The AVO/AVH Sports Club

[Greg Collins]

The Hungarian State Security (AVO prior to 1949; AVH thereafter), like other Warsaw Pact countries, had it's own sports club. Initially (in 1949), this sports club was known as "Bastya" (Bastion or Fortress). The primary design component of the badge was the AVO/AVH cap badge. The size of the badge is very small; a US quarter coin will cover it.

These Bastya badges are extremely rare but, when and if you are able to find one, the price won't break you because, alas, the market just isn't there. Here are three from my collection. The center badge is in pristine original condition. The badge to the left has been converted to a stick-pin (very old work). The badge to the right has been converted to a screw-back and the soldering has left the star "off kilter"... this work also seems old.

[Greg Collins]

The Bastya remained the AVH sports club through 1953. Along with the membership badge there were also medals awarded at various contests, these medals also bore the distinctive Bastya logo. This particular medal, unfortunately, belongs to a friend and is not part of my collection. I include it here to demonstrate a point I'm getting at.

[Greg Collins]

In 1953, there was a "shake-up" of the AVH. Details are a bit sketchy, but both Peter Gabor, the leader of the AVH, and Dr. Aladar Gyuris, Gabor's chief assistant, were sent to prison. Some sources say this was part of the Doctors' Plot, linked to the death of Stalin. Others say this was in retaliation for the extreme brutality and unbridled cruelty demonstrated by the AVH. Anyway, both went to prison for, I believe, 9 years each in 1953 which, coincidentally or by design, was also the year that the Bastya sports club began it's transition to the Dozsa sports club.

The medals pictured (which are part of my collection) are virtually identical to the medal pictured in post #2 except that the raised "Bastya, S.E." has been abraded (ground down) and "Dozsa, S.E." has been engraved in it's place. On new medals and badges, the Dozsa would adopt the "D in diamond with red star above" logo.

Now, some will say that the Dozsa (which still exists) did not, per se, become the sports club of State Security. I am saying that it's a mute point as, after 1956, Hungary had no "State Security" (in name, that is). Isn't it a bit strange, however, that the Dozsa would adopt a logo so close as to be identical to the logo used by the Soviet KGB sports club, Dynamo?

[Greg Collins]

Here's a gymnastics medal from 1953 that displays the Dozsa logo.