Plánovačka neboli Basoprojekt
“Planner” or “Conproject”

Specialised Prisoners’ Departments in the Prague-Pankrac Prison

Summary/Abstract: The remand prison in Prague-Pankrac is infamous as an execution site for the Nazi and later communist dictatorship. It is less known, however, that there was also a research and design facility of the Ministry of the Interior where unjustly convicted professionals and scientists from various disciplines were gathered to perform forced intellectual work for the state. As early as at the beginning of the 1950s a department of technical designers and translators was established here. We know very little of the conditions in these organisational units. We may get a more precise picture especially owing to the preserved recollections of several prisoners of the time. In the prisoners’ jargon, these units were named “Jailbirdproject”, “Planner”, “Hockproject” or “Conproject”.

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