CEEOL - Browse Subjects Result

We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.

Magorova vězeňská léta. Pět životních zkoušek Ivana Martina Jirouse

Author(s): Roman John / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

He spent eight years, five months and three days in prison. Though he intended to render this stage of his life into literary form, all that remains are fragmentary accounts touching on his remand in Ruzyně and his time at Mírov, Valdice and other places where he was held against his will. Unfortunately, and as Václav Havel did, he regarded his prison experience as incommunicable, although certain aspects of imprisonment are indeed very hard to comprehend for those unfamiliar with that environment. The paper’s author attempts to explain it to them.

More...

Hrdelní procesy s padělateli potravinových lístků

Author(s): Ivo Pejčoch,Jiří Plachý / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

Television viewers who have watched the normalisation-era series Thirty Cases of Major Zeman will undoub te dly recall the episode entitled Copperplate. It depicts a reckless group of supporters of the old order printing fake food stamps in an effort to not only get rich but also to undermine the hated people’s democratic regime. An essential element of the vicious plan was of course to cause maximum damage to honest working people.

More...

Docílit úplného rozložení. 3. oddělení 1. odboru X. správy SNB

Author(s): Adam Havlík / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

Pretty much as soon as its declaration was published, Charter 77 became the focus of major State Security interest. This key moment in the development of the Czechoslovak dissent didn’t just spark a reaction in the form of particular repressive measures against individual signatories – it also had an impact on the organisation of the security agencies.

More...

Mám čisté svědomí, pracoval jsem pro socialismus, nehledě na noce a rodinu

Author(s): Milan Bárta / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

Ladislav Vávra’s February 1977 service assessment includes a call to improve the management of the State Security’s regional administrations. This was to bring about a unified approach to handling anti-socialist forces. In those days a newopponent had appeared the Charter 77 document had been published in January 1977. Vávra was the first head of division at the State Security’s central level tasked with the battle against the Charter.

More...

Vyvinout maximální tlak na psychiku, aby svůj podíl a podpis na Chartě odvolal

Author(s): Milan Bárta / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

A State Security record from January 1977 held at the Security Services Archive contains information on former members of the Operative Technology Directorate (4th Directorate) expelled after 1968. A total of 16 of them remained under the control of the State Security, three others were acquired as covert collaborators and there were suspicious persons files on four others. One of the four attracted particular attention from the State Security in subsequent years. After all, Oldřich Liška was one of the first signatories of Charter 77.

More...

Odvolání podpisu. Příběh několikatýdenního signatáře Charty 77 Jiřího Záruby

Author(s): Petr Blažek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

In the first wave in January 1977 the names of 241 signatories of the Charter 77 Declaration were published. Though the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia launched a massive smear campaign against it, only one person withdrew its signature: academic architect Jiří Záruba. The circumstances of the case illustrate the methods used by the State Security against opponents of the Communist regime at that time.

More...

Počátky Charty 77 ve zprávách britského velvyslanectví v Praze

Author(s): Prokop Tomek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 04/2016

This article contains several documents from the British Embassy of Prague which are refer to the Charter 77.

More...

Soudruzi, nebo vetřelci?

Author(s): Ondřej Vojtěchovský / Language(s): Czech Issue: 03/2017

It is known that Czechoslovakia was the country many people have fled from. Mostly because the Communist oppression. But less known is the fact that to Czechoslovakia fled persecuted Communists from states like Italy or Yugoslavia. The government gave them background and in the context of a socialist block a high standard of living also. If, however, they did not want to assimilate, they stayed at the level of refused foreigners.

More...

Češi mi byli osudem

Author(s): Wolfram Tschiche / Language(s): Czech Issue: 02/2018

The East Germany dissident explains where the Prague Spring brought him to.

More...

Rok 1978 jako bod obratu. Výročí let 1918, 1948 a 1968 na půdě exilového Opus bonum

Author(s): Petr Placák / Language(s): Czech Issue: 02/2018

This article describes the formation and development of one of the most important catholic societies established in the exile in Germany during the communist governance in Czechoslovakia.

More...

První garnitura sovětských poradců v Praze.

Author(s): Pavel Žáček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 31/2017

As in other Soviet Bloc countries, Soviet advisors and specialists deployed at individual ministries were the key instrument of Sovietisation of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Their influence was frequently stronger than the word of ministers and other functionaries. The first advisors sent by the Ministry of State Security of the USSR (MGB) to Prague were Col. V. Makarov (Komarov) and Col. M. Lichachev, who came to oversee show trials and introduced various forms of repression into the security apparatus’s methods. In 1950 they were replaced by a new group of advisors headed by Col. V. A. Boyarsky, which gradually focused on organising the Rudolf Slánský show trial. Thanks to a growing number of advisors and specialists, the Ministry of the Interior (in 1950–1953 the Ministry for National Security) became fully subordinate to MGB HQ in Moscow. The advisors succeeded in creating an atmosphere of general distrust and fear in Czechoslovakia and built up a network of collaborators, where necessary operating behind the backs of their own superiors and senior functionaries. In that way they helped create an international security apparatus run from Moscow that was able to operate independently throughout the Soviet Bloc.

More...

Nástin struktury organizací KSČ v bezpečnostním aparátu v letech 1945–1968

Author(s): Milan Bárta / Language(s): Czech Issue: 31/2017

The security services were one of the most important buttresses of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia’s (CPC) system of power. Cooperation between them and the CPC and control of them was intended to safeguard the party organisation within the security apparatus, alongside the relevant division of the Central Committee of the CPC. The study traces the development of the organisation of the Communist Party at the Ministry of the Interior/Ministry of National Security in the period 1945–1969. Communist organisations functioned illicitly in the National Security Corps until 1948 and the following five years saw the formation and organisation of political work in the security services. This was greatly complicated by the arrest of leading security officials in the early 1950s. It wasn’t until the mid 1950s that the structure of party organisations settled and leadership became more professional. In the 1960s they became consolidated and their activities formalised. In 1968 party organisations led the reform process at the Ministry of the Interior. At the start of normalisation the party structure in the security apparatus underwent major transformations in terms of organisation and personnel and the revived CPC organisation later led extensive purges at the Ministry. Until 1989 it remained a solid bulwark of the Communist Party’s leadership.

More...

Otevřená a skrytá přítomnost tajné policie.

Author(s): Jens Gieseke / Language(s): Czech Issue: 31/2017

The social effectiveness of mass surveillance and control of East German (GDR) society by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) was based on what one might call the “Stasi myth”, i.e., the place that public and semi-public “appearances” of the secret, “invisible” police held in the everyday consciousness of GDR citizens. This article discusses different forms of visible presence with regard to the images associated with the work of the Stasi and their intentional or unintentional effects in social life. This includes mentions of the Ministry and its activities in the media, film and literature, public appearances such as parades and the physiognomy of its facilities in their urban environment, as well as personal encounters with secret police officers. An analysis of the party newspaper Neues Deutschland (“New Germany”) shows that it frequently stressed the high socio-political status of the Ministry. However, in contrast to the 1950s with its propaganda for open repression, the newspaper increasingly hid concrete acts of persecution of “enemies”. This public image of the Ministry thereby contributed to the welfare dictatorship model, which promised GDR citizens no threat from the State Security provided that they adhered to apolitical and adapted behaviour.

More...

Činnost zahraničních zpravodajských služeb na území ČSR v letech 1948–1950. Zpráva velitelství StB z ledna 1951

Author(s): Markéta Bártová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 31/2017

A report drafted by State Security (StB) command dated 22 January 1951, largely on the basis of testimonies from captured couriers (cross-border agents) and their collaborators, provides a summary of the most important information that the Czechoslovak security services possessed on the activities of foreign intelligence services on Czechoslovak Republic (CSR) territory at that time. The document outlines in detail the way foreign networks were organised on CSR territory, describes the types and methods of use of what were called dead drops or other means of communication and delivers a great number of unique, painstakingly created sketches and photographs. In addition, it presents brief biographies of key figures in Czechoslovak intelligence groups abroad, including František Moravec, Rudolf Drbohlav, Jaroslav Kašpar and the brothers Alois and Ferdinand Šeda. The scope and credibility of the information demonstrates that the StB were very well informed about these activities, which involved, at various degrees of intensity, thousands of Czechoslovak citizens. The study summarises basic, though in several regards previously insufficiently known, information on the methods employed by the anti-Communist resistance in the immediate aftermath of the Communist takeover in the CSR.

More...

Archiv Ministerstva vnitra Gruzie

Author(s): Omar Tušurašvili,Vladimir Luarsabišvili / Language(s): Czech Issue: 31/2017

This paper is a report of the establishment and structure of the Archive of Ministry of interior in Georgia. Also it describes the relation to the country and to the key historical moments. In these day is the archive divided into three parts: the archive of KGB, the archive of the Soviet militia and the archive of the Communist party.

More...

Odboj pod kontrolou Státní bezpečnosti. Provokace proti ilegálním skupinám třetího odboje na příkladu akce „Kühnel“

Author(s): Petr Svoboda / Language(s): Czech Issue: 32/2018

This case study focuses on Operation Kühnel, a well prepared and in terms of results extraordinarily successful provocative operation carried out by the security forces in the initial phase of the Communist regime. Although most likely the most significant intervention by the State Security (StB) against staff and functionaries at the headquarters of the National Socialist Party (NSP), the operation is not widely known; in view of its scale and significance it is surprising that experts have not hitherto devoted due attention to it. As early as in the post-February 1948 period, the organizational secretary of the Czechoslovak Socialist Party headquarters, Josef Kühnel (1900–1962), oversaw illegal groups, mainly focused on intelligence, preparing the way for a “new” NSP that was to be ready once a political coup had taken place. Kühnel was under orders from Petr Zenkl, the former chairman of the NSP. In early April 1949 Kühnel witnessed a number of arrests among his collaborators, began to fear for his own safety and started planning to flee the country. The State Security was informed about his intentions and decided to use him in an extensive sting operation. In this way, the StB successfully infiltrated illegal organizations connected with the former NSP, monitored them for a long time (even conducting their activities) and in the end gradually wiped them out once their activities ceased to be in the StB’s interest. The operation was based on so-called “separation”, which in reality entailed the secret kidnapping of Kühnel by StB officers posing as members of the illegal resistance movement. Kühnel was later used as a source of information for intelligence purposes. The operation culminated with a ruse today known under the name False Frontier Stone. This centred on a fake border crossing created by the State Security prior to the arrest and conviction of Kühnel. Operation Kühnel, which is closely connected with other sting operations Scout and Svetlana, highlights the existence of an active anti-Communist resistance and proves the existence of a well-developed organizational structure of resistance within the NSP. It is also indisputable and verifiable proof of the ruthlessness of the StB, who in their endeavours to control and manage existing illegal groups commonly resorted to sophisticated intelligence ruses and unlawful provocative methods. In the context of international developments in this period it also shows how deeply members of the Third Resistance were convinced that the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia would collapse.

More...

Střetnutí příslušníků Pohraniční stráže s kurýrem Josefem Maškem aneb neznámý příběh ze Šumavy padesátých let v dobových souvislostech

Author(s): Petr Mallota / Language(s): Czech Issue: 32/2018

In the 1950s it wasn’t only people wishing to live in freedom or searching for salvation from the repression of the Communist regime who streamed across the Iron Curtain – so did those who had decided to take on the totalitarian regime. This most frequently occurred within the framework of Western organised intelligence groups. They sent into Czechoslovakia what were called couriers (the State Security dubbed them “cross-border agents”), tasked with espionage missions, building an illegal resistance network and leading persecuted individuals to safety. The ever more closely guarded frontier between the two worlds therefore became an exposed “front line” of the cold War. The study focuses on an event that took place on the Czech-Bavarian border on the night of 13 to 14 July 1950, when courier Josef Mašek, alias Josef Marek, attempted to cross it near the German settlement of Schnellenzipf. On the Czech side, around 200 metres from a border stream, he ran into a Border Guard patrol from the unit at Kunžvart (today Strážný), comprising private first class Josef Příhoda and private Vojtěch Švarc. Mašek was killed in a shootout and later secretly buried under a false identity. Using the available sources, the author recreates this tragic event and the background to it as well as placing the case in the broader context of the intelligence operations of Czechoslovak anti-Communist exiles in the early 1950s. His research also succeeded in uncovering Josef Mašek’s final resting place.

More...

Hledání nepřátel uvnitř KSČ. Fóra, aktéři a konfliktní témata vnitrostranické komunikace v regionální perspektivě (podzim 1950 – jaro 1951)

Author(s): Marián Lóži / Language(s): Czech Issue: 32/2018

This study turns the spotlight on internal party communication within the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) at the regional and district level in the period from autumn 1950 to spring 1951 when, within the framework of a so-called intensified class struggle, there were great efforts to uncover enemies within the party. It also explores how regional party forums (conferences, committees, and presidia), intended for debate and discussion, functioned during their trials. At the same time, it examines the actions of various party actors: HQ functionaries, regional and district elites, pre-war Communists and the broader party caucus. It details their response to the ongoing campaign and their specific motivations and interests. In addition it attempts to evaluate their significance during so-called purges and what their positions say about the then CPC, its state and the degree of legitimacy it possessed among members.

More...

Okradená strana. Protesty členské základny KSČ proti měnové reformě v roce 1953

Author(s): Jakub Šlouf / Language(s): Czech Issue: 32/2018

The subject of the paper is protests by the membership base of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC), which intensified at the turn of May and June 1953 in connection with preparations for a currency reform. Representatives of various groups used the party organisation as a platform of communication by which to express their views, leading to tumultuous discussions at party meetings. Well-off industrial workers, who lost considerable savings and demanded advantageous exchanges of large amounts for members of the working class, protested against the reforms. So did poor Communists, who, by contrast, demanded an equitable approach and tougher interventions against the rich, regardless of their class origins. Some of those involved in the discussion blamed the crisis on members of the former bourgeoisie, while others directed their ire towards the leaders of the post-1948 regime. For a third group there was little difference between the two elites.

More...

Sedm pražských dnů Ivo Masaříka. Deníkové záznamy o invazi armád Varšavské smlouvy do ČSSR v srpnu 1968

Author(s): Milan Bárta / Language(s): Czech Issue: 32/2018

In August this year it will have been 50 years since the armies of five Warsaw Pact states invaded Czechoslovakia. Nevertheless, new recollections of eye-witnesses, which help create and refine our picture of those events, continue to appear. At the time of the Prague Spring Ivo Masařík was 27 years old, had completed his university education and was working at the General Directorate of the Fire Service in Prague. He began keeping notes of what he had seen on the first day of the occupation, 21 August 1968, when he learned from the radio that troops were occupying the country. Like thousands of other citizens he took to the streets. He didn’t become actively involved in the resistance against the occupiers but instead spent days crisscrossing central Prague, recording and photographing the unfolding occupation. During the day he observed and in the evenings he wrote notes, which literally constitute a first-hand account. Masařík’s photographs from that time are being made public for the first time.

More...