THE PHOTOCHEMISTRY JOINT STOCK COMPANY, VAC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002500700002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 7, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 31, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

25X1A9a
NO. OF PAGES 2 25X1 A2g
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DATE DISTR. 3 N1,.9 1;;4G*
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUBJECT The Photochemistry Joint Stock
Company, Vac
PLACE
ACQUIRED 25X1 A6a
DATE OF IN
25X1X6
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1. The former Kodak Photo Company at Vac, which has been idle since 1944,
was bought in 1947 by the Hungarian Credit Bank and was reestablished
the same year under the name Photochemistry Joint Stock Company.
2. The company produces photo paper and has maximum capacity of 100,000
square meters per month. In 1947 the monthly average production was
20,000 square meters, which was gradually raised to 80,000 square meters
by November 1948. The company employs a total of approximately 100
trained workers. The special raw material paper is imported from Belgium,
England and-the t-iestern Zones of Germany. Some of this paper was also
bought in Czechoslovakia; however, the paper of Czechoslovak origin is of
bad quality because it has some metallic content.
3. Hungary's monthly consumption of4 oto paper is approximately 15 to 20,000
square meters; production above ..he internal needs of Hungary i' exported
to Holland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Rumania. In 1948 Holland bought
photo paper in the amount of approximately )200,000.00 at a price of 1"1.20
per square meter and has a contract for the-delivery of photo pater in
the amount of 1400,000 for 1949. Austria, Egypt, Israel, and Finland also
have contracts for the delivery of photo paper with the company, but the
value of the paper to be delivered is not known to In Yugoslav 25X1X6
relations the company experiended some difficulties-in obtaining the neces-
sary export license, but the deliveries never came to a stop. In the
Balkans all exports are made on a compensation basis.
4. The Hungarian Government plans to expand this shop by introducing the produc-
tion of films and photo plates and has alloted 150,000 for the purchase of
the equipment of the Perutz and also of the Schleissner factories, which
were allegedly auctioned in Munich on 11 December 1948. Production of films
and photo plates is scheduled to start in June 1949.
5. Since May 1948 the general manager of the company has been Laszlo Darvas, a
former officer of the State Defense Department and a Communist.
ULASSIt-ILAI IUN
Approved For R p 1 LQ%@AuEC P82-004 :
INFORMATION REPORT CD NO.
WVIII FUL-11 ill VC.
CLASSIFICATION Mme"
NSRB DISTRIBUTION
F8i
document is hereby regraded to
,gyp TIAL in accordance with the
letter of Ober 1978 from the
Next RA Inav+edoPr Reid
Archivist of the United
Director of Centr liigence to the
Aut
999/09/09 : CIA-RDP82-004W
 Approved For Release 1999/0'A-RDP82-00457R002500700002-9
CENTRAL INT_~,LLIGENCE AGENCY
25X1A2g
6, The company is subordinated to the Central Office for the Unorganic Chemical
Industry, which in turn is a branch office of the Directorate for the 25X1X6
Chemical Industry under the Ministry of Industry. claims that these
supervisory organs work well and rapidly. The company experienced some
difficulties in marketing its products because of the lack of qualified sales
personnel and also because of the mistrust encountered in Iestern countries
for Hungarian-manufactured photo products.
7. Dissatisfaction is widespread because old, well-trained workers are dismissed
as politically unreliable and replaced by young, inexperienced Communists
and also because wages received do not permit workers to have the same stand-
ards of living to which their wages entitled them in pre-war days
Approved For Release 1999/09/09 : CIA-RDP82-00457R002500700002-9