Ministerstvo národní bezpečnosti (Ministry of National Security) Trial of Rudolf Slánský RG-48.021

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: [email protected]

Descriptive summary

Title: Ministerstvo národní bezpečnosti (Ministry of National Security) Trial of Rudolf Slánský

Dates: 1952

Accession number: 2016.268.1

Creator: Ministerstvo národní bezpečnosti

Extent: 236,241 digital images

Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126

Languages: Czech English

Scope and content of collection Court proceedings, protocols, letters, photographs from the trial of Rudolf Slánský. On 20 November 1952, Rudolf Slánský, General Secretary of the Communist party of (KSČ), and 13 other leading party members, 11 of them Jews, were accused of participating in a Trotskyite- Titoite-Zionist conspiracy and convicted: 11 including Slánský were hanged in on December 3, 1952. The state prosecutor at the trial in Prague was Josef Urválek. Among the accused were two Israelis: sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and Mordechai Orenstein convicted to life sentence. Accusation of Oren and Orenstein in being agents of American imperialism arouse a wide discussion among the left wing of party and Kibutz movement which coursed to its split. Those put on trial confessed to all crimes (under duress or after torture) and were sentenced to punishment. Slánský, tried to commit suicide twice in prison. The public humiliation did not end with the victims’ deaths. Their ashes were dumped at a construction site near Prague. When Stalin died in March of 1953, the strict USSR policy of purges weakened. The Slánský Trial victims were cleared of the charges during April of 1963. In May of 1968, they were rehabilitated and exonerated. However, political trials did not come to an end in Communist Czechoslovakia. Many innocent political prisoners were sentenced to death or wound up toiling in labor camps. The Slánský Trial has been the focus of books and a film. Rudolf Slánský’s son, also Rudolf, was a dissident during Communist rule, and when Vaclav Havel became president, he appointed Slánský Czech ambassador to the . The collection also includes investigation records from other postwar trials in Chechoslovakia, including records related to American spies Noel and Herta Field.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on access: No restrictions on access.

Restrictions on reproduction and use: Publication of documents and duplication of scans for third parties require the written permission of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The USHMM may not publish any of the scans that it has obtained pursuant to the contract signed with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and its Archive of Security Forces on October 25, 2008 on the Internet, the World Wide Web, or any other publicly accessible on-line network without the express permission of the source archive

Preferred citation: Preferred citation for USHMM archival collections; consult the USHMM website for guidance.

Acquisition information: Source of acquisition is the Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů (Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes), .The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received this collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in October, 2016, and accretion in October 2017.

Existence and location of originals: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů

Processing history: Processed by Aleksandra Borecka, 2016.

System of arrangement Following files are missing: #22, 32, 60, 94.

Indexing terms Slánský, Rudolf--1901-1952--Trials, litigation, etc. Clementis, Vladimír, 1902-1952--Trials, litigation, etc. Field, Herta. Field, Noel, 1904-1970. Fischl, Otto--Trials, litigation, etc. Frank, Josef--Trials, litigation, etc. Frejka, Ludvik--Trials, litigation, etc. Geminder, Bedřich--Trials, litigation, etc. Hajdů, Vavro--Trials, litigation, etc. Löbl, Evžen--Trials, litigation, etc. London, Artur--Trials, litigation, etc. Margolius, Rudolf--Trials, litigation, etc.

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Reicin, Bedřich--Trials, litigation, etc. Simone, André--Trials, litigation, etc. Slánský, Rudolf--1901-1952--Trials, litigation, etc. Šling, Otto--Trials, litigation, etc. Šváb, Karel--Trials, litigation, etc. Czech Republic. Ministerstvo vnitra. Komunistická strana Československa. Trials (Treason)--Czechoslovakia--Prague. Trials (Political crimes and offenses)--Czechoslovakia. Jews--Persecutions--Czechoslovakia. Antisemitism--Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia--Politics and government--1945-1992. Prague (Czech Republic)--Ethnic relations. Court records. Photographs. Protocols.

CONTAINER LIST

File/folder name Name(s) Folders Images MNB_01 Rudolf Slánský 56 14308 MNB_02 Vladimír Clementis 61 12667 MNB_03 Otto Fischl 35 9231 MNB_04 Josef Frank 16 4389 MNB_05 Ludvík Frejka 24 5512 MNB_06 Bedřich Geminder 46 10083 MNB_07 Rudolf Margolius 38 5634 MNB_08 Bedřich Reicin 50 10132 MNB_09 André Simone 32 4146 MNB_10 Otto Šling 110 27297 MNB_11 Karel Šváb 87 16028 MNB_12 Marie Švermová 13 2694 MNB_13 Vítězslav Fuchs 9 1577 MNB_14 Bedřich Hájek 3 751 MNB_15 Mikuláš Landa 4 1037 MNB_16 Hanuš Lomský 3 871 MNB_17 Ervin Polák 5 1766 MNB_18 Jarmila Taussigová 18 3949 MNB_19 59 7770 MNB_20 Josef Pavel 6 2102 MNB_21 Vavro Hajdů 36 5332 MNB_22 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_23 Josef Goldman 8 2347

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MNB_24 Jaroslav Jičínský 19 4111 MNB_25 Jan Bárta 5 1668 MNB_26 Otto Eisler 4 357 MNB_27 František Fabinger 9 2075 MNB_28 Ivan Holý 8 1661 MNB_29 Jiří Kárný 8 1385 MNB_30 Frantizek Kollár 4 339 MNB_31 Matyáš Lewinter 13 3161 MNB_32 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_33 Eduard Outrata 9 2614 MNB_34 Zdeněk Rudinger 8 1781 MNB_35 Josef Smrkovský 7 1630 MNB_36 Milan Reiman 4 1304 MNB_37 Gejza Pavlik 14 2969 MNB_38 Rudolf Feigl 15 3598 MNB_39 Noel and Herta Field 10 2579 MNB_40 Dobra Kleinová 4 751 MNB_41 Alice Kohnová (Glasnerová) 2 612 MNB_42 Oskar Kosta 4 1014 MNB_43 Karel Markus 4 823 MNB_44 Bedřich Kopold 9 2143 MNB_45 Antonín Svoboda 6 1584 MNB_46 Otakar Hromádko 5 913 MNB_47 Bedřich Kopold 29 2383 MNB_48 Josef and Rudolf Bulandr 5 669 MNB_49 Vladimír Drnec 16 1735 MNB_50 Šimon Drgáč 3 667 MNB_51 Josef Mírovský 4 1114 MNB_52 Zdeněk Novák 4 865 MNB_53 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_54 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_55 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_56 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_57 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_58 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_59 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_60 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_61 Mordechai Oren 3 662 MNB_62 Gustav Husák 8 1748 MNB_63 Ladislav Holdoš 6 1488 MNB_64 Ivan Horváth 6 836

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MNB_65 Daniel Okáli 13 3484 MNB_66 Ladislav Novomeský 4 745 MNB_67 Oskár Langer 8 1658 MNB_68 Koloman Mošković 5 977 MNB_69 Oskár Valášek 5 1258 MNB_70 Teodor Baláž 4 599 MNB_71 Matěj Bél 2 310 MNB_72 Šimon Čermák 2 211 MNB_73 Mikuláš Fodor 2 154 MNB_74 Juraj Glaser 3 319 MNB_75 Mikuláš Horský 3 355 MNB_76 Gejza Kršák (Weiss) 4 792 MNB_77 Viktor Sedmík 2 163 MNB_78 Rudolf Viktorin 2 430 MNB_79 Růženy Dubové 5 570 MNB_80 Vojtěch Erban 5 1248 MNB_81 Vladimír Haškovec and Ladislav Haas 9 1696 MNB_82 Antonín Hašek 14 3516 MNB_83 Jaromír Kopecký 10 1531 MNB_84 Jaromíra Kryslová 2 288 MNB_85 Vilém Kuhn 2 218 MNB_86 Antonín Patejdl 2 331 MNB_87 Rudolf Peschel 8 2218 MNB_88 Jaromír Poláček 2 461 MNB_89 Václav Roček 2 924 MNB_90 Joseph Špirk 3 497 MNB_91 Jana Vážná Milénová 1 139 MNB_92 Vlasta Veselá 11 700 MNB_93 Václav Vlk 8 1174 MNB_94 (No documents, or file not reproduced) MNB_95 Věra Hložková 7 2547 MNB_96 Josef Bartik 8 1237 MNB_97 František Faltys 12 990 MNB_98 Rudolf Procházka 12 1115 MNB_99 Anna Vacková 9 1014 MNB_100 (Various documents) 9 1510

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