The torture-scarred hands of Janos Kadar were a dual convenience for the Russian conquerors. Those hands could sign the death decrees that crushed revolutionary leadership. And their scars were a reminder that the Premier himself had suffered to the limit (including emasculation) in old Premier Rakosi's Stalinist jail, thus represented to despairing Hungarians a glimmering hope of a better Communist leadership. Kadar soon destroyed what hope there was. His guarantees of democratic reforms never came through; vows of amnesty for revolt heroes were broken in a blood bath of summary trials; the...
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