DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION AT KAZINCBARCIKA, HUNGARY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700200257-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2011
• Sequence Number: 257
• Publication Date: December 23, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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STAT
U3 Hun;;aria
Munich, 24 Sep 1954
According to our Vienna office, the Political Committee of the Run-
garian Workers Party has issued a report stating that the construction and
equipment of the Kazincbarcika project have been delayed, and that I.ajos
Szijjarto, Minister of Building, is mainly responsible for the delay. The
Political Committee gave Szijjarto only a warning and ordered the appro-
priate ministries to complete the construction by the target date.
This official commur,igue, which, significantly, was issued by the
Politburo rather than the Council of Ministers, brings out into the open
the scandal which has been whispered about in Hungary for n year. In
Kazinebarcika, the "socisiist city" situated on the Sa?o River, it is
planned to build Hungary's largest nitrogen fertilizer plant. In addi-
tion to supplying strategic chemical materials to the USSR, this plant
is to supply northern Hungary with fertilizer. According to the plan,
parts of the power and fertilizer plants were scheduled to t,egin pro-
duction in May of this year; however, this goal was not accomplished.
Kazincbarcika is one of those typically Communist construction proj-
ects which Kravchenko described in his boo'r.. Despite protests by the
Hungarian experts, construction was started according; to the Soviet pat-
tern. With no provision twde even i'or workez?s' housing, thousands of
construction workers and mechanics were to}:en to Kazinebarcika. Men and
women were housed together in primitive and i'ilthy L-arracks. The sim-
plest hygienic facilities were absent; the food supply was poor; and if
the wor}:ers wanted to prepare food for ther.;selves, they were forced to
steal fuel from the buildings under construction.
The various construction trusts settled down to work, cooperating
with one another only occasionally; to meet the target dates, they stole
construction materials from each other at night. One brigade disas-
sembled what another Lrigade had built ne:a door, in an effort to find
iron and brick for the plan fulfillment.
Kazinebarcika quickly became the terror of Hungarian uorhers; 3t
was considered a slave labor camp, anu those who could escaped. Worker
migration was even greater ti,an at Sztallnvaros, where it is also sub-
stautiel. Because of the great labor shortage, underworld elements
from Budapest moved to Knzincbarcika, looting; with impunity and thereby
increasing, the bad reputation of the "socia.list city." The luckless
boys and girls who were forced to wor}: there became dissolute in this
environment, and their parents did their utmost to obtain their release.
According to the unrealistic plan, 40,000 modern homes were to be built,
and the power plant was to furnish tkcem with 't:cat and hot water. Actu-
ally, however, only a few were completed; they were subsequently con-
verted into t+arraclcs and conditions in them became irdescribnble.
btachinery for the chemical works and power plant was supplieu by
various large Hungarian, Czechoslovak, and East German Factories.
These factories delivered the machinery as scheduled, but there was
no place to install it at Kazincbarci}:a. Delicate machinery lay in the
rain and snow for months. In one case, the assemLly of the machinery
was begun in one of the shops of the power plant bef'orc there was ever,
one wall standing.;. On one side the machinery was being assembled and
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on the other side. the scaffolding vas being started. In the general chaos,
naturally, certain components and accessories vere alvays missing, so that
none of the shops could start operations.
Since 1Cazincbarcika has been unable to fulfill any of its delivery
commitments, Moscow expressed disapproval; as a result, :zijjarto vas sin-
gled out as scapegoat.
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