Slánský trials
Encyclopedia
The Slánský trial was a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
against elements of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
(KSČ) who were thought to have adopted the line of the maverick Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
. On November 20, 1952, Rudolf Slánský
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...
, General Secretary
General Secretary
The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
of the KSČ, and 13 other Communist leaders or bureaucrats, 11 of them Jews, were accused of participating in a Trotskyite
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
-Titoite
Titoism
Titoism is a variant of Marxism–Leninism named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of...
-Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
conspiracy
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
and convicted: 11 were executed and three sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. The state prosecutor was Josef Urválek
Josef Urválek
JUDr Josef Urválek was a procurator and later judge of the Czechoslovak state court. He is known for his participation in the political processes in socialist Czechoslovakia during the 1950s...
.
The trial was the result of a split within the Communist leadership on the degree to which the state should emulate the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and was part of a Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
-inspired purge of "disloyal" elements in the national Communist parties in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, as well as a purge of Jews from the leadership of Communist parties. Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
, president of Czechoslovakia and leader of the Communist Party, feared being purged, and decided to sacrifice Slánský, a longtime collaborator and personal friend who was the second-in-command of the party. The others were picked to convey a clear threat to different groups in the state bureaucracy. A couple of them (Šváb, Reicin) were brutal sadists conveniently added for a more realistic show.
The trial was orchestrated (and the subsequent terror staged in Czechoslovakia
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...
) on the order of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
leadership by Soviet advisors, who ironically were invited by Rudolf Slánský
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...
and Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
, with the help of the Czechoslovak State Security personnel following the László Rajk
László Rajk
László Rajk was a Hungarian Communist; politician, former Minister of Interior and former Minister of Foreign Affairs...
trial in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in September 1949.
Those put on trial confessed to all crimes (under duress or after torture) and were sentenced to punishment. Slánský attempted suicide while in prison. The people of Czechoslovakia signed petitions asking for death for the alleged traitors.
After Stalin's death in March 1953, the harshness of the persecutions slowly decreased, and the victims of the trial quietly received amnesty one by one, including those who had survived the Prague Trial. Later, the official historiography of the Communist Party was rather quiet on the trial, vaguely putting blame on errors that happened as a result of a "cult of personality
Cult of personality
A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are usually associated with dictatorships...
". Many other political trials followed on, sending many innocent victims to jail and hard labour in Jáchymov
Jáchymov
For other places called Joachimsthal, see Joachimsthal Jáchymov . compl: "Sant Joachim's Sthal" is a spa town in north-west Bohemia in the Czech Republic belonging to the Karlovy Vary Region. It is situated at an altitude of 733 m above sea level in the eponymous St...
uranium mines and labour camps.
List of defendants
- Rudolf SlánskýRudolf SlánskýRudolf 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...
(1901), General SecretaryGeneral SecretaryThe office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...
of the KSČ (executed) - Vladimír ClementisVladimír ClementisVladimír "Vlado" Clementis was a Slovak minister, politician, lawyer, publicist, literary critic, author and a prominent member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He married Lída Pátková, a daughter of a branch director of Czech Hypothec Bank in Bratislava, in March 1933. He became a Communist...
(1902), Minister of Foreign Affairs (executed) - Otto Fischl (1902), Deputy Minister of Finance (executed)
- Josef Frank (politician)Josef Frank (politician)Josef Frank was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician.Between 1939 and 1945 he was imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp....
(1909), Deputy General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (executed) - Ludvík Frejka (1904), Chief of the Economic Committee in the Chancellery of the President (executed)
- Bedřich Geminder (1901), Chief of the International Section of the Party Secretariat (executed)
- Vavro Hajdů (1913), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (life imprisonment)
- Evžen Löbl (1907), Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade (life imprisonment)
- Artur LondonArtur LondonArtur London, , was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Slánský Trial. He was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family....
(1915), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (life imprisonment) - Rudolf MargoliusRudolf MargoliusRudolf Margolius was Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia , and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952....
(1913), Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade (executed) - Bedřich ReicinBedrich ReicinBedřich Reicin was a Czechoslovak army officer and politician.Reicin was born into a poor Jewish family...
(1911), Deputy Minister of National Defence (executed) - André Simone (1895), editor of Rudé právoRudé právoRudé právo was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia....
(executed) - Otto ŠlingOtto ŠlingOtto Šling was born in Nová Cerekev, a village in south Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire. After World War II, Šling became the Communist Party's Regional Secretary of Brno in Czechoslovakia . In 1952, Šling was sentenced to death at a show trial and then executed...
(1912), Regional Party Secretary (executed) - Karel Šváb (1904), Deputy Minister of State Security (executed)
Honours
Czechoslovak President Ludvík SvobodaLudvík Svoboda
thumb|Svoboda and [[I Corps |I Czechoslovak Army Corps]]Ludvík Svoboda was a Czechoslovak general and politician...
honoured several defendants on May 1, 1968:
- Vladimír ClementisVladimír ClementisVladimír "Vlado" Clementis was a Slovak minister, politician, lawyer, publicist, literary critic, author and a prominent member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. He married Lída Pátková, a daughter of a branch director of Czech Hypothec Bank in Bratislava, in March 1933. He became a Communist...
, Hero of ČSSRHero of the Czechoslovak Socialist RepublicThe title of the Hero of the Czechoslovak Republic was established 1955. The name of the title was changed to Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1960...
, in memoriam - Josef Frank, Hero of ČSSR, in memoriam
- Ludvík Frejka, Order of the Republic, in memoriam
- Vavro Hajdů, Order of the Republic
- Artur LondonArtur LondonArtur London, , was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Slánský Trial. He was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family....
, Order of the Republic - Rudolf MargoliusRudolf MargoliusRudolf Margolius was Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia , and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952....
, Order of the Republic, in memoriam - André Simone, Order of the Republic, in memoriam
- Bedřich Geminder, Order of the Labour, in memoriam
- Evžen Löbl, Order of the Labour
Media
The Slánský trial was dramatised in the 1970 film L'AveuThe Confession (1970 film)
The Confession is a 1970 French-Italian film directed by Costa Gavras and stars Yves Montand and Simone Signoret.It is based on the true story of the Czechoslovak communist Artur London, a defendant in the Slánský trial...
("The Confession"), directed by Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras, is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z...
and starring Yves Montand
Yves Montand
-Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in...
and Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...
. The film was based on the book of the same name by Artur London
Artur London
Artur London, , was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Slánský Trial. He was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family....
, who was a survivor of the trial.
The Slánský trial is a key element of the book Under a Cruel Star: A life in Prague 1941-1968 (ISBN 0841913773). A memoir by 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.-...
, the book follows the life of a Jewish woman, starting with her escape from a concentration camp during World War II, up until her departure from Czechoslovakia after the Warsaw Pact countries invasion of 1968. Kovaly's husband, Rudolf Margolius
Rudolf Margolius
Rudolf Margolius was Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia , and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952....
, a fellow Holocaust survivor, was one of the 11 men executed during the Slánský trial.
See also another book about the Slánský trial by the son of Rudolf Margolius
Rudolf Margolius
Rudolf Margolius was Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia , and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952....
, Ivan Margolius
Ivan Margolius
Ivan Margolius, , author, architect and propagator of Czech culture and technology.Margolius was born in Prague, son of JUDr Rudolf Margolius, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, and Heda Margolius Kovály, Czech writer and translator, both parents being Holocaust survivors...
: Reflections of Prague: Journeys through the 20th Century (ISBN 0470022191)
See also
- Josef UrválekJosef UrválekJUDr Josef Urválek was a procurator and later judge of the Czechoslovak state court. He is known for his participation in the political processes in socialist Czechoslovakia during the 1950s...
- Solomon MikhoelsSolomon MikhoelsSolomon Mikhoels ; was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee during the Second World War...
- Itzik FefferItzik FefferItzik Feffer , also Fefer was a Soviet Yiddish poet who fell victim to Joseph Stalin's purges.-Background:...
- Ilya EhrenburgIlya EhrenburgIlya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg was a Soviet writer, journalist, translator, and cultural figure.Ehrenburg is among the most prolific and notable authors of the Soviet Union; he published around one hundred titles. He became known first and foremost as a novelist and a journalist - in particular, as a...
- Rudolf MargoliusRudolf MargoliusRudolf Margolius was Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Czechoslovakia , and a co-defendant in the Slánský trial in November 1952....
- Artur LondonArtur LondonArtur London, , was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Slánský Trial. He was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family....
- Milada HorákováMilada HorákováDr. Milada Horáková was a Czech politician executed by Communists on charges of conspiracy and treason.- Biography :...
- László RajkLászló RajkLászló Rajk was a Hungarian Communist; politician, former Minister of Interior and former Minister of Foreign Affairs...
- Traicho KostovTraicho KostovTraicho Kostov Djunev was a Bulgarian politician, former President of the Council of Ministers and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party....
- March 1968 events
- Eastern Bloc politicsEastern Bloc politicsEastern Bloc politics followed the Red Army's occupation of much of eastern Europe at the end of World War II and the Soviet Union's installation of Soviet-controlled communist governments in the Eastern Bloc through a process of bloc politics and repression...