Průhon v březové aleji volá Chrudimsko. Protikomunistická rezistence Františka Mejtského a jeho rodiny
The birch alley droveway is calling the Chrudim region. Anti-Communist resistance of František Mejtský and his family

Summary/Abstract: The study analyses a case of the anti-Communist resistance in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s against the background of the story of the Mejtský family from Stíčany, East Bohemia. From 1950 to 1951, František Mejtský Sr (1901–1989) provided assistance to two men, Bohumil Eliáš and Jaroslav Marcal, who returned from exile in the Federal Republic of Germany in order to obtain money and various things necessary for life beyond the borders and who pretended to be collaborators of the American secret service in the territory of Czechoslovakia. During their stay in the Communist Czechoslovak Republic they established contacts with people who were not satisfied with the regime and who were willing to provide assistance (money, shelter) to alleged spies. During their search for a safe way back to the West, Eliáš and Marcal unwittingly came into contact with officers of the State Security Service (StB) who pretended to be members of the anti-Communist resistance. In the spring of 1951, a number people who cooperated with them were arrested. Mejtský Sr managed to escape and he then hid from domestic security forces until 1958. His family was subjected to reprisals by the StB and harassment by the Communist-controlled state administration institutions. These reasons led František Mejtský Jr (1931–1998) to escape into exile, where he joined the Czechoslovak intelligence cooperating with the US secret services. In December 1953 and October 1954, he crossed the guarded border zone, taking two radio transmitters to the Czechoslovak Republic. One was handed over to his colleague’s brother, Radomír Mařík, who maintained radio contact with the control centre near Frankfurt am Main from 1954 to 1956. He gave the second radio transmitter to his brother-in-law, František Popílek, who, however, most likely destroyed it. Later, František Mejtský Jr settled in the US, where he joined the US Army. In August 1956, Radomír Mařík’s radio transmitter was revealed, and the StB then increased its efforts to investigate the case. Therefore, it actively targeted the illegal “operational means” (e.g. secret collaborators, false correspondence) and, in August 1958, it discovered František Mejtský’s shelter.

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