Secret State Police Operations In Cold War Czechoslovakia

"Jande?ková pulls back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the inner workings of Communist Czechoslovakia’s secret police in connection both with the false border operation ‘Kamen’ and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. A fascinating study that enhances our understanding of this tragic period." James R. Felak, University of Washington "Václava Jande?ková's text is based on a great variety of sources, which are thoroughly and resourcefully interrogated and clearly presented. It is in two parts: the first investigates the Communist Czechoslovak security police operation to flush out potential “troublemakers” by luring them to a false frontier on the pretence of organising their escape to West Germany. The second is a searching re-examination of the murder of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk in March 1948. The author has long experience with security police archives and brings together material never before presented in a joint analysis. The text will be very valuable to all who are interested in the operations of Soviet-style authorities and in secret police methods generally." Geoffrey Hosking, Emeritus Professor of Russian History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London "With this book Václava Jande?ková emerges as a star among historians of Cold War intelligence operations. Combing her analytical skills with deep understanding of Czech history, she has mapped out the scandalous Operation KAMEN and its many dimensions in astonishing detail. This study is a meticulously researched and convincingly argued masterpiece. It is also immensely readable and full of fascinating depictions of the personalities involved. It is a marvelous piece of work, a major contribution to our understanding of the early postwar years of the Cold War. I can’t recommend it highly enough." Igor Lukes, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University Václava Jande?ková is an independent researcher, a co-founder of the Association for Research of Communist Crimes, member of the International PEN Club (Czech Centre) and a graduate in international relations.

"Jandečková pulls back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the inner workings of Communist Czechoslovakia’s secret police in connection both with the false border operation ‘Kamen’ and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. A fascinating study that enhances our understanding of this tragic period." James R. Felak, University of Washington "The author has long experience with security police archives and brings together material never before presented in a joint analysis. The text will be very valuable to all who are interested in the operations of Soviet-style authorities and in secret police methods generally." Geoffrey Hosking, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London "This study is a meticulously researched and convincingly argued masterpiece. It is also immensely readable and full of fascinating depictions of the personalities involved. It is a marvelous piece of work, a major contribution to our understanding of the early postwar years of the Cold War." Igor Lukes, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

A compelling examination of the establishment of the secret police in Communist Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Eastern Germany ​This book examines the history of early secret police forces in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War. Molly Pucci delves into the ways their origins diverged from the original Soviet model based on differing interpretations of communism and local histories. She also illuminates the difference between veteran agents who fought in foreign wars and younger, more radical agents who combatted "enemies of communism" in the Stalinist terror in Eastern Europe.

A Penetrating Exploration of the Soviet Secret Police Apparatus Even more than thirty years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the role of the secret police in shaping culture and society in communist USSR has been difficult to study, and defies our complete understanding. In the last decade, the opening of non-Russian KGB archives, notably in Ukraine after 2015, has allowed scholars to explore state security organizations in ways not previously possible. Moving beyond well-known cases of high-profile espionage and repression, this study is the first to showcase research from a wide range of secret police archives in former Soviet republics and the countries of the former Soviet bloc—some of which are rapidly closing or becoming inaccessible once again. Rather than focusing on Soviet leadership, The Secret Police and the Soviet System integrates the secret police into studies of information, technology, economics, art, and ideology. The result is a state-of-the-art portrait of one of the world’s most notorious institutions, the legacies of which are directly relevant for understanding Vladimir Putin’s Russia today.

This book addresses the complex intersection of secret police operations and the formation of the religious underground in communist-era Eastern Europe. It discusses how religious groups were perceived as dangerous to the totalitarian state whilst also being extremely vulnerable and yet at the same time very resourceful. It explores how this particular dynamic created the concept of the "religious underground" and produced an extremely rich secret police archival record. In a series of studies from across the region, the book explores the historical and legal context of secret police entanglement with religious groups, presents case studies on particular anti-religious operations and groups, offers methodological approaches to the secret police materials for the study of religions, and engages in contemporary ethical and political debates on the legacy and meaning of the archives in post-communism.

Informers are generally reviled. After all, 'snitches get stitches.' Informers who report to repressive regimes are particularly disdained. While informers may themselves be victims enlisted by the state, their actions cause other individuals to suffer significant harm. Informers, then, are central to the proliferation of endemic human rights abuses. Yet, little is known about exactly why ordinary people end up informing on--at times betraying--other people to state authorities. Through a case-study of Communist Czechoslovakia (1945-1989) that draws from secret police archives, oral histories, and a broad gamut of secondary sources, this book unearths what fuels informers to speak to the secret police in repressive times and considers how transitional justice should approach informers once repression ends. This book unravels the complex drivers behind informing and the dynamics of societal reactions to informing. It explores the agency of both informers and secret police officers. By presenting informers up close, and the relationships between informers and secret police officers in high resolution, this book centres the role of emotions in informer motivations and underscores the value of dignity and reconciliation in transitional reconstruction. This book also leverages research from informing in repressive states to better understand informing in so-called liberal democratic states, which, after all, also rely on informers to maintain law and preserve order.