Original subtitles

On August 16, 1958 a few minutes after 10 am, two armed men

Downloaded from YTS.BZ

broke into the Hungarian Embassy in Bern.

Certain details of the incident are still unclear.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

Our film portrays a possible chain of events

based on existing State Security archive files.

Maybe it happened differently.

Maybe it happened exactly like this.

presents

A film by

BERN, SWITZERLAND

AUGUST 16, 1958

45... 69... 1...

13... 13... 2...

Production Designer

Music by

Edited by

Director of Photography

Screenplay by

Produced by

EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY

Directed by

THE AMBASSADOR TO BERN

HUNGARIAN EMBASSY, BERN

1ST FLOOR - PRESS OFFICE

Did you hear?

No.

Headquarters decide about Koroknai today.

Who said that?

Radó.

What do you think?

I think they’ll fire him.

This is a war.

We are waging a war for the souls of the immigrants.

1ST FLOOR - CONFERENCE ROOM

We, a handful of us, with our modest devices to enlighten...

while Switzerland, with the power of politicians and industrialists...

is telling lies and provoking...

using dirty tricks.

The attaché would like to know

how many immigrants have returned to Hungary.

A lot.

1,000 - 1,200. And there’II be more.

Because every Hungarian is important to us.

We will fight for them one by one if need be.

GROUND FLOOR - ADMINISTRATION OFFICE

Are there any criminal proceedings against you in Hungary?

No.

We left with all the others.

When the borders were open.

- We’re homesick. - They look down on us.

A Hungarian can only be a laborer or an alcoholic here.

You are free to return to Hungary.

But the moment you reach Hungary,

you will be arrested for illegally crossing the border.

The punishment is 3-6 months in prison.

Do you wish to proceed?

Yes.

You need to fill these forms in.

ATTIC - RADIO ROOM

Attaché Lai congratulates you on your excellent achievements.

And I congratulate Attaché Lai on his appointment.

I welcome him to Bern...

and I hope he will support the Hungarian cause just as strongly...

as his predecessor Attaché Feng.

I trust that his great country will help our small country at the UN...

so that the Hungarian question may be resolved as quickly as possible.

Cheers!

Thank you.

Did you go to the concert?

Jerry Lee! He played at the Wankdorf last night.

It was super!

We don’t like the Wankdorf.

It’s a Hungarian thing.

The Wankdorf?

The World Cup final was there, 4 years ago. 3:2.

Goddamn Germans.

Where do you think you’re going?

To have lunch.

Lunch?

At 10 in the morning?

We’re hungry.

Half of the staff are on holiday.

The other half are either having a lunch break or a cigarette break.

It’s Saturday, Comrade Ambassador.

This is not a salt office.

Did the telegram come?

Not yet.

They promised it for today.

They promised. But it didn’t come.

Don’t forget, Comrade Vermes...

I am still the ambassador.

For now.

Did you bring something to cover your face?

- What? - To cover your face.

Sure.

They don’t suit you.

Is this any better?

That rotten bastard!

1ST FLOOR - AMBASSADOR’S APARTMENT

- Which rotten bastard? - Vermes. He’s hiding something.

Why? Did headquarters send the telegram?

He says they didn’t.

Why would he deny it?

Why? To win time.

It’s not enough for him to get rid of me, he wants to be the new ambassador.

What are you going to do?

I don’t know.

I’II wait.

You’II wait.

What do you think I should do?

Strike back?

God forbid, Misi.

You’re a diplomat, you can’t play the hero.

Hero?

You want a hero, Edina?

You want me to confront them?

Well, watch this...

What are you looking for?

The key to the safe.

I secretly copied it.

Why? Are you going to break into the safe?

If I read the telegram, I can make a move. I can win some time.

I can say I have new proof.

And?

Do you?

I won’t let them get me.

Good. I’ve ordered the new curtains.

What?

I’ve ordered the new curtains. I’m going to collect them now.

Right.

That must be my taxi.

Just a minute.

Can I help you?

We want to go home.

- Good morning, madam. - Good morning, Comrade Gottman.

You’ll need to wait a bit...

Hands up!

Stand up!

Jesus Christ...

What was that?

Come on, get out!

Move it!

- We’re Hungarians. - Don’t hurt us, please.

We’ve got two kids.

Against the wall, with your hands up!

Where’s the safe?

What do you want?

- Where’s the safe? - In the attic.

- Who’s got the key? - Not me.

- Who’s got the key? - Comrade Vermes.

Who are you?

Move! Come on!

Stop!

Gate key.

Go!

Lock the door.

Leave the key in it.

- Bandits! - Go in!

Go in!

I can’t...

Get in.

I’II look.

What?

How do we get out?

It’s another country. Over the border.

- What happened? - Two bandits with guns!

Two intruders! They’re armed!

- Call the police! - You are the police!

- He can’t go in... - Call the police!

Bern Police.

This is the Hungarian Embassy.

We have two intruders!

Don’t move!

They’re shooting at us! We need urgent help!

What’s going on downstairs?

Bandits, Comrade Ambassador!

Lock yourself in!

Help me!

Help! Help! Help!

Is there anyone in there?

Hands up!

Name?

Mihály Koroknai.

- Rank? - Ambassador.

UNGARHILFE CENTRE

Switzerland welcomes Hungarian refugees.

In return, there are two simple rules to obey.

First is employment. All refugees must find work.

The other is that you have to move on.

You cannot settle in Switzerland.

Until you find work,

we’II give you accommodation, free meals, and second-hand clothes.

We’ll look after the children, we have our own nursery.

Hajni, listen to this!

Two armed men have broken into the Hungarian Embassy...

shortly after 10 am, and they started shooting.

We do not know if there are any casualties.

Who would do something that stupid?

Hajni! Where are you going? Hajni!

Get me a phone.

Connect me with the Home Affairs.

What do you want?

The key.

There’s no money in there.

What’s the combination?

- Only Comrade Vermes knows. - Who’s Comrade Vermes?

- The trade attaché. - He’s the ÁVÓ officer.

That’s the protocol. The safe is the competence of the trade attaché.

He won’t even tell me the combination.

Inspector Lambert.

I forbid any intervention!

But, Minister...

Without the ambassador’s approval the embassy enjoys political immunity.

Intervention would breach a whole load of international conventions.

Shall we just stand here and watch them shooting?

Until further instruction stay on the street and maintain order.

Understood. Thank you, Minister.

Hungarian Embassy.

Yes, I confirm, but I can't provide anymore information.

Thank you.

Hungarian Embassy.

This is Inspector Lambert from the Bern Police.

Please do something!

Who’s speaking?

Ágnes Márton, embassy staff.

Please stay calm.

We’re across the street in the café.

We will intervene if necessary.

It’s necessary! They’re shooting at us!

Is anyone injured?

Gottman perhaps... the embassy secretary.

But we’re barricaded in. We can’t see a thing.

Where are the intruders?

We haven’t heard them for a while.

How many external lines do you have?

Two. Both in the office.

And there is one in the ambassador’s apartment.

Keep one line free at all times.

We’II communicate on that. Understand?

Yes.

Please stay calm.

We’re making the necessary preparations,

and we will intervene soon.

I need to talk to the police.

Are you crazy? What for?

Hajni!

I know those two guys in there.

How did you get in?

No one searched you?

And Gottman?

He should only see one person at a time.

I don’t believe this.

We told them we were Hungarians.

And that we have two kids...

And we have two children.

And...

And then the younger one told us to go.

And then the younger one told them to go.

This lady says she knows the intruders.

Hajnalka Dorozsmai, I’m an interpreter at Ungarhilfe.

An organisation that helps Hungarian refugees.

Inspector Lambert.

Is this them?

Yes.

Yes, it was them.

Who are these men?

They’re freedom fighters.

Tibor Bános and Ábel Takács.

They fought in Budapest in 1956.

And now they're fighting in Bern.

The freedom fight continues for them today.

- What are you doing with the radio? - Too much talk.

Of course it’s too much! You’re just ruining my life.

- The radio? - It’s working.

- Munich? - Got it.

We’ve got 20 minutes left.

Is it going to work?

All the safes have the same weak point.

A good locksmith can open any of them.

A safe?

Yes, they mentioned a safe.

She says they were looking for a safe.

Inspector... they won’t get hurt, will they?

If they don’t do anything stupid, they won’t.

This is the police!

Come out with your hands up and you won’t be harmed.

I repeat: this is the police!

Can you hear this?

Come out with your hands up and you won’t be harmed.

The Swiss Police guarantees no harm will come to any of you.

Filthy traitors! You’re going to die!

We work at the embassy.

Who was that?

That was Comrade Vermes.

We want to go in.

We are Comrade Radó and Comrade Vermes.

Trade Department.

Inspector Lambert. Bern Police.

We're trying to negotiate with the intruders.

There’s a telephone in the Ambassador’s apartment.

I’II call you in 2 minutes, and we’II try to find a peaceful solution.

I think you should talk to them.

Ábel?

I’d prefer to talk to Comrade Vermes.

I’d offer him a deal.

The ambassador’s life in exchange for the combination to the safe.

He won’t take it. I know him.

- You’ll convince him. - He doesn’t give a shit if I live or die.

Bános...

You want to kill that man?

Are you chickening out?

Just thinking.

We’ve killed before, it’s not a pleasant feeling.

But if we kill this man, we have to be ready to die.

I’m ready.

And you?

We swore. We swore to Imre Nagy that we’d fight

for the freedom of Hungary to the last drop of blood.

If we have to die today, we’ll die today.

Who says we have to die today?

If I’d been shot on Corvin Lane,

I wouldn’t have made it to the Mecsek Hills.

If I hadn’t survived the Mecsek, I wouldn’t be here today, you get it?

You are chickening out.

All I’m saying is that we should leave ourselves a way out.

I’m going to talk to Vermes.

You’re a good kid.

I didn’t mean to, but I heard.

I can tell.

You’re different.

Compared to what?

Compared to Bános.

Compared to him, I am.

I went to high school for 2 years before they kicked me out.

A year later, my kid brother was kicked out, too.

"Anti-establishment behaviour."

My father was fired from the print works.

He wasn’t a member of the Party. He raised his voice, they locked him up.

2 months in prison.

The Takács family screw themselves!

No need to intern us, no need to line up against the wall.

A small tap on our back, we collapse on our own.

Bános lived in Üllo.

The Russkies raped his mother in ’45.

His father tried to protect her, he was nearly beaten to death.

All this witnessed by an 8-year-old Bános.

All I’m saying is...

that I’ll happily shoot you in the head if I have to...

but Bános will also smash your face to pieces...

before he screws your wife.

That’s the difference between us.

Inspector Lambert, Bern Police.

Tibor Bános. Give me Vermes.

Vermes?

Stay calm.

Vermes.

Tell me the combination or the ambassador dies.

You’ve got 10 minutes.

Are you insane?

We don’t negotiate with bandits.

But what did he say?

You have to help.

I understand you boys.

You don’t need to understand, you need to think.

You’II die in 5 minutes because you don’t know the combination.

I’d start thinking if I were you.

9 minutes.

Tibor, it’s me.

Hajni.

You said you wouldn’t do it.

What are you doing here?

You’re all over the news.

Did you have to do this?

They killed Imre Nagy.

What’s Imre Nagy got to do with us?

With the two of us?

If this was all about the two of us,

I would’ve proposed to you 2 weeks ago on that bridge in Holligen.

You would've said yes.

We’d buy a house in Ittigen or Bolligen.

We’d have three kids.

Florian, Mathias and Adrian.

Okay, I don’t fancy the name Adrian either.

You’re such a fool.

It’ll be over soon.

Will I see you again?

Say something.

You will.

I don’t trust the Swiss.

Imperialists.

We have to get this thing sorted in the embassy on our own.

Are you in?

I’m in.

I’m listening.

I can only guess.

Then take a good guess.

We’ve waited enough. We’re going in.

I can’t allow that.

We’re sovereign citizens of a sovereign country.

You can’t stop us.

The Great October Socialist Revolution.

17-10-25.

According to the Gregorian calendar?

17-11-07.

They broke the key off.

- The bastards! - We’ll take the back door.

The declaration of the Republic of Councils. 19-03-21.

The liberation of Hungary. 45-04-04.

Vermes’ birthday?

No idea.

They went for the safe.

56-10-23.

They’re here for the codebook.

The codebook?

What if they get hold of it?

They can’t have it.

What happens if they do?

If they have it, Comrade Gottman, we’re all finished.

Comrade Vince!

It’s all right, it’s me.

49-08-20.

53-03-05.

54-07-04.

Watch out!

We’re going in!

Stop shooting, you morons!

You stay here.

Are you there, Comrade Vermes?

I’m here.

I’II count to 3.

You either tell me the combination, or the ambassador dies.

One...

Vermes!

Two...

Vermes, tell them the code! That’s an order!

I’m sorry, Comrade Ambassador, but you can no longer give orders.

The telegram came this morning.

You’ve been fired, and I’m the senior officer.

This is the last chance!

Three!

30-12-16!

30-12-16!

My wife’s birthday.

That was a close call.

What are you doing here? You can’t enter, this is Hungarian territory!

Where you’re endangering the lives of others.

We’II take over from here.

The show’s over.

If you try to come in, the ambassador dies!

Take them down.

Move!

Come!

Come on!

Did you know?

That they’d order me back? I had a hunch.

Why did they order you back?

Because of ’56.

I threw the ÁVÓ officers out off the embassy on October 30.

Vermes, Radó and the others.

Why?

Because Imre Nagy said so.

He just wants to win some time.

I’m telling the truth. Why would I lie?

To save your ass.

Half a sandwich: salami.

430 forints in cash.

The Communist Manifesto, in Hungarian.

And this.

It’s the telegram logbook.

- Isn’t that what we wanted? - It’s worth shit without the codebook.

Damn!

What does a codebook suppose to look like? Small, big, thin, thick?

I don’t know! I don’t know.

It depends on how complicated the codes are.

What do you need the codebook for?

If you steal it, the State Department will change the codes by tomorrow.

The codebook can save lives and expose the guilty.

And how do you plan to take it?

Stuff it into your underpants and walk out the door?

This is Radio Free Europe. Are you there, Ábel?

Yes. This is Ábel.

Success?

We’re checking the safe now.

We’re in the studio. Ready to go on air.

We need one more minute.

Do you want to read the codes out on the Free Europe?

Live on air.

Those traitors in Munich are in on this too, huh?

I can’t believe it.

In a few minutes, Comrade Ambassador, the whole free world...

will know the codes of the Hungarian State Department.

All your dirty secrets will be exposed.

What does the codebook look like?

No idea.

This safe belongs to Home Affairs, I work for the State Department.

If it’s not in the safe, then Vermes has it.

The ambassador’s life in exchange for the codebook!

I’ve got bad news for you.

Vermes has burnt the codebook.

What did he say?

Vermes burnt the codebook.

- Is there only one codebook? - Yes.

You're left with no other option.

You have to give yourselves up.

Now what?

We stay.

And if we have to die, the ambassador dies first.

Have you got the codebook?

No.

I repeat: we don’t have the codebook.

In that case, I have to abort the broadcast.

Give us one more minute.

One minute and we’re out.

You’d better surrender.

Prisons here are like hotels at home.

Now what?

Down with Kádár! Down with Kádár!

- Thank you. - You’re welcome.

There’s a change to the programme.

Ambassador Mihály Koroknai is going to speak.

What? The ambassador to Bern?

He’s going to publicly apologise for Imre Nagy’s murder.

Are you insane?

- Why don’t we shoot him? - And then what?

- We’re trying to break out. - Are you determined to die?

Kádár’s henchman! Kádár’s henchman!

Down with Kádár! Down with Kádár!

KÁDÁR = MURDERER

We’re waiting for the ambassador.

We’re ready.

You’re going live. All the best!

Let’s do it.

What should I say?

Introduce yourself.

I don’t have the permission to make any declaration.

- I just wanted to clarify that. - Your name?

Mihály Koroknai, Hungarian ambassador to Bern.

Two bandits are holding a gun to my head.

What happened at the embassy in 1956?

Tell us what you wanted to say earlier.

What did Imre Nagy ask you to do?

It wasn’t Imre Nagy, it was the State Department.

What did the State Department ask you to do?

To dismiss the Home Affairs staff from the embassy.

The ÁVÓ officers.

I was ordered to get rid of intelligence operatives.

- It’s Koroknai. - Koroknai?

And? Did you throw them out?

How? What station is it?

I sent them home, it’s not a secret.

Radio Free Europe.

When did this happen?

On October 30.

Did you take the side of the revolution?

I’m a diplomat, I don’t take sides.

I follow orders, that’s all.

For Rákosi and Imre Nagy equally?

I swore on the Hungarian flag.

What happens at the top is not my business.

I’m a professional. I do my job.

Do you consider the revolution to be a professional matter?

Why’s that important? Who cares?

Do you weigh orders up before you carry them out?

Yes, I do, like all normal people.

Did you agree with throwing the ÁVÓ out?

I’II repeat...

Mihály?

I followed an order.

Did you agree or not?

It’s not easy to speak honestly with a gun to my head.

It’s just as hard without a gun.

You don’t want honesty from me, you want a confession.

Relax...

We’re just talking.

Thank you.

I don’t understand what we’re talking about.

- What? Live on air? - Yes.

Goddammit!

We’re just two Hungarians, away from home...

from the two sides of the trenches... finally agreeing on something.

We both hate the ÁVÓ.

Everybody hated the ÁVÓ, didn’t they?

Especially the diplomats. That’s no secret.

They’re Home Affairs, we’re the State Department.

What are they doing in an embassy anyway?

They don’t speak languages, they don’t manage matters.

All they do is spy on our staff.

Snoops, that’s what they are.

When I got the call on October 30 that the new order was to dismiss the ÁVÓ...

what was I supposed to say?

I was happy.

I never thought that communism could end.

Imre Nagy was the greatest communist, wasn’t he?

He was a friend of Gero and Rákosi. What was I supposed to think?

Haven’t you heard about the revolution?

The revolution happened differently for us.

We were far way.

We heard that the crowds were out on the streets, chasing the ÁVÓ away.

And what did you think would happen?

They’d get rid of the ÁVÓ and communism would remain.

A communism without the ÁVÓ.

What else should I have thought?

On October 30, the orders came from the same people...

as before and since.

Then why do they want to fire you?

Good question.

You followed their orders and now they’re getting rid of you?

After a shameless, 18-month procedure, they came up...

with this outrageous and humiliating verdict.

You’ll have me feeling sorry for you.

And Imre Nagy?

What about him?

What do you think of his execution?

I can’t apologise for others.

But what’s your take on it? You fought for the same reason after all, didn’t you?

Not exactly.

You both wanted to get rid of the ÁVÓ.

If you’re outraged by getting unfairly fired for this,

aren’t you a bit upset about Imre Nagy getting executed?

Just because I’m pissed off by it.

It’s not the same.

What’s not the same?

Imre Nagy gave the order, I just carried it out.

You’re just as responsible as the one who gave the order, don’t you think?

On that basis, a whole country could be called to account.

Would you have executed Imre Nagy?

Let me say it again: I did not give the order.

- But you’d carry it out. - Would you have carried it out?

Would you have executed him if you’d been ordered?

This conversation is over.

Would you have killed Imre Nagy?

- Switch the radio off. - Say yes or no.

Did he deserve to die? Did he deserve the rope?

- Would you have tied it around his neck? - Kick the stool from under his feet?

Watch him fighting for his life?

- If you’d been given the order... - Would you have killed Imre Nagy?

It was a mistake...

to kill Imre Nagy.

Say it again.

It was a mistake to kill Imre Nagy.

A bloody big mistake.

I struggled,

I pleaded,

at headquarters, with the minister, with Kádár.

I told him it would be a huge mistake to execute Imre Nagy.

"He’s just a tired old man, wouldn’t hurt a fly."

"People will forget him quickly."

Kádár said:

"We don’t understand you, Comrade Koroknai."

"Imre Nagy is a rat, an enemy of the state."

"He has to die, right away."

I said: "Comrade Kádár...

what will we achieve by executing him?"

"We’d only make the counter-revolutionaries stronger."

"We’d shake the emigrants up."

"We’d give them something...

one hundred times stronger than a tired old man."

"We’d give them a martyr."

Don’t...

Listen.

"If he sends this message again,"

"We all have to join his army."

"Long live the Hungarian freedom!"

"Long live the homeland!"

"Raindrops are falling all around,"

"Falling on Lajos Kossuth’s hat."

Leave yourself a way out.

What happened in there?

I demand that you search him immediately.

The other one?

What other one?

Go!

We’re with you!

We’re with you!

Would you really have let them kill me?

I was bluffing.

Where was that goddamn codebook?

You must have figured it out by now, Comrade Ambassador.

Enjoy packing your bags.

41... 61... 6...

29... 04...

29... 04...

58... 60... 1...

98... 64... 6...

You can put the new curtains up, Edina.

We’re staying.

Headquarters sent a telegram.

"Earlier order retracted."

"In light of heroic efforts..."

"the ambassador stays."

I told you. I won’t let them get me.

The codebook was right in front of us all along.

It was in our hands.

We were blind not to realise.

It doesn’t matter anymore.

My best friend is dead.

Maybe it was determined by fate... maybe by him.

Bános was definitely ready.

He was ready to give his life for freedom.

I know that his death was not in vain.

Tibor Bános was given a public burial in Bern on August 28, 1958,

despite the protestation of the embassy.

Hundreds of Hungarian immigrants attended.

Ábel Takács was released 18 months later.

He gained Swiss citizenship, attended university, and married.

He wasn’t able to attend either his father’s or his mother’s funeral.

He could only return to Hungary in 1989.

Mihály Koroknai and György Vermes were awarded

the Medal of Worker and Peasant Rule

for "exemplary, self-sacrificing and heroic behaviour".

Koroknai’s career went from strength to strength.

He served as ambassador in Prague, Belgrade and finally Moscow.

He retired as deputy prime minister.

Following the political amnesty granted in 1963,

Hungary’s UN mandate was restored.

The "Hungarian Question" was taken off the agenda.