Behind the Iron Curtain (3)
Behind the Iron Curtain (3)
Contributor(s): Author Not Specified (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Christian Theology and Religion, Politics, History, Social Sciences, Cultural history, Media studies, Communication studies, Military history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Theology and Religion, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Security and defense, History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; Poland; prison camps; communist regime; nazism; fascism; censorship; religion; resistance; media; VOA; BBC; RFP; Miloslav Vlk; Zdeněk Rotrekl; Leonid I. Brezhnev; Cuba; security service; collaborators;
Summary/Abstract: This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.This magazine is the English version of selected articles published in the pages of the review Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) ISSN 1802-8241, which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The original version of the journal Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History) is the part of CEEOL also.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-80-87912-22-5
- Page Count: 197
- Publication Year: 2015
- Language: English
Editorial
Editorial
(Editorial)
- Author(s):Zdeněk Hazdra
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Editorial
- Page Range:5-5
- No. of Pages:1
- Summary/Abstract:You have just opened the third edition of the English-language magazine Behind the Iron Curtain. It is comprised of articles published in the last three years (2012–2014) in the journal Paměť a dějiny (Memory and History), which is issued by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. I write this introduction just as the Czech Republic and other former Soviet Bloc states are marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and systems based on the hegemony of communist or socialist parties. It is an occasion to assess how far we have come from that fateful moment and how much we know about the path taken by society in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in the 20th century (particularly in the period of totalitarian repression), how it changed society, and what insights can be gleaned from it today.
The Overseas Resistance on the Airwaves of the BBC - Czechoslovak broadcasts from London 1939–1945
The Overseas Resistance on the Airwaves of the BBC - Czechoslovak broadcasts from London 1939–1945
(The Overseas Resistance on the Airwaves of the BBC - Czechoslovak broadcasts from London 1939–1945)
- Author(s):Ondřej Koutek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Media studies, Communication studies, Government/Political systems, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
- Page Range:8-23
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:WWII; radio; propaganda; resistance; exile; BBC; London; 1939; 1945;
- Summary/Abstract:During World War II radio propaganda became a mass impact weapon. In effect, the war was not just a clash of military forces and increasingly sophisticated weapons – it was also a contest of words and arguments. All sides began using international radio broadcasts to that end. For the Czechoslovak resistance-in-exile in London, radio was even more important: It enabled direct connection with the distant homeland, addressing and encouraging the occupied nation during its most trying times.
This Is the Voice of America - Czechoslovak service within Voice of America, the United States of America’s government broadcaster
This Is the Voice of America - Czechoslovak service within Voice of America, the United States of America’s government broadcaster
(This Is the Voice of America - Czechoslovak service within Voice of America, the United States of America’s government broadcaster)
- Author(s):Prokop Tomek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Media studies, Communication studies, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
- Page Range:24-39
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; radio; VOA; RFE; government; broadcast; 1942; religion; sports; exile; state security;
- Summary/Abstract:Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe (RFE) were two of the most popular external radio stations prior to November 1989. The history of Voice of America’s Czechoslovak service and its past popularity in Czechoslovakia are unfortunately somewhat forgotten now.
Halt The Jamming of the Blue Right Away - The halting of Radio Free Europe jamming in 1968
Halt The Jamming of the Blue Right Away - The halting of Radio Free Europe jamming in 1968
(Halt The Jamming of the Blue Right Away - The halting of Radio Free Europe jamming in 1968)
- Author(s):Milan Bárta
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Media studies, Communication studies, International relations/trade, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
- Page Range:40-50
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; radio; jamming; RFP; 1968; Soviet Union; communist bloc; west radio stations;
- Summary/Abstract:Radio stations broadcasting from the West to communist bloc countries became an important means of exerting ideological influence on their citizens. Radio waves radiated freely and without restriction through the ether across the Iron Curtain dividing Eastern and Western Europe. The communist rulers of Soviet Bloc states tried, therefore, to create a kind of aerial parallel to the Iron Curtain to run along the Western borders of their countries. Its designers intended the network of mutually supplementary jamming centers to become, thanks to international cooperation, an impenetrable barrier preventing as much as possible the citizens of communist states from receiving the signals of Western radio stations.
Communists before the Courts - On some aspects of political trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s
Communists before the Courts - On some aspects of political trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s
(Communists before the Courts - On some aspects of political trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s)
- Author(s):Jan Kalous
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:52-59
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; communists; courts; political trials; 1950s; Soviet Union;
- Summary/Abstract:Sixty years ago, on 27 November 1952, the trial “of the leadership of the anti-state conspiracy centre led by Rudolf Slánský” was concluded in Prague. The revealed “crimes” of until recently leading representatives of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the extent of the sentences shocked the world. Klement Gottwald “wrung the necks” of not only the factual or potential adversaries of the regime established in February 1948 but this time, evidently under the Soviet influence, also of his faithful collaborators and in many cases personal friends.
The Gensek’s Visit - The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the communist party of the Soviet Union and chairman of the supreme soviet Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev in Czechoslovakia, 1978
The Gensek’s Visit - The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the communist party of the Soviet Union and chairman of the supreme soviet Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev in Czechoslovakia, 1978
(The Gensek’s Visit - The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the communist party of the Soviet Union and chairman of the supreme soviet Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev in Czechoslovakia, 1978)
- Author(s):Petr Blažek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, International relations/trade, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:60-71
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Gensek; visit; Leonid I. Brezhnev; 1978; communist party; Soviet Union;
- Summary/Abstract:A visit by a Soviet Gensek to Czechoslovakia was always an extraordinary event. The preparation, course and sometimes consequences were reminiscent of an emperor’s inspection tour of distant governorates where vice-regents ruled by his grace. Such visits can be used to map the transformation and nature of Czechoslovak-Soviet relations, various methods of mobilising society and the pacification of political opponents in authoritarian regimes. This was clearly visible in the visit of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev in 1978, which is the main subject of this paper. It was of great significance, coming as it did shortly before the tenth anniversary of the August 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Our Comrade in Havana - The establishment of Czechoslovak residency and co-operation with the Cuban Security Service
Our Comrade in Havana - The establishment of Czechoslovak residency and co-operation with the Cuban Security Service
(Our Comrade in Havana - The establishment of Czechoslovak residency and co-operation with the Cuban Security Service)
- Author(s):Pavel Žáček
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:72-87
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Czechoslovak residency; 1959; Cuba; Havana; Cuban Security Service; USSR; KGB; Soviet satelites;
- Summary/Abstract:In the second half of 1959, the policy of the Soviet Union and its satellites towards Cuba changed. An irreplaceable role in this process was played by the Soviet intelligence service, the 1st Chief Directorate of the KGB attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR, headed by General Alexander Mikhailovich Sakharovsky , which also engaged the security services of Soviet satellites into the complicated foreign operation to obtain an important beachhead in the western hemisphere. However, the scope of Czechoslovak assistance in the area of security and the influence of the Czechoslovak State Security in Cuba have remained basically up to now on the edge of professional interest.
Karel Vaš in the USSR - A prisoner and collaborator of the people’s commissariat for internal affairs
Karel Vaš in the USSR - A prisoner and collaborator of the people’s commissariat for internal affairs
(Karel Vaš in the USSR - A prisoner and collaborator of the people’s commissariat for internal affairs)
- Author(s):Adam Hradilek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Government/Political systems, Security and defense, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
- Page Range:90-103
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Communist party; Transcarpathian Region; State Archives; Karel Vaš; interwar period; USSR; documents; interview;
- Summary/Abstract:Investigation file No. 29064 on Karel Vaš was preserved in the State Archives of the Transcarpathian Region. It contains a large amount of interesting information about his activities in the inter-war period as well as his internment in the USSR. The presented edition of documents from the file is supplemented by the transcription of an interview with Karel Vaš on this topic.
We Are Where We Were - An interview with the human rights activist and former soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky.
We Are Where We Were - An interview with the human rights activist and former soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky.
(We Are Where We Were - An interview with the human rights activist and former soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky.)
- Author(s):Petr Placák, Adam Hradilek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:106-113
- No. of Pages:8
- Keywords:soviet dissident; Vladimir Bukovsky; interview; Soviet regime; 1960s;
- Summary/Abstract:The Volvox Globator publishing house together with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes have published memoirs of Vladimir Bukovsky (* 1942), in which he describes his experience as a dissident in the Soviet regime in the 1960s and 1970s, including his stays in camps and psychiatric clinics. In 1976, the Kremlin exchanged him with the West for the Chilean communist Luis Corvolán. On the occasion of the publishing of his book, Vladimir Bukovsky visited Prague in March 2013 and we asked him a few questions.
Defector in the Free World
Defector in the Free World
(Defector in the Free World)
- Author(s):Pavel Žáček
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Security and defense, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:114-121
- No. of Pages:8
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; communist regime; intelligence service; espionage; Ladislav Bittman; Lawrence Martin; interview;
- Summary/Abstract:Ladislav Bittman, a member of the Czechoslovak communist intelligence service (1st Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior) before August 1968, a specialist in disinformation, author of the autobiography The Deception Game and Špionážní oprátky (Espionage Nooses), settled in the United States under the name of Lawrence Martin after defecting following the occupation of Czechoslovakia; in the US he taught at Boston University. In his few published testimonies he did not speak much about what had happened to him after his arrival in the US. So we asked him...
“There Was the Tailor from Bohemia” - The nazi “euthanasia” programme and germans from český krumlov
“There Was the Tailor from Bohemia” - The nazi “euthanasia” programme and germans from český krumlov
(“There Was the Tailor from Bohemia” - The nazi “euthanasia” programme and germans from český krumlov)
- Author(s):Pavel Zeman
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies in violence and power, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:124-137
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Gitta Sereny; interview; Franz Paul Stangl; "euthanasia"; Nazis; annihilation camps; Treblinka; Sobibor; Poland;
- Summary/Abstract:English journalist Gitta Sereny’s book of interviews with Franz Paul Stangl, a participant in the Nazi “euthanasia” programme and the commander of the annihilation camps in Treblinka and Sobibór in occupied Poland, Into that Darkness: From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, was published in the UK and the USA in 1974. The extensive tome brought a direct testimony from one of the prominent perpetrators of Nazi crimes while touching on the involvement of Germans from Bohemia in the Third Reich’s annihilation programmes.
From War to War - The adolescence of brothers Ctirad and Josef Mašín in recollections and photographs
From War to War - The adolescence of brothers Ctirad and Josef Mašín in recollections and photographs
(From War to War - The adolescence of brothers Ctirad and Josef Mašín in recollections and photographs)
- Author(s):Petr Blažek, Jaroslav Čvančara
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social development, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Social Norms / Social Control
- Page Range:140-153
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Prague; youth; adolescence; Ctirad Mašin; Josef Mašin; recollections; photographs;
- Summary/Abstract:In 2013 it was 60 years since the torturous journey of the Mašín brothers and their friends to West Berlin, which had been preceded by armed resistance operations. In this paper we would like to explore that preceding period, when the youths were coming of age. Somewhat overshadowed by those events, it nevertheless formed their values, opinions and attitudes.
You Want to Rob Me... - Property persecution of Adolf Schwarzenberg during and after the war
You Want to Rob Me... - Property persecution of Adolf Schwarzenberg during and after the war
(You Want to Rob Me... - Property persecution of Adolf Schwarzenberg during and after the war)
- Author(s):Dita Jelínková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Studies in violence and power, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Socio-Economic Research
- Page Range:156-167
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Czech nobility; Adolf Schwarzenberg; property persecution; 1947; Nazi regime;
- Summary/Abstract:The life story of Adolf Schwarzenberg reflects the complex fates of members of the Czech nobility in the 20th century. Their relationship to the Czechoslovak Republic, in which they lost their privileges and a substantial part of their property, developed gradually, but they did not hesitate to show their loyalty in the most dangerous times. During Nazi occupation Adolf Schwarzenberg was punished with confiscation of his property for his fidelity to the Czech state and nation and for his resistance to the Nazi regime. Therefore, he had a deep sense of grievance that his property was not returned to him after the Second World War. In 1947 the property of the Schwarzenberg primogeniture was expropriated for the second time, but this time by the state for which Adolf Schwarzenberg did so much in difficult times.
The Greater the Pressure, the Better You Can Resist - Cardinal Miloslav Vlk in conflict with the communist dictatorship
The Greater the Pressure, the Better You Can Resist - Cardinal Miloslav Vlk in conflict with the communist dictatorship
(The Greater the Pressure, the Better You Can Resist - Cardinal Miloslav Vlk in conflict with the communist dictatorship)
- Author(s):Stanislava Vodičková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Security and defense, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:168-181
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Cardinal; Miloslav Vlk; StB; communist regime; dictatorship;
- Summary/Abstract:How could it happen that a priest took the role of StB collaborator? Cardinal Miloslav Vlk sees the failure of some clergymen in the lack of personal loyalty and personal relationship to Christ: If you have a “looser” character, you always somehow justify it: this is still acceptable, there could be someone even worse instead of me, and a thousand similar justifications. If you don’t choose God and the will of God radically and you mix it with what is human, it ends up like this. [...] They wanted to save the Church for the Lord, none of them did it as something evil; when making decisions, everyone looked for the positive things that such cooperation might bring, accentuated that too much, and put the negative aside. Those who think soberly see it differently. Those who are not faithful to the path of God may lose their way. [...] Unfortunately, this shows that ordination is not enough and that life based on this sacrament is also necessary.
Rejecting the Magical Power of Idols - Zdeněk Rotrekl, Brno, 1920–2013
Rejecting the Magical Power of Idols - Zdeněk Rotrekl, Brno, 1920–2013
(Rejecting the Magical Power of Idols - Zdeněk Rotrekl, Brno, 1920–2013)
- Author(s):Petr Placák
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Christian Theology and Religion, Cultural history, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:182-197
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Zdeněk Rotrekl; Brno; 1920; 2013; magical power; Idols; Catholic church; communist regime;
- Summary/Abstract:On 15 June 2013 the St. Thomas Church on the Moravian Square in Brno witnessed a large and solemn ceremony – a requiem for Zdeněk Rotrekl, a literary historian, critic, journalist and above all poet, a witness of truth, which in the “order of things” of the previous regime also meant a political prisoner. He died at the age of nearly ninety-three years – a doyen of not only Catholic poets, imprisoned by the communists right after seizing power at the end of the 1940s to intimidate the whole intellectual community. The remarkable terrestrial pilgrimage of a remarkable man ended at the St. Thomas Church in Brno – in the same place where Rotrekl was baptized in the early 1920s. His life story introduced the supernal order.