Balint Boda is represented as a man who makes frequent secret Trips through Hungary, returning after each trip to tell Hungarians what he has found out. His audience appeal rests on his daring defiance of the Communists (Many Hungarians believe that he makes journeys through their country), The uncanny accuracy of his information about the Communists (particularly Communist informers) and the fiery language with which he attacks the people
who has betrayed his country."
Hungary is unique -- primarily because RFE has furnished it with a symbol, B.B. for Balint Boda, that stirs the imagination and, paralleling the V-sign of World War II, can easily be chalked or painted on walls everywhere. Respondent after respondent from this country recalls having seen the letters B.B. -- or some variant, such as ~Come Balint Boda," "Balint Boda comes," "Fear and tremble, Balint Boda is coming," "B.B. will take care of the Communists --" on houses, fences, walls of public and factory toilets, and even on walls of police buildings," or "on fruit stands, bridges, and sidewalks ...
The Hungarian Secret Police (AVO) men used to scrub them off with wet brushes “ respondents pride themselves on having shared responsibility for their appearance. "Balint Boda's initials," says the 20-year-old theology student," became the sign of resistance back home. They are to be seen in many places on the walls, and I and friends of my age also wrote them in innumerable places at night." The elderly seamstress had "heard that Balint Boda wrote his initials on the walls in Sopron so that the police were not able to scrub them off. There had been quite a crowd watching them try to do it." And a toolmaker tells of the police alerts following RFE's announcements that the next week Balint Boda was going to take a walk in the vicinity. "At this time the AVO men raided everywhere in the surrounding area. Unknown authors wrote the great B.B. letters all over ... In these days, the policemen didn't dare to walk alone,
only in couples.
For a full analysis of Balint Boda, see Siegfried Kracauer and Paul Berkman, Satellite Mentality: Political Attitudes and Propaganda Susceptibilities of Non- Communists in Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, 1956 Frederick A.Praeger, Publishers New York, pp. 143-144.
