From the Diary of V. A. Zorin: Record of Conversation with Z. Firlinger on the Question of Preparing for the Armistice Negotiations with Hungary

From the Diary of V. A. Zorin. Record of Conversation with Z. Firlinger on the Question of Preparing for the Armistice Negotiations with Hungary.

Moscow

January 9, 1945

SECRET

Today at 22:00 I received Firlinger and, according to comrade V. G. Dekanozov's instructions, informed him that I would have liked to inform him unofficially about preparing for the armistice negotiations with Hungary and about the draft of armistice agreement. I passed the text of the agreement to Firlinger and told him that this draft was not completely coordinated between the three governments and only presented the position of the Soviet Union on the question of the conditions of armistice with Hungary. Nonetheless, taking into account our friendly relations with Yugoslavia and its interest in the issues related to Hungary, we thought it was necessary to inform the Czechoslovak government now about the draft of the agreement that we prepared.

Firlinger thanked me for this expression of friendly attitude to Czechoslovakia and asked whether the wishes expressed by the Czechoslovak government were included in the draft agreement. I said that the main wishes of the Czechoslovak government were reflected in this draft of the agreement, and I draw Firlinger's attention to articles 2, 4, 6, 12, and 19 of the draft. Firlinger read the articles in my presence and expressed his satisfaction with them. He also asked whether the draft of the agreement included the desire of the Czechgov^[1] to set a certain date for Hungary's entry into the war with Czechoslovakia and about relocating Hungarians from the Czechoslovak territory.

I responded that those wishes of the Czechoslovak government would be more likely included in the future peace treaty than in the conditions of the armistice agreement. At the same time, those issues were not represented in the conditions of the Agreements that were signed previously (with Romania, Finland, and Bulgaria). They were not reflected in the draft of the agreement with Hungary either. Firlinger asked what a possible future procedure for preparing the agreement would be like. I responded that after the text of the agreement is coordinated between the three allied governments it would be officially presented to the governments of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia with the objective of further consultations with them, after which the finalized text would be handed over to Hungarians.

Firlinger said that he would inform his government about everything that I told him, but he also pointed out the fact that the Czechoslovak government had a special interest in ensuring the right to relocate the Hungarians from the Czechoslovak territory. It was the responsibility of the Hungarian government to accept those relocated people, because the situation in Czechoslovakia could develop in such a way that the Hungarians would be forced to move to Hungary and could find themselves in a difficult situation.

Then Firlinger informed me that he sent Benesh a telegram with a very sharp definition of the question about the need of recognition of the interim Polish government as soon as possible and he was expecting their response to this telegram any time. He asked me whether I knew if Moravsky was going to meet with him. I responded that I did not have any information on that issue.

With that the conversation, which lasted 25 minutes, ended.

Director of the IV European Department

V.ZORIN

^[1] As in the text. Denotes the Czechoslovak government