Czechoslovakia against William Nathan Oatis
Czechoslovakia against William Nathan Oatis

Summary/Abstract: The story of the American journalist W. N. Oatis’ time in 1950s Prague is an integral part of Cold War history. It is a document on the non-democratic or totalitarian atmosphere in Communist Czechoslovakia where the state police was very power-ful. Oatis’s case followed the traditional scenario. Oatis was first followed by the state police, then arrested and accused of espionage. In the year 1950 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. This process had two political dimensions – the internal and external. From the viewpoint of the internal context the state police proved links between some domestic political representatives and the imperialistic West; from the viewpoint of the external context this process proved that Czechoslovakia was not afraid of the USA. Oatis’ case was accompanied by intensive Czechoslovak-American diplomatic negotiations which resulted in economic and trade limitations and losses for Czechoslovakia.

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