The Soviet High Command wanted to capture Budapest as soon as possible. On the 29th of December, 1944 with the consent of Stalin they called upon the German-Hungarian garrison to surrender.  The ultimatum should have been delivered on the Buda side by Ilja Afanaszjevics Osztapenko and on the Pest side by Captain Miklos Steinmetz. The missions of both envoys ended tragically. Steinmetz died when his Jeep hit a mine as he was approaching enemy lines. Ostapenko managed to deliver the ultimatum, but on the way back, somewhere in no-man’s land he was caught up in mortar shelling and was mortally wounded by shrapnel. For decades Soviet and Hungarian historiography accused the Germans of killing the envoys deliberately. Even before the seige had ended the Soviet propoganda machine was in action:  photos were produced of the dead Steinmetz surrounded by all kinds of wreckage.  In reality this was Jeno Kim, a film studio location manager (incorrectly dressed in the quilted jacket of a private).  In the case of Ostapenko, Captain Erich Klein, artillery commander of the anti-tank granade division of Feldherrnhalle was the scapegoat. He did not admit to being guilty even under physical force but was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  Klein  was released from prison only in 1953 and was rehabilitated by the Soviet Military Judge Advocate General.     Malinovski’s ultimatum, December 1944. Property of Sándor Zeidler Jenő Kim, a prop supervisor at the film factory, dressed as Miklós Steinmetz (negotiator). Source: Military Institute and Museum