Communists before the Courts - On some aspects of political trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s
Communists before the Courts - On some aspects of political trials in Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s

Author(s): Jan Kalous
Subject(s): Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; communists; courts; political trials; 1950s; Soviet Union;
Summary/Abstract: Sixty years ago, on 27 November 1952, the trial “of the leadership of the anti-state conspiracy centre led by Rudolf Slánský” was concluded in Prague. The revealed “crimes” of until recently leading representatives of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the extent of the sentences shocked the world. Klement Gottwald “wrung the necks” of not only the factual or potential adversaries of the regime established in February 1948 but this time, evidently under the Soviet influence, also of his faithful collaborators and in many cases personal friends.

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