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Political trials in Czechoslovakia - The Case "Zpěvačka"
Doležalová, Ivana ; Županič, Jan (advisor) ; Lánský, Ondřej (referee)
This Master's thesis will look at the Political trials in Czechoslovakia - The case of "Zpěvačka", it will focus on one of the many politically motivated processes that took place in Czechoslovakia during the communist regime, i.e. 1948-1989. The focus of this paper is to analyse the key archival sources, which is now an investigation by the State Security in the case of "Zpěvačka", now stored in the Archive of Security Forces. The trial of the anti-state oriented group of people around Radana Melicharová who were accused of collaborating with foreign intelligence services took place in the spring of 1957. This shows that even the so-called foundation period of the communist regime, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia continued to implement political processes to control the opposition. This thesis brings the main characters of the process Radana Melicharová et al., describes their illegal activities and analyses the motives of each participants on illegal activities. And also discusses about the main trial itself at the Regional Court in Prague, subsequent appeal trials and the efforts to rehabilitate convicts. Contribution of the work lies in the fact that it complements many previously published scientific studies on the topic of the political process and less known and studied process with a...
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Josef Smrkovský as a Victim of Persecution in the Fifties
Novotný, Jindřich ; Koura, Petr (advisor) ; Pokorný, Jiří (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with one phase of Josef Smrkovský's life between 1945-1963. After WW II and his engagement in the Prague Uprising, he was an eminent communist politician who possessed considerable power in the agrarian policy. However, he was arrested in 1951, became a victim of political trials and was sentenced to jail. He was later released due to the order of a rehabilitation committee, but he was not fully rehabilitated. The thesis examines and compares primary sources on Smrkovský's trial, describing methods of the State Secret Police such as surveillance, interrogations and both physical and psychological violence. Reports of Smrkovský's cellmates are also commented on. The thesis concludes with the analysis of rehabilitation committees and the effort of Smrkovský to clear himself. He re-entered political life at the beginning of the sixties. KEYWORDS Josef Smrkovský, politics, persecution, the fifties, The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, State Secret Police, rehabilitation
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Fate of Czechoslovak Interbrigadists in Political Trials from the First Half of the 1950s
Kocek, Vojtěch ; Šmíd, Marek (advisor) ; Beneš, Zdeněk (referee)
This bachelor's thesis focuses on the political trials during the first half of 1950 s. It concerns mainly Oskar Valeš (1912-1987) , who was a leader of the "Second Sector", or Intelligence Sector, of the SNB, Osvald Závodský (1910-1954), the former leader of the SNB, and Artur London (1915-1986), the former deputy of minister of Foreign Affairs. The main aim of this thesis is to extend the current knowledge about the trials and to compare the personal memories of the participants with Historians' analyses.
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Life of Josef Urválek
Vašáková, Alžběta ; Županič, Jan (advisor) ; Jirásková, Věra (referee)
TITLE: Life of Josef Urválek AUTHOR: Bc. Alžběta Vašáková DEPARTMENT: Social Sciences and Philosophy Department SUPERVISOR: Prof. PhDr. Jan Županič, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The thesis chronologically describes the life and career of the communist prosecutor Josef Urválek from his birth in České Budějovice, through the university studies at the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague, the work in the First Republic, post-war and communist judiciary to the politically motivated end of his career in the Czechoslovak judicature. The thesis focuses on his activities at the Exeptional people's court in České Budějovice and at the same time at the State court in Prague during the most well-known but also less-known political lawsuits in the fifties. The last chapter is about the reflection of this unlawfulness during the political releasing in the sixties and about his understanding of the personal and legal accountability in the position of the state attorney of the communist judicature. The bibliography consists of juridical and historical literature, archive materials and newspaper articles. KEYWORDS: Josef Urválek, prosecutor, political trials, communist regime
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Path of Czechoslovakia from Support of Zionism to Anti-Zionist Position (1947-1957)
Habermann, Tomáš ; Charvátová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Galandauer, Jan (referee) ; Pejčoch, Ivo (referee)
The theme of this thesis is attitude of the Communist Party and Czechoslovak totalitarian regime to Zionism in 1947-1957. The main aim of the archive research was to map gradual change of the communist regime from its position of the supporter of Zionism to that one of convinced anti-Zionism (nearly to anti-Semitism). Support of Zionism was primarily presented by help to the nascent state of Israel in 1947-1949. The evidence is given by the role of Czechoslovakia at meetings of the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 and its role as a member of United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. Furthermore, supplies of military equipment to Israel, diplomatic support, demographic support and training of Jewish brigade in Czechoslovak territory in 1948. Gradual change to anti-Zionist position at the end of 1940s and beginning of 1950s is illustrated with complicated negotiations on economic cooperation and with interfering of the regime in running of Jewish religious communities and Zionist organisations. During the first half of 1950s the support turned into downright opposition and lead in a diplomatic quarrel caused by the Slánský trial which had definitely anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist dimension. Utterly anti-Zionist position of the regime is also supported with further politically motivated trials -...
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Political Trials in the 50's - Karel Vaš
Uher, Štěpán ; Kuklík, Jan (advisor) ; Šouša, Jiří (referee)
Political Trials in the 50's - Karel Vaš The main intention behind this master thesis was to provide a general overview over the historical phenomenon of political trails that took place in the era of early years of communist regime in Czechoslovakia and to put together a life story of the communist prosecutor and the judge Karel Vaš within this grim mosaic. The thesis encompasses the broader historical background and regional frame, the development of related legislation and the apparatus of the state and the communist party involved in political trials. There is also great concern in types and directions of judicial and other persecution, the theme of the rehabilitation of victims and the prosecution of persons involved in making these trials. The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter gives a brief description of the situation in Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. It covers the most important events that led to communists taking over the absolute power in the state and carrying out political trials in the 50's as means for the stabilization of the society. The second chapter is dedicated directly to political trials themselves. This chapter is divided into four subchapters. The first subchapter is about the context, the definition of the term and historical origin of the political...
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Underground as a political phenomenon
Denčevová, Ivana ; Junek, Marek (advisor) ; Horák, Vladimír Jaromír (referee)
Czech underground and underground movements in other states share some common characteristics. In communistic Czechoslovakia, underground became an exceptional and unique phenomenon in spite of its typical non-political character - it served as a base for the establishment of the Charta 77 opposition movement. It hereby became a political phenomenon and an integral part of political opposition life before November 1989. In my research I have focused on an approximately five-year period of this fundamental epoch of the Czech underground development. I have used evidences provided by contemporary witnesses, worked with archive materials and studied works available in this field.
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Comparison of political trials: Laszlo Rajk, Rudolf Slansky, and Władysław Gomułka
Wisniowski, Zuzana ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Kocian, Jiří (referee)
The bachelor dissertation is focused on selected political trials in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. The purpose of the dissertation is to provide complex view on the topic, structure and specifics of trials with László Rajko, Rudolf Slansky and Włladysław Gomułka. I will explore the context of the events based on comparison of the individual trials. I will also look for the differences which could have led to different development in Gomułka's trial. The goal is to find reasons, why Gomułka was not brought to justice and sentenced as other chosen representatives of communist parties were.
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