Did you know that a Hungarian writer fooled the whole Soviet Union with a made-up historical character?

Captain Aleksei Gusev never existed, but writer Béla Illés stated that he was a Russian soldier who chose to fight on the side of the Hungarian freedom fighters of 1848-1849. This is how Mr Illés wanted to improve Soviet-Hungarian friendship after WWII, and even the Soviets believed his story.

Mr Illés was born in Kassa (today Slovakia) and graduated from university in 1916, but after WWI, he left the country and took part in the illegal Communist movement in Czechoslovakia and Austria, because of which he was expelled from both countries. Afterwards, he went to the Soviet Union and returned to Hungary as a major of the Red Army in 1944-1945. Allegedly, he said that even Hungarian women were part of the loot.

In 1945,

the Soviet Red Army was feared and hated by all in Hungary

because of its horrific deeds against all civilians (murders, mass rapes, forced labour of Hungarians in the Soviet Union). This is why Béla Illés thought that he would create a Russian hero who supported the unsuccessful freedom fight of the Hungarians in 1848-1849 led by Lajos Kossuth. Therefore, he made up the character of Aleksei Gusev to connect the Hungarians and the Soviets since he found nobody in the past suitable for this aim. According to Mr Illés, Captain Gusev was a Russian officer who turned against the Imperial Russian Army before its invasion of Hungary in 1849 because he believed that no nations should oppress other countries. As a result, he was executed.

Then, Béla Illés spread the story in the Hungarian media, and even Gyula Illyés, the famous Hungarian novelist and poet, included his character in one of his novels. Communists also embraced Captain Gusev, he became a part of History books, and