Povl Bang-Jensen

Who was Povl Bang-Jensen?

Povl Bang-Jensen was a Danish diplomat who refused to hand over a list of eighty-one witnesses to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to his UN superiors, because he considered that if their identities were turned over to the UN Secretariat they would be leaked to the Russians, and reprisals would be taken against relatives in Hungary.

He was found dead of a gunshot wound with the gun in his hand and suicide note in his pocket in Queens, New York City park on 26 November 1959. Some analysts exclude suicide, in spite of the results of the FBI report.

His body was incinerated and buried in Denmark. A tombstone was placed in Budapest, in Plot #301 of the New Cemetery of Rákoskeresztúr, among those he fought for.

The story of Povl Bang-Jensen is presented in a book by DeWitt Copp and Marshall Peck, published under the title "Betrayal at the UN, the story of Povl Bang-Jensen" New York : Devin-Adair Co., 1961 and in the Hungarian documentary The Bang-Jensen affair directed by András Surányi.