„Drtina v Plzni: Pokus o organizování reakční mocenské akce“
“Prokop Drtina in Plzen: an attempt to organise a reaction power scheme” a look into one rumour behind the reorganisation of the ministry of the inter

Summary/Abstract: From the autumn of 1947 the top officials of the Ministry of the Interior, led by the communist Vaclav Nosek, reorganised their machinery. The headquarters of the executive security forces were unified under the “Security Group” (Skupina bezpecnostni), commanded by colonel F. Janda and his deputy, department counsel J. Vesely, at a time when the intelligence and state security units in the Ministry already played an important role in the political struggle and persecution of the political opponents of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In mid-December 1947 the “Security Group” was transformed into the “Department III: Security” (Odbor III. Bezpecnost), under the continuing command of colonel Janda. His deputy and also the chief of Group III/A was again J. Vesely. Besides the High Command of the National Security Forces (Hlavni velitelstvi Sboru narodni bezpecnosti) and the Crime Investigation Headquarters (Kriminalni ustredna), Department III also commanded the executive body of the state security service – State Security Headquarters (Ustredna statni bezpecnosti), headed by J. Hora. On 1 January 1948 the state security services had a total of 1535 employees and the political intelligence had 738 employees. Altogether, including units in Slovakia, this made a total of 2804 employees. Early on 20 February 1948 J. Vesely, the chief of Group III/A, received a communication from the Plzen branch of the intelligence service stating that the Minister of Justice, Prokop Drtina, had met several officials and supporters of the National Socialist Party in the apartment of B. Barcal in Plzen on the previous day. Those were to include the Chief of the Plzen National Security Directorate (Reditelstvi Narodni bezpecnosti) J. Meiner, the journalist F. Naxera, and K. Rehor. Moreover, the alleged meeting was indirectly linked with another passage in the communication reporting the opinions of a Canadian officer, McKenzie, who thought that riots would break out in Plzen if the Communists tried to seize power in Czechoslovakia. After midday on the same day, the chief of Sector III-Aa, Stefan Placek, received an informer’s report processed on the basis of a ciphered message from the Regional Office of State Security (Oblastni uradovna statni bezpecnosti, Ostb) in Plzen claiming, from the very title, that Drtina was trying to organise a plot to seize power in Plzen. J. Vesely, the chief of Group A, made an agreement with J. Hora to immediately send several officers, led by dr. Vaclav Pisecky, to Plzen to investigate the case. Pisecky, in his secret letter on the checks upon these reports, reflected the chaos in the security forces, apparently in line with the culminating national political crisis.

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