A Trial in Prague
Encyclopedia
A Trial in Prague is a critically acclaimed documentary film about a 1952 show trial in Communist Czechoslovakia
- color - 83min.
, an infamous political show trial, known as the Slánský trial, took place in Czechoslovakia. In 1952 fourteen leading Communists, including Rudolf Slansky
, the second most powerful man in the country, were tried on charges of high treason and espionage. Although they were innocent of these charges, they confessed and were convicted. Most of the men were hanged and three received life sentences. Eleven of the fourteen were Jews.
The film tells the story of the trial and the paranoia of the period through testimonies, trial footage, archival films and extensive documentation. Among the people who appear in the film are Lise London, whose late husband Artur (released from prison in 1956) wrote about the trial in a widely published memoir “The Confession;” Eduard Goldstucker, a Kafka scholar and the first Czech ambassador to Israel who was jailed and forced to testify at the trial; and Jan Kavan, the former Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose father, also a trial witness, died shortly after his release from prison.
What led these men to their passionate belief in Communism and why did they publicly confess to crimes they did not commit? The film explores these questions, as well as the role of Moscow, the motives for the trial and its anti-Semitic thrust. It deals with the personal stories of the condemned men and the legacy they left their children, who “feel a need to live out the interrupted lives of their fathers.”
"Harrowing and enlightening, a tale that even Kafka would find hard to imagine" (Boston Phoenix).
"Measured, informative…neatly structured" (Variety).
“The film is as compelling for these painful details as for the tough-minded analysis that ties them together.” ( The Village Voice)
“Powerful, important and refreshingly straightforward documentary.” (New York Post)
; Director of Photography: Miro Gabor, Marek Jicha;
Producers: Zuzana Justman, Jiri Jezek, Zuzana Cervenkova, David Charap, Editor: David Charap;
Distributor: The Cinema Guild; Distributor: Ergo Media, Inc
London, Artur (1971). Confession. USA: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-22170-2.
Margolius, Ivan (2006). Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th century. London: Wiley. ISBN 0-470-02219-1.
Kaplan, Karel (1990). Report on the Murder of the General Secretary. London: I. B. Tauris & Co. ISBN 1-85043-211-2.
Heda Margolius Kovaly
(1997) Under a Cruel Star: A life in Prague 1941-1968
(ISBN 0-8419-1377-3).
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
- color - 83min.
Content
At the height of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, an infamous political show trial, known as the Slánský trial, took place in Czechoslovakia. In 1952 fourteen leading Communists, including Rudolf Slansky
Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia...
, the second most powerful man in the country, were tried on charges of high treason and espionage. Although they were innocent of these charges, they confessed and were convicted. Most of the men were hanged and three received life sentences. Eleven of the fourteen were Jews.
The film tells the story of the trial and the paranoia of the period through testimonies, trial footage, archival films and extensive documentation. Among the people who appear in the film are Lise London, whose late husband Artur (released from prison in 1956) wrote about the trial in a widely published memoir “The Confession;” Eduard Goldstucker, a Kafka scholar and the first Czech ambassador to Israel who was jailed and forced to testify at the trial; and Jan Kavan, the former Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose father, also a trial witness, died shortly after his release from prison.
What led these men to their passionate belief in Communism and why did they publicly confess to crimes they did not commit? The film explores these questions, as well as the role of Moscow, the motives for the trial and its anti-Semitic thrust. It deals with the personal stories of the condemned men and the legacy they left their children, who “feel a need to live out the interrupted lives of their fathers.”
Comments
"Sensitive, intelligent & moving ... shows the human face of both communism and its victims" - New York Times"Harrowing and enlightening, a tale that even Kafka would find hard to imagine" (Boston Phoenix).
"Measured, informative…neatly structured" (Variety).
“The film is as compelling for these painful details as for the tough-minded analysis that ties them together.” ( The Village Voice)
“Powerful, important and refreshingly straightforward documentary.” (New York Post)
Credits
Writer and Director: Zuzana JustmanZuzana Justman
Zuzana Justman is a native of the former Czechoslovakia, which she left in 1948. A documentary filmmaker and writer, she now lives in New York, but she has filmed most of her documentaries in the country of her birth and other European countries.-Early life:Her brother was Jiří Robert Pick , Czech...
; Director of Photography: Miro Gabor, Marek Jicha;
Producers: Zuzana Justman, Jiri Jezek, Zuzana Cervenkova, David Charap, Editor: David Charap;
Distributor: The Cinema Guild; Distributor: Ergo Media, Inc
Further reading
Slánská, Josefa (1969). Report On My Husband. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-097320-8.London, Artur (1971). Confession. USA: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-22170-2.
Margolius, Ivan (2006). Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th century. London: Wiley. ISBN 0-470-02219-1.
Kaplan, Karel (1990). Report on the Murder of the General Secretary. London: I. B. Tauris & Co. ISBN 1-85043-211-2.
Heda Margolius Kovaly
Heda Margolius Kovály
Heda Margolius Kovály was a Czech writer.- Early life :She was born Heda Bloch to Jewish parents in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where she lived until 1941 when her family was rounded up along with the rest of the city's Jewish population and taken to the Lodz Ghetto in central Poland.-...
(1997) Under a Cruel Star: A life in Prague 1941-1968
Under a Cruel Star (book)
Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968 was published first under this title by Plunkett Lake Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1986. The memoir was written by Heda Margolius Kovály and translated with Francis and Helen Epstein. It is now available in a Holmes & Meier, New York 1997 edition...
(ISBN 0-8419-1377-3).