Lazar Brankov: the first leader of the Cominformist émigrés in Hungary and “Tito’s most determined agent.” A life between two emigrations (1949–1956)
Lazar Brankov: the first leader of the Cominformist émigrés in Hungary and “Tito’s most determined agent.” A life between two emigrations (1949–1956)

Summary/Abstract: Lazar Brankov (1912–2011) was an important Yugoslav communist diplomat in Budapest who emigrated in 1948 upon the outbreak of the Soviet–Yugoslav conflict and became the first leader of the community of Cominformist émigrés in Hungary. A year later, he became one of the leading defendants in the Rajk–Brankov trial and was sentenced to life in prison. He was released in 1956 when he emigrated from Hungary. This study focuses on the circumstances of his emigration, his activities as an émigré leader, the circumstances of his arrest, and his role in the Rajk–Brankov trial and in the review of the trial. The necessary research was carried out at the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (Állambiztonsági Szolgálatok Történeti Levéltára) in Budapest, and author argues that – with a critical approach and by involving other archival sources – it is possible to reconstruct the most important events of Brankov’s life using documents created by state security organizations.

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