The Methods of Communist Conquest: Hungary 1944–1947
In the general picture of Eastern European developments the Hungarian scene has some peculiar features. Hungary did not succeed in changing sides effectively during the recent war and at the close of hostilities was probably in the worst political position among the former Axis satellites. She did not enjoy much sympathy in the West, and was positively disliked by the Russians. In point of time Hungary was the last of the Axis satellites to conclude an armistice treaty with the three major Allies (January 20, 1945).
Church and State in Hungary
The arrest, trial and sentence for life of Joseph Cardnial Mindszenty, Primate of Hungary, has profoundly shaken the conscience of the Western world and provoked a wave of protests on a scale unheard of before. The incident occurred at the climax of the tension between West and East. The figure of the Cardinal became the personification of a world-wide struggle between two fundamentally different conceptions of life. His broken resistance—both physical and psychological—symbolizes the fate of the millions oppressed and silenced by a ruthless Communist minority in East Europe. The recntations and self-contradictory confessions in the course of the trial had all the characteristics of the usual travesties of justice in Communistdominated countries. Pope Pius XII rightly stated in his allocution of February 14, 1949, that the behavior of Cardinal Mindszenty “appeared an accusation not against himself but against his very accusers and condemners.”
A controlled, randomized trial of highly selective vagotomy versus selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty in the treatment of duodenal ulcer.
The results of highly selective vagotomy without drainage and selective vagotomy with pyloroplasty for duodenal ulcer were compared in a randomized, controlled trial of a series of 100 patients. The frequency of dumping, diarrhoea, and epigastric fullness was significantly lower after highly selective (6, 6, and 8 percent) than after selective vagotomy (30, 20, and 28 percent) one year after the operations. Recurrent and persisting duodenal ulcers appearing from one to four years after the operations were significantly more frequent after highly selective (22 percent) than after selective vagotomy (8 percent). No significant relationships were found between recurrent ulceration and gastric acid secretion measurements after the two operations. The Hollander response was early positive in 28 percent and late positive in 30 percent of the patients subjected to highly selective vagotomy, while the corresponding figures after selective vagotomy were 26 and 32 percent. The overall clinical results of the two operations were not different according to the classification of Visick. Excluding the patients with recurrence resulted in significantly better clinical results after highly selective vagotomy.