Why Did They Fire Bang-Jensen?

So far as the public is concerned Povl Bang-Jensen is the United Nations official who refused a year ago to turn over to the UN Secretariat the names of Hungarians who, having been promised anonymity, gave testimony on Soviet brutalities to the special committee that produced the UN Hungarian Report. Bang-Jensen claimed he had been authorized to make that promise; Secretary-General Hammarskjold denied this and accused the Dane of insubordination. Eventually, and to the relief of all concerned, it was resolved that the lists be burned, and so it was that on a blustery January night in 1958, Bang-Jensen and UN Security Officers climbed up to the snow-swept roof of the UN building and consigned four sealed envelopes to the flames.

A good solution, all agreed, and editorial writers who had swung to Bang-Jensen’s defense when it was a matter of life and death—the possible life and death of the witnesses and their families in Hungary— turned to other matters. A subsequent report by the so-called “Gross Committee” charging that Bang-Jensen had been guilty of “grave misconduct” was briefly noted and, later, the announcement that the Dane had been dismissed from the United Nations caused a mere ripple.

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Priscilla L. Buckley

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So far as the public is concerned Povl Bang-Jensen is the United Nations official who refused a year ago to turn over to the UN Secretariat the names of Hungarians who, having been promised anonymity, gave testimony on Soviet brutalities to the special committee that produced the UN Hungarian Report. Bang-Jensen claimed he had been authorized to make that promise; Secretary-General Hammarskjold denied this and accused the Dane of insubordination. Eventually, and to the relief of all concerned, it was resolved that the lists be burned, and so it was that on a blustery January night in 1958, Bang-Jensen and UN Security Officers climbed up to the snow-swept roof of the UN building and consigned four sealed envelopes to the flames.

A good solution, all agreed, and editorial writers who had swung to Bang-Jensen’s defense when it was a matter of life and death—the possible life and death of the witnesses and their families in Hungary— turned to other matters. A subsequent report by the so-called “Gross Committee” charging that Bang-Jensen had been guilty of “grave misconduct” was briefly noted and, later, the announcement that the Dane had been dismissed from the United Nations caused a mere ripple.