Evening star., 1950-02-18
Voge|er Makes
Confession Of
Hungary Spying
Ordered to Help Atom
Physicists Flee, He
Says; Asks Leniency
By Endre Marion
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent


BUDAPEST, Hungary, Feb. 1s
A. Vogeler, jr., American
businessman, pleaded guilty to spy
charges today and said that as
an American agent he had been
instructed to help atom physicists
escape from Hungary.
Calmly confessing to all the
charges in the indictment against
him, the 38-year- r-old telephone
compay executive asked Hun
garian Peoples Court for "a mild
sentence"
He said he used his position
as assistant vice president of the
International Telephone & Tele-
graph Co. as cover for nv
espionage work"
Mr.. Vogeler's International plea
of guilty opened the second day
of the trial in which he and six
others-a Briton and five Hun
garians-are accused of espionage
and sabotage.
All Enter Guilty Pleas.
The last three Hungarian de-
PENDANTS followed Mr.. Vogeler to
the stand and also entered pleas
OF guilty. They were Baroness"
Edna Doery, a barmaid; Kele-
men Domokos, a chief accountant
for the Standard Electric Co.,
an L. T. and T. subsidiary, and
DR.. lstVan Justh, a Catholic
priest.
Mr.. Vogeler's British assistant,
Edgar Sanders, and two other
Hungarian defendants pleaded
guilty yesterday.
Mr.. Vogeler, who has been I.
T. & T. representative in Europe
since 1945, declared he had been
United States Army intelligence
officer since 1912. AS an electri-
cal and mechanical engineer, he
said, espionage in the technical
field is my speciality"
He testified that he had been
Instructed by United States Army
intelligence officers in Vienna to
dig up special information about
radar production, rockets, ura-
MUM and oil deposits in Hungary
and to get in touch with atom
physicists and help them escape.
Asks Mild Sentence.
He was on the stand for two
hours during the morning, when
he answered questions readily and
with no signs of WEAKNESS or emo
ton. Recalled to the stand in the
afternoon. he declared:
Il am sorry for the detrimental
deeds I committed against this
country and l ask for a mild
sentence"
The court said it would take Mr..
Vogeler's leniency plea under con-
sideration. 1t could not be learned
Immediately what possible penalty
Mr.. Vogeler faces.
He told the court he had been
instructed by his superiors to COM
nit sabotage by buying useless
material and stocks for the Stand
ard Co., and to sabotage deliveries
for the Soviet Union and other
Eastern European countries.
The indictment against Mr..
Vogeler and the others accuses
them in part of deliberately de-
creasing the productive output of
the Standard concern to the de-
triment of the country.
Says He Gave Army Data.
He admitted giving the United
States Army information on Hun
garian military and industrial
matters and said he had sent a
map of Hungary's telephone and
telegraph system out of the coun-
try. (Such information is con-
sidered a state secret in Com
munist-led countries.)
Mr.. Vogeler told the court he
was assigned to the American
counter Intelligence Corps in
Vienna, where he had his home,
and had worked under a Brig.
Gen. Howard.
Gle was probably referring
to Brig. Gen. Edward Howard,
who came to Austria from Italy
with Gen. Mark Clark, and was
director of intelligence in the
United States Army headquar-
(See VOGELER, Page A-2.)
VooeIer Confee