Cesty za svobodou - Kurýři a převaděči v padesátých letech 20. Století
The Way for Freedom - Couriers and Smugglers in the Fifties of the 20th Century
Author(s): Libor Svoboda, Pavel Vaněk, Petr Blažek, Petr Mallota, Jiří Řezníček, Slavomír Michálek, Martin Tichý
Contributor(s): Martin Tichý (Editor), Libor Svoboda (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; Germany; 20th century; 50s; politics; security; intelligence; communism; fascism; nazism; resistance; couriers; smugglers;
Summary/Abstract: Přechody státních hranic a působení kurýrů a převaděčů po únoru 1948 patří v posledních letech bezesporu k nejfrekventovanějším tématům z dějin protikomunistického odboje a odporu. Hlavní důvody jsou podle mého dva. Téměř kolem každého kurýra, který překročil státní hranice a po určitou dobu se v utajení pohyboval na československém území, se vytvořil okruh osob, někdy i hodně široký a rozvětvený do různých koutů republiky. Po dopadení kurýrů nebo jejich nejbližších spolupracovníků StB většinu těchto osob obvykle pozatýkala. V následujících procesech pak byly stovky kurýrů a tisíce jejich opravdových nebo i jen náhodných spolupracovníků odsouzeny k vysokým trestům odnětí svobody a více než čtyřicet z nich dostalo trest absolutní. Přesná čísla nemáme bohužel dosud k dispozici, faktem však je, že velký počet protistátních skupin, jejichž členové byli pozatýkáni a odsouzeni v letech 1948–1955/56, byl v bližším či vzdálenějším styku s cizinou, a to právě prostřednictvím některého z kurýrů.1 Procesy související s kurýry a převaděčstvím se tedy přímo či nepřímo dotkly velkého množství lidí nejen na úrovni centrální, ale i v regionech.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-80-87912-19-5
- Page Count: 245
- Publication Year: 2014
- Language: Czech
Kurýři a převaděči jako jedna z forem protikomunistického odboje
Kurýři a převaděči jako jedna z forem protikomunistického odboje
(Couriers and people-smugglers as a form of anti-communist resistance)
- Author(s):Libor Svoboda
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:9-17
- No. of Pages:9
- Keywords:20th century; 50s; couriers; smugglers; communism; resistance; intelligence; Czechoslovakia; security;
- Summary/Abstract:Dispatching couriers was a long-standing and traditional method of intelligence work. People were illegally sent across what was called the green border to the territory of another state where they carried out intelligence missions of various types: they acquired important information related to security, the economy and the military, recruited collaborators, brought people across the border and in some cases carried out sabotage behind enemy lines. They operated on foreign territory for a limited period, depending on the mission in question – from a few hours to several weeks or even months. For reasons of conspiracy, the couriers acted in utter secrecy and sometimes assumed false identities. Couriers were closely linked to the activities of people-smugglers; indeed, the two terms are very frequently interchangeable as many couriers also operated as people-smugglers. A people-smuggler was somebody who actively helped others to cross state borders illegally. Many of them were also linked to foreign intelligence headquarters, for which they also ensured the cross-border passage of couriers; they helped them prepare for operations inside Czechoslovakia and also provided them with logical assistance (with accommodation, food, etc.). Thanks to their actions, couriers and people smugglers, who are often forgotten today, made an important mark on the history of Czechoslovakia’s anti-communist resistance.
Budování ženijnětechnického zajištění v úseku 12. plánské pohraniční brigády
Budování ženijnětechnického zajištění v úseku 12. plánské pohraniční brigády
(Construction of engineering arrangements in the area of the 12th Planá Border Guard brigade)
- Author(s):Pavel Vaněk
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Military history, Political history, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:18-40
- No. of Pages:23
- Keywords:20th century; 50s; engineering measures; 12th Border Guard; Planá; security; couriers; smugglers;
- Summary/Abstract:The study deals with the process of construction of so called engineering measures in the area of one of the Border Guard brigades – the 12th Border Guard brigade whose command was in Planá. It discusses the different types of measures: trap lights, control zone, clearings, three-wall barricade and its electrification and mining. The construction started in the second half of the year 1951. The time schedule of the action proved the work was done in haste. Many tasks had to be performed again, either due to a partial destruction of the barrier walls after trunks and stumps had been pulled out from the inside of the wired barricade or after mines had spontaneously exploded. We can conclude that the so called engineering measures were completed by the end of 1953, though not entirely without problems in the forest parts.
Vila „Okopanina“ Výcvikové centrum kurýrů v Bruchsalu v letech 1949-1950
Vila „Okopanina“ Výcvikové centrum kurýrů v Bruchsalu v letech 1949-1950
(Villa “Okopanina”. Training center for couriers in Bruchsal in the years 1949-1950)
- Author(s):Petr Blažek
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:41-60
- No. of Pages:20
- Keywords:20th century; 50s; Bruchsal; couriers; training center; “Okopanina”; communism; resistance; security;
- Summary/Abstract:A few years after 1948, the most common type of intelligence operations used by the anti-communist resistance in exile was dispatching couriers (“agent-walkers”, in contemporary terminology) who secretly crossed the state border to the Czechoslovak territory in order to perform different tasks. This text deals with training of couriers carried out by an intelligence group which had been created by former Czechoslovak army general František Moravec with the support of the American secret service. It operated at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s in Bruchsal, West Germany. The training was led by former Czechoslovak soldiers and policemen with combat experience who had fled the country after February 1948. The leading figure among the intelligence officers acting in Bruchsal was former Czechoslovak army major Antonín Bartoš, who went into exile in February 1948 and was then involved in the anti-communist resistance.
Osudy prachatického kurýra Josefa Ludvíka na pozadí zpravodajských operací čs. exilu
Osudy prachatického kurýra Josefa Ludvíka na pozadí zpravodajských operací čs. exilu
(The story of Josef Ludvík, a courier in Prachatice, against a background of intelligence operations of the Czechoslovak exile)
- Author(s):Petr Mallota
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Security and defense, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:61-130
- No. of Pages:70
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; Josef Ludvík; courier; exile; 20th century; security; intelligence; Communism; Nazism; resistance;
- Summary/Abstract:The study maps the extraordinary life story of Josef Ludvík. Born in South Bohemia, he served in the police force and during the occupation he joined the anti-Nazi resistance movement. After communists had seized power in Czechoslovakia, he acted in a similar way. As a member of the National Security Corps he defected from his place of service in Prachatice to West Germany in the summer of 1949. After crossing the border he went through several refugee camps, including the famous Valka camp near Nuremberg, and later he joined the anti-communist resistance organized under the auspices of American and British intelligence services. As a courier (so called agent-walker), he crossed the border in the area of the Šumava mountains and fulfilled commissioned intelligence tasks in the border zone and inland of Czechoslovakia. In the course of almost two years he undertook five missions on which he met or cooperated with many outstanding exile figures, such as the legendary “King of Šumava”, courier Josef Hasil, the prominent senior intelligence officer Major Karel Černý, or Ludvík’s relative, courier and leading executive, Jaroslav Kaska. His fifth mission in May 1951 ended up a disaster for both Josef Ludvík and his colleague Vladimír Palma after they were detained by a Border Guard patrol near Bučina. In February 1952 they stood before the tribunal of the State Court in Prague which sentenced them to death in a monster political show trial. The sentence was executed on 8 July 1952 in the Pankrác execution room. The research studies Ludvík’s anti-communist resistance activities carried out from behind the border in a broader context of intelligence operations of the Czechoslovak exile.
Jan Král, kurýr československé sekce při francouzské zpravodajské službě SDECE
Jan Král, kurýr československé sekce při francouzské zpravodajské službě SDECE
(Jan Král, courier of the Czechoslovak section of the French intelligence service SDECE)
- Author(s):Jiří Řezníček
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
- Page Range:131-183
- No. of Pages:53
- Keywords:Czechoslovakia; 20th century; security; intelligence; SDECE; French intelligence service; Jan Král; courier; Communism; resistance;
- Summary/Abstract:The study deals with intelligence activities of the courier Jan Král, who entered the service of the Czechoslovak section of the French intelligence service Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service) after emigrating to the West at the turn of February and March 1951. From the summer of 1951, he carried out his intelligence tasks under the code name Karel Košut. His activities comprised of construction of a network of collaborators, transporting messages and acquiring intelligence information about the military, economic and political situation in the CSR. He crossed the state border in South Bohemia in the area of Zvonková – Kyselov – Růžový Vrch (U Korandy). He was dispatched with his tasks by senior officer and exile Josef Němeček from Veselí u Přelouče to Prague, Plzeň and other places. He used Radio Free Europe for his work, through which he sent messages, primarily concerning successful crossings of borders back to West Germany. He was also involved in people smuggling of Czechoslovak citizens to the West. Král mostly operated in the Český Krumlov region, where he was born and where he created a network of collaborators consisting of some of his family and friends. They helped him primarily as liaisons in delivering messages or they provided him with shelter. Král’s arguably most important task was to place a transmitter with a suitable person. He handed it to Josef Krnínský in November 1952. It was supposed to be used during an anticipated armed conflict to send intelligence information from the rear of the communist armies. Upon returning from one of his journeys, Král touched a high voltage wire while getting over a wired barrier and died instantly.
Osobný príbeh „agenta-chodca“ Živodara Tvarožka
Osobný príbeh „agenta-chodca“ Živodara Tvarožka
(Personal story of Živodar Tvarožek, an agent-walker)
- Author(s):Slavomír Michálek
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:184-204
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Živodar Tvarožek; security; intelligence; 20th century; Czechoslovakia; CIC; fascism; communism; resistance;
- Summary/Abstract:The presented study looks into the personal story of Živodar Tvarožek, a son of Minister of Finance of the Slovak National Committee, Tomáš Tvarožek. Živodar Tvarožek was among the passengers on the Dakota aircraft, whose escape was prepared by former RAF members. After a short stay in Munich and Frankfurt, he returned to Slovakia as an “agent-walker” upon the suggestion of Michal Zibrín and was tasked to revive the old and open new intelligence contacts and to inform the western Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) about the development in Czechoslovakia. After a short time, he was arrested and charged with anti-Czechoslovak espionage in a political trial. The original death sentence was changed to a life sentence and later to 20 years of imprisonment. He worked in uranium mines until the amnesty. After his return to civilian life, he worked as a workman. He lives in Bratislava.
Rudolf Kalčík. Životopisná črta
Rudolf Kalčík. Životopisná črta
(Rudolf Kalčík. A biographical sketch)
- Author(s):Martin Tichý
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
- Page Range:205-229
- No. of Pages:25
- Keywords:Rudolf Kalčík; biography; Czechoslovakia; 50s; Border Guard;
- Summary/Abstract:Author and scriptwriter Rudolf Kalčík could have considered himself a successful writer. However, after his death and mainly after 1989, he was slowly falling to oblivion. Today, the public knows him primarily as the author of the novel Král Šumavy (The King of Šumava), which was preceded by an eponymous movie in the preparations of which Rudolf Kalčík was involved. In the movie, he made use of his personal experience as a member of the Border Guard. In dozens of short stories, mostly scattered in magazines and newspapers, in several novels and scripts he presented a distinct view of the period after February 1948 in Czechoslovakia and the so called security issues, on which he focused as an author. It was this almost ideological distinctiveness which was most likely the reason why his work lost its appeal to readers. However, his legacy, though of varying quality, is an interesting document of the given period.
Summaries
Summaries
(Summaries)
- Author(s):Author Not Specified
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:230-234
- No. of Pages:5
- Keywords:20th century; Czechoslovakia; security; intelligence; couriers; political history; summaries; fascism; nazism; communism; resistance;
Prameny a literatura
Prameny a literatura
(Sources and literature)
- Author(s):Author Not Specified
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Fascism, Nazism and WW II
- Page Range:235-240
- No. of Pages:6
- Keywords:20th century; Czechoslovakia; security; intelligence; couriers; political history; fascism; nazism; communism; resistance; sources; literature;
Seznam zkratek
Seznam zkratek
(List of abbreviations)
- Author(s):Author Not Specified
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Political history, Recent History (1900 till today)
- Page Range:241-243
- No. of Pages:3
- Keywords:abbreviations;
Autorský kolektiv
Autorský kolektiv
(Authors)
- Author(s):Author Not Specified
- Language:Czech
- Subject(s):Recent History (1900 till today)
- Page Range:244-245
- No. of Pages:2
- Keywords:about authors;
