Criminal offences within the Border Guard in 1950

Part 1

Abstract

With the help of material found in the National Archives of Hungary, the paper analyses the documents in existence on the criminal offences committed within the Border Guard in the 1950s. The author presents the bills of indictment and the court rulings and also elaborates on a few particular events including desertions to a foreign country, uses of firearms, murders, accidents caused by innocent people and the application of warrants of apprehension. The paper shows the contemporary line of procedure, the ways of investigating and reporting actions, through which individual fates are presented. It also includes the then typical economic crimes and those committed by chiefs of the Border Guard.