1950 Hungarian Police Annex Propaganda Map of Korea, Korean War

A rare example of Cold War cartographic propaganda, this c. 1950 Hungarian-language map of Korea was prepared by the Magyar Rendőr Melléklete (Hungarian Police Annex). Meant for public display and interactive coordination with news about the progress of the conflict, it extols the Korean people's struggle for 'freedom' against American 'imperialism.'

A Closer Look

This Hungarian-language map covers the entire Korean Peninsula (displayed as undivided, as in North Korean propaganda) along with portions of Manchuria, the Soviet Union, and Japan. Cities, towns, rail lines, provincial and national boundaries, and topographic features such as rivers are labeled throughout. The text at the top admonishes the 'warmongers' (i.e., America) and tells them to keep their 'hands off Korea.' The text at the bottom explains that the map should be publicly displayed, after which it would be turned into a sort of game where readers could track the progress of 'the freedom struggle of the Korean people' (i.e., the Korean People's Army) with small flags as they inevitably marched towards the south. It was very likely meant to be tied in with the propaganda and fundraising campaign discussed below.

Hungary's Role in the Korean War

Like other countries in Eastern Europe that had recently been occupied by the Soviets and fallen under Communist or Soviet-aligned governments, the Hungarian People's Republic was staunchly in support of North Korea during the Korean War, though its ability to offer material support was limited. Aside from propaganda support such as the present map, Hungary's most direct contribution to the North Koreans consisted of seven medical teams, eventually totaling over 200 doctors, nurses, and other personnel, who, between 1950 and 1957, worked in a hospital near Pyongyang (for most of this period called Rákosi Mátyás Hospital, also known as the 58th Hospital of the Korean People's Army). These personnel were not frontline military medics, though they often treated wounded soldiers and civilian victims of such aerial bombings (which were frequent and intense in Pyongyang). Moreover, they provided general medical services for the civilian population of North Korea and trained Korean medical professionals. The medical mission was perhaps more important for the new Hungarian government than the North Koreans; a fundraising drive and propaganda campaign reinforced messages of international Socialist solidarity and 'anti-imperialism,' echoing the Hungarian Working People's Party (later the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party) own domestic propaganda and signaling the 'party line' under the rule of Mátyás Rákosi, who the previous year (1949) had moved the country towards a totalitarian dictatorship on the Stalinist model.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by the Magyar Rendőr Melléklete (Hungarian Police Annex). It is undated but likely was produced in the early phase of the conflict in 1950. We have not been able to locate another example of this map. However, the OCLC (909015096) does note two examples, held in Hungary, of a short book of the same title written by female journalist Júlia Kenyeres (1895 - 1958), published by Szikra (Spark), the newspaper of the SZIT (Trade Union Youth Worker and Apprentice Movement). It is unclear if a version of this map also appeared in that work, but the present map looks to be unlikely to have come from Kenyeres' book given its ephemeral nature, having been printed on newsprint.