Operation “Tomis III” and Ideological Diversion - Václav Havel in the documents of the State Security, 1965–1968
Operation “Tomis III” and Ideological Diversion - Václav Havel in the documents of the State Security, 1965–1968

Author(s): Pavel Žáček
Subject(s): Security and defense, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; communist regime; Operation "Tomis III"; ideological diversion; state security; 60s; Václav Havel; documents;
Summary/Abstract: Václav Havel attracted the interest of the State Security (StB) at the age of 28 at the latest, remaining in their sights until the end of the existence of the Communist totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia. The first phase of his “targeting”, which ran until March 1968 and was organised by the 6th department of the (culture) II/A section of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior (National Security Corps) in Prague, under the codename “Tomis III”, is particularly richly documented. This makes it possible to reconstruct the efforts of the pillars of power to keep the regime going in the period of social crisis before the Prague Spring. Analysis of the file agenda and other archive materials allow us to cast light on the circumstances of the creation of a “candidate agent” file on Havel, which occurred at the start of August 1965, evidently as the result of poor coordination of individual StB headquarters – and which 20 years ago became the subject of media controversy.

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