Prokop tomek
On the Cold War Front Czechoslovakia 1948–1956
Exhibition on the occasion of the 60th
anniversary
of the commencement of anti-Communist resistance abroad.
6 / 7
On the C old Wa r Fr ont – C ze c hos lova k i a 1 9 4 8 –1 9 5 6
The moment that the Communists took over the reins in Czechoslovakia on February 25, 1948 may
be understood, among other things, as the beginning of the anti-Communist resistance. It is no secret
that Western non-Communist powers participated in this resistance, which combined the interests of
Czechoslovak exiles with the interests of the countries facing supposed or real threat from the Soviet
Union and its nascent system of satellites.
The anti-Communist resistance, called the “third resistance” in Czechoslovakia, is understood (if it
is accepted at all) as concrete armed, intelligence or sabotage operations between the years 1948-1956.
The participants were tens of thousands of Czechoslovak citizens, either living on state territory or in
exile, who acted of their own will. In many cases, the resistance formed independently and spontaneously,
in response to the terror the Communists were unleashing against those who thought differently.
Where this resistance was organized, it was directed by several not very tightly coordinated centers
abroad.
The country’s position between East and West predestined it to witness dramatic Cold War clashes.
While they did not develop into open conflict, they are undoubtedly significant. In recognizing and
describing them, we can also come to appreciate their victims’ value.
More than fifty years have passed since the couriers’ operations, but the topic is still little known,
and historical science covers it only randomly. Many documents are yet to be made available – mostly
from democratic countries’ archives. Yet it is our duty to try to clarify and redefine what happened. We
must answer questions concerning the significance and accomplishments of the resistance. We must
remember the thousands of fellow citizens who were imprisoned, executed or killed on the border,
and who embarked on a war against totalitarian power, conscious of the huge risks this involved for
themselves and their relatives.
Last but not least, this exhibit reminds us of the anniversary of the Communist coup d’état in
Czechoslovakia – the reason why thousands of our fellow citizens bravely fought the totalitarian
power.
The (Communist) Secret Police (StB) succeeded in capturing about four thousand people who participated
in intelligence operations in Czechoslovakia as couriers, organizers abroad and their assistants
on Czechoslovak territory.
Approximately 250 couriers were sentenced to long-term imprisonment. Nineteen couriers were
executed, at least seven died on the border, and eleven died in prisons.
Exhibition Catalogue
On the Cold War Front - Czechoslovakia 1948 - 1956
Published by The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Prague 2009
Text: Prokop Tomek
Photographs and illustrative documents: Archiv bezpečnostních složek
Graphic design and layout: Carton Clan
Printer: Janova Dílna, Třebestovice
ISBN 978-80-87211-15-1
M stská st
Praha 8
M stská st
Praha 8
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 8 / 9
Not all of them were textbook heroes. They lived in an era that placed immense demands on the
individual. Yet they took the risks, and they deserve our respect.
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes wishes to thank all those who participated in the
preparation of this exhibit, most notably the Prague City Museum (Muzeum hlavního města Prahy) and
the Police Museum of the Czech Republic (Muzeum Policie ČR).
The b e gi nni ng
February 1948 meant the beginning of fundamental changes in society and state. Citizens were in
for massive existential changes. Persecution took various forms. Non-Communists fell prey to purges in
the areas of state administration, education, military, and security. 4,600 officers were forced to leave
the army by 1949. The National Front’s Action committees dismissed approximately 28,000 employees.
75,000 officials had to leave the national committees, some 20,000 officials were forced to leave trade
unions and boards, and about 15,000 people were forced out of Sokol (lit. “falcon,” a Czech organization
focused on physical education combined with the promotion of specific moral values, originally founded
in 1862, eventually banned by the Communist government). The independence of political parties
was eliminated after February: the numbers of people expelled include about 120,000 officials of the
National Socialist Party, 100,000 officials of the People’s and Democratic Party, and some 20,000 Social
Democrats… Out of 600 state enterprise directors, 294 were dismissed; 18% of the 48,000 university
students, or 8,640 people, were expelled, and more than 500 university teachers were dismissed. Overall,
about 250,000 to 280,000 people were affected by the purges – fired from their jobs or kicked out
of school. In 1948, about 3,000 people were detained, 7,000 were accused of political crimes, and the
(Communist) Secret Police (StB) conducted 3,700 house searches…
Thousands of persecuted citizens and convinced democrats could not come to terms with the new
situation. These people were deprived of their existence or were unable to live in the new political
regime for reasons of principle. They responded by getting involved in the resistance – following the
example from their recent past, during the Nazi occupation. Groups formed to produce and distribute
leaflets, gather weapons and obtain information. Fearing punishment for such activities, or even independently
of this, tens of thousands of citizens decided to leave Czechoslovakia for the free world,
where they sought a new existence or wanted to participate in the anti-Communist resistance from
abroad.
Initially, individuals or small groups of exiles sent their couriers to Czechoslovakia. Their chief task
was to establish connection with the home country, bring fresh information, and lead family members
over the border or bring property that had been left behind in haste.
The first participants in the third resistance were veterans of the anti-Nazi resistance. One of the
first international resistance projects was the mission of Staff Captain Václav Knotek (1910–1948). Knotek
had experience from both domestic and international resistance (in Great Britain) during World
War II. Following the war, he was an employee of the Ministry of Interior, and before February 1948,
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 10 / 11
d		V. Knotek’s ID card from his service in the Czechoslovak Army in the UK. d		From V. Knotek’s intelligence equipment – contact addresses.
b		V. Knotek’s transformation into
John R. Coles.
he cooperated with the secretary of the National Socialist Party, Vladimír Krajina, as an intelligence
officer. As early as February 1948, he had to flee to avoid arrest by the StB, crossing the border to Germany.
In the spring, he arranged for the transfer of his wife and four children to the UK.
Knotek arrived in Czechoslovakia on a train on 15 June 1948, with a British passport in the name
of John Robert Coles. He changed his appearance using a wig, glasses, and rubber mouth inserts. He
intended to make use of his existing contacts with Czechoslovak authorities to build an information
channel leading abroad. Knotek even planned to use the radio connection of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, whose transmissions were to contain encrypted messages for exiles. However, one of his contacts,
Karel Svoboda, betrayed him to the StB on the second day of his stay in Czechoslovakia. Svoboda
was Knotek’s fellow fighter from the international resistance, a member of the WOLFRAM paratroopers
who became an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the war.
e		Photograph of the dead V. Knotek.
e		Miloslav Choc (born on Jan. 19, 1925), a student expelled after February 1948, lived in an exile camp
in Regensburg from March 26, 1948 to April 25, 1948. He returned to Czechoslovakia illegally with
resistance and courier assignments. On May 27, 1948, he allegedly assassinated Augustin Schramm,
an official of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Choc was sentenced to death on November
25, 1948 and executed on February 19, 1949. The photograph is from the assassination reconstruction
staged by the StB. Miloslav Choc is on the right.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 12 / 13
Organizing international resistan ce
After February 1948, exiles abroad began organizing new resistance towards the revival of a democratic
Czechoslovakia. Many democratic politicians had fled from the country, intending to build
a united political leadership of those in exile and participate in the resistance movement as during
the period of the First and Second world wars. National Socialist exiles included Hubert Ripka, the
party’s chairman Petr Zenkl, Vladimír Krajina, and Ladislav K. Feierabend. Jozef Lettrich represented
the Slovak Democratic Party. Adolf Procházka and Ivo Ducháček from the ranks of “lidovci” (Christian
Democrats) left the country, but the party’s leaders Jan Šrámek and František Hála were caught attempting
to leave and were detained. Václav Majer of the Social Democrats left the country. Bohumil
Laušman also left at the end of 1949, but the party rejected him. Diplomats such as Sergej Ingr and Ján
Papánek joined the exiles as well.
The international resistance movement formed under difficult conditions, without advance preparation
and lacking its own finances. This is why it had to accept the support of Western democratic governments,
primarily the Government of the US. The process of establishing a parent authority for Czech
exiles started in the spring of 1948, with a view to forming the Council of Free Czechoslovakia (CFC)
on the national holiday, 28 October 1948. However, the CFC was announced only later, at its meeting
held in Washington, DC from February 19-25, 1949. Petr Zenkl was elected chairman of the elected presidium,
with Jozef Lettrich as his deputy. The CFC resided in Washington, with branches in London and
Paris. The absence of a respected uniting personality proved to be a problem. The Council was formed
in February 1949, but was fragmentary since its inception and virtually incapable of action.
In addition to exercising a political leadership role, the Council intended to act as the leading antiCommunist
resistance authority. The creation of an intelligence organization was planned with several
parts, subordinate to the intelligence services of the US, the UK and France.
The Council of Free Czechoslovakia initially entrusted deputy and participant in the Second Resistance
Antonín Bartoš with leadership of the exile intelligence organization.
Thus the organization was formed in 1949, virtually coordinated by Sergej Ingr, whom the Council
formally appointed as head of the special task department only later, in June 1952. Ingr’s loose subordinates
were the heads of the intelligence sections associated with the Allies’ intelligence services:
USA		 General František Moravec – “Arnold”
UK		 Lt. Col. Karel Jindřich Procházka – “Proud”
France	 Gen. Čeněk Kudláček – “Hutník”
All of these forces were active in the occupied parts of Germany and/or Austria.
Knotek was arrested on an embankment of the Vltava River near Prague’s Law Faculty during a
meeting with Svoboda, and was taken to the StB prison on Washingtonova Street in the early evening
of June 16, 1948. During the prison entrance procedures, he succeeded in taking poison hidden in his
mouth. The StB kept Knotek’s death a secret for a long time afterwards.
Thus what might have been the very first attempt at an intelligence action on the part of exiles under
British protection ended tragically and unsuccessfully. It suffered from the chaotic post-coup situation
in Czechoslovakia as well as not very well thought out and underconspired preparation abroad.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 14 / 15
d		A cartoon from the February 9, 1952 issue of Rudé právo.
b		Association of exile with espionage and betrayal. Title page of the June 1950 issue of Dikobraz magazine.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 16 / 17
Similarly to the political exile scene, the intelligence exile movement also went through a number
of crises and problems. The unified intelligence service concept did not work out. The individual intelligence
sections associated with the Allies’ intelligence services were completely independent of each
other, and served their sponsors. In the end, no subordination to the CFC was implemented. The only
unifying factor was the authority of Gen. Sergej Ingr.
General Sergej Ingr (1894–1956). A member of the Czech Legions in
Russia and France during World War I. Graduate of the École Supérieure
de Guerre in Paris. Land Commander of Defense of the Nation (ON) after
the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Left the country for international
resistance in May 1939; member of the Czechoslovak National Committee
in Paris and head of the Military Administration. Minister of Defense of the
Czechoslovak exile government between 1940 and 1944, and the Supreme
Commander of Czechoslovak military forces from 1944 to April 1945. Prevented
from working in the Czechoslovak military after liberation; held the position
of Czechoslovak ambassador to the Netherlands from December 1947.
Resigned his position in response to the coup in February 1948. Active in the
anti-Communist resistance in Paris until his sudden death in 1956.
Antonín Bartoš – “Braun” (1910–1998). A post office clerk, active Sokol member, and National
Socialist. Left for the international army in 1940, fought in France, took special courses in the UK, and
led the successful CLAY paratroopers on Protectorate territory from April 1944 until the end of the war.
Deputy of the National Socialist Party after the war. Left the country in February 1948. Worked with
the intelligence services of the US Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in Germany at least between 1950
and 1952. Led his own group subordinate to Gen F. Moravec. Later relocated to the USA and remained
active in the exile movement.
Under the patronage o f the USA
“Moravec’s espionage group is subordinated to an American intelligence service, probably the MIS. (According
to earlier knowledge, it was subordinated to the CIC). According to Křivohlavý, it is subordinated to the FBI.“
	 Summary report on Moravec’s espionage group, I. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, 1954
Organizing Czechoslovak intelligence groups under the patronage of the US intelligence services
started on the territory of Germany’s US occupation zone in the summer of 1948. It was initiated by
Charles Katek, who, residing in Frankfurt, directed the cover-up organization ERU (Economic Research
Unit) located in Regensburg. The ERU discontinued its activity in approximately 1953.
Colonel Charles Katek (1910–1971). A Czech-American; worked for the
Office of Strategic Services in Europe and cooperated with the Czechoslovak
resistance during the Second World War. Head of the US military mission in
Prague from 1945 and a military attaché of the US Embassy in Prague from
1946. Recalled on March 18, 1948, upon pressure from Communist authorities.
He subsequently organized Czechoslovak exile intelligence under the
patronage of the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) from Frankfurt from the
summer of 1948. Recalled to the US in 1954. Worked at the US Embassy in
Vienna between 1960 and 1965.
Through his deputy, Kurt Taub (“Taylor”), Katek directed the groups led
by Jaroslav Kašpar (“Pátý”), Rudolf Drbohlav (“Ralph“), František Bogataj
(“Frank”), Alois Šeda (“Šubrt”) and František Moravec (“Arnold”).
Each group consisted of a leader and two to three helpers, each of whom directed several couriers
independently. Each group also included a scribe and translator. Local canvassers recruited couriers
for the group in local refugee camps. Couriers lived in the group’s detached facilities, privately, or in
refugee camps. The groups used many roads along the entire border. The couriers initially did not undergo
virtually any training. The scope of the courier’s work was mainly in the field of intelligence.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 18 / 19
Major František Bogataj, AKA “Robert”, “Frank”, etc. (1913–1999). A Czechoslovak
army officer from 1934; active in the Defense of the Nation organization
following the Nazi occupation of Germany in 1939; left the country
to escape arrest and join international resistance in December 1939. Having
fought in France, he underwent training in the UK and became a member of
the successful CARBON paratroopers on Protectorate territory in 1944. After
the war, Bogataj studied at the War University. Fired from the military after
February 1948, he left the country to join the international resistance movement
again in December 1948. Directed his own intelligence group subordinate
to the ERU in Germany. Left for the US after the discontinuation of
intelligence groups in Germany in 1954. Worked as a bank clerk in Chicago.
The President of Czechoslovakia bestowed the M. R. Štefánik Order upon František Bogataj in 1992, and
Mr. Bogataj was promoted to the rank of General later on in the 1990’s.
The Czechoslovak State Security Service (StB) won some of Bogataj’s couriers over for cooperation.
Bedřich Hrdlička (*1922) was one of them. He organized the StB arrest of Andrej Škvarek, a courier of
Bogataj’s group, on the border (sentenced for 22 years) and staged Bogataj’s kidnapping: he tried to
stun Bogataj on the border, but Bogataj, although injured, defended himself successfully.
Major Rudolf Drbohlav, AKA “Ralph” (1914–1954). A Czechoslovak army
officer; left the country for resistance after the occupation in 1939. Fought
in France and worked as a military intelligence officer in the UK. Studied at
the War University in Prague after the war; was expelled after February 1948
and then dismissed from the army. Drbohlav left the country in June 1948.
Directed an intelligence group from Regensburg, Germany, as early as at the
end of summer 1948. Following a number of failures caused by Communist
agents, his group was dismissed on April 28, 1952, and Rudolf Drbohlav left
for the UK to rejoin his family.
Colonel Jaroslav Kašpar AKA “Pátý” (1903–1995). A Czechoslovak army officer, artillerist and aviator.
Was active in the Defense of the Nation (ON) during the Nazi occupation, organizing emigration for
soldiers. He left the country to join the international resistance himself in early 1940. Jaroslav Kašpar
worked as an intelligence officer and diplomat in Turkey, the USSR and Iran, and later as a liaison officer
with the Allies. Left Czechoslovakia again in April 1948; led an intelligence group under the CIC in
Germany from 1949 to 1955. He then left for the US and worked as an air force analyst at the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C. Promoted to Major General in 1989. The President of the Czech Republic
bestowed upon him the T. G. Masaryk Order in Memoriam in 1998.
Colonel Alois Šeda, AKA “Šubrt” (1908–1999). Left the country in April
1948 and, together with his brother Ferdinand Šeda, led an intelligence
group until 1951. In the US, A. Šeda taught at the Defense Language Institute
in Monterey. Promoted to General’s rank in the 1990s.
Intelligence groups were formed, regrouped and discontinued, and in
about 1952 they were united under the leadership of General František Mo-
ravec.
General František Moravec (1895–1966) directed the Czechoslovak Army’s
military intelligence before WWII. On March 14, 1939, he and a group of
officers fled the occupation of Czechoslovakia to the UK, where he later joined
the Czechoslovak resistance. Directed the military intelligence section
of the Ministry of Defense in the Czechoslovak exile government until 1945.
The Allies rated the results of his section very highly. Returning to Czechoslovakia,
he was moved away to an inferior position between 1945 and 1948.
Dismissed from the military in March 1948, he left the country again. Under
the patronage of the US intelligence services, he started working against
the Czechoslovak communist regime from Germany. Ended his intelligence
activity in Germany at the end of 1954 and left for the US, where he worked
as an analyst for the US Department of Defense until his death on July 27, 1966. In 1991, the President of
Czechoslovakia awarded František Moravec the M. R. Štefánik Order in Memoriam and promoted him
to the rank of Army General.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 20 / 21
d	 	Propaganda books from the 1960’s aimed against the intelligence groups, compiled
under the patronage of the State Security Service (StB).
d		Drawings of the Delta intelligence school in Germany.
Drawn by Miloslav Křivohlavý while in StB detention in
1954.
b	 	A cartoon from the magazine Dikobraz, Spring 1950.
d	 	Drawings of the Delta intelligence school in Germany.
Drawn by Miloslav Křivohlavý while in StB detention in
1954.
c	 	Kurt Taub.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 22 / 23
b		When interrogated, courier Miloslav
Křivohlavý steered the StB towards the
idea of kidnapping General Moravec.
A drawing by Miloslav Křivohlavý made
while in StB detention, 1954.
Moravec’s group status in 1954. The staff was headquartered in Bensheim, Germany.
Major Miloš Knorr – Moravec’s deputy
Colonel Jaroslav Kašpar – Head of the Executive Group
Lieutenant-Colonel Alois Šeda – selection and training of couriers; governing body
Staff Captain Imrich Erős – Instructor
Major Herbert Němec – Head of the Defense Department
Captain Jiří Štokman – Instructor
Major František Bogataj – Head of the Balloon Base
Staff Captain František Opelský – executive section
Moravec group’s structure in December 1954:
Head – relations with the senior American Office and the Council of Free Czechoslovakia
Operation Department – action planning and execution
Defense Department – verification, tracking of suspects
Economic Department – management of facilities, couriers’ equipment
Promotion Department – cooperation with RFE, VOA and the BBC, refugee interviews, analyses of 	
	 Czechoslovak press
Technical Department – draftsman and photographer; processing of obtained material
Schools: OKTA – radiotelegraphy; OKTA II. – technical training (dead drops, shooting, photographing,
	radio training, secret scripts, visual intelligence…); DELTA – advanced and maintenance training.
Parachuting and balloon training took place on an individual basis.
Czechoslovak intelligence groups within the US intelligence services concluded their activity at the
end of 1954.
The following is an attempt at an overall summary of the losses on the part of the resistance movement
under the patronage of US intelligence services: During the period between 1950 and 1960, the
StB kept 2,299 persons connected to the activities of US intelligence services on file. 199 couriers were
arrested; 17 of them executed (Pavol Babík, Bohuslav Beneš, Petr Čížek, Jaroslav Dvořák, Rudolf Fuksa,
Štěpán Gavenda, Karel Gruber, Jiří Hejna, Anton Kandráč, Lubomír Koukal, Augustin Lednický, Alexander
Lhotský, Ladislav Lindner, Josef Liška, Robert Púčik, Emanuel Rendl, and Alois Sutý); six other were
shot while being arrested or at the border (Jan Borýsek, Josef Bursík, Bohumil Hasil, Bedřich Lorenc,
Josef Mašek, and Bohuslav Pavlů).
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 24 / 25
C ze c hos lova k I nte lli ge nc e Off i c e – UK
The Czechoslovak Intelligence Office (CIO) was formed at the turn of 1948 and 1949 as one of the branches
of the planned exile intelligence organization. As such, it was initially a partner, and later a part of
UK’s Secret Intelligence Office (SIS). General Sergej Ingr led the initial discussions with the British side,
and chose Col. Karel Procházka for the position of CIO Head.
Colonel Karel Jindřich Procházka, AKA “Kenneth Proud” (1905–1999).
Graduated from the Military Academy in Hranice in 1925, and became a Czechoslovak
army officer. Completed studies at the War University between
1933 and 1936. Left the country for the resistance movement in 1939, fought
in France, and was an officer of the Czechoslovak Brigade in the UK. Was sent
to India from 1941 to 1944, and took part in the liberation of Czechoslovakia
in 1945 as a member of the artillery staff of the 1st Czechoslovak Armed Force.
Served as the General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Committee for Emigration
of Slovaks from Hungary between 1946 and 1947. Served in the army until
February 1945; later left the country in August 1948 to become the head of the
Czechoslovak intelligence organization formed in the UK at that time. Led the
CIO from its inception to the end of its activity in 1957. Returned to his home country in 1991 and lived in
seclusion until his death in 1999.
The CIO headquarters were in London, situated consecutively at several addresses under the cover
name of Kenneth Proud Translation Office and internally called MEASURE. Early on, CIO members likely
chose methods fully in line with the period and possibilities. Until 1953 the focal point of activities was
sending couriers across the border.
The main executive base for the CIO’s activities was in the Wörthersee lake area in the British occupation
zone near Klagenfurt, Austria. There was a courier training center and radio center there. A top radiotelegraph
operator, Major Josef Süsser provided the connection with collaborators in Czechoslovakia
from the CIO’s radio center in Klagenfurt.
Couriers obtained information and built intelligence and radio operator networks in Czechoslovakia.
As an example, we can mention the network built by courier Jan Brejcha and the couriers Cyril Sláma and
Miloslav Procházka, whom he recruited between 1950 and 1952. These CIO couriers led an intelligence
network in South Moravia and Slovakia, setting up extensive groups of collaborators, informers and radio
operators – Czechoslovak citizens.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 26 / 27
The CIO experimented with using balloons for safer transport of couriers to Czechoslovakia in 1953
and tried to build a network among the Labe waterway shipmen.
They had mainly intelligence assignments –covering uranium ore supplies to the USSR. According to
Procházka, they also organized sabotage and spread disinformation. But the guarding of the state border
was constantly improving, and crossing the border was becoming increasingly dangerous. Intelligence
results were not very brilliant, as Procházka admitted: “Given the intellectual level, age, and social position,
it was impossible to use normal agents for obtaining high value information and setting up contacts
with premier economic, political, and cultural personalities.” The political situation started to change in
the course of the 1950’s and contacts between the East and West grew, enabling a major change in working
style.
The CIO’s activity in Austria was discontinued sometime in the middle of 1954. Couriers were offered
the possibility of relocating to the US or Australia.
Subsequently, the CIO obtained information via “white lines.” Its activity nonetheless finally ended in
1957 as a result of the betrayal of Karel Zbytek, a HQ employee.
Major Miroslav Plaňava, AKA “Ivan” or “Poyser” (1909–1968); a member
of the RAF’s 311th Squadron in the UK during WWII. Left the country in the
summer of 1948 and started directing intelligence activity in Austria. At the
CIO, he worked in the HQ’s operating department, and was later on residentura
in Brussels. He died in an unfortuante accident in Austria in 1968.
b 		One of the British-made MK VII. transmitters dug up from a dead drop by
State Security.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 28 / 29
Major Jaroslav Stuchlý AKA “Bill” or “Pitter” (1913–?). A Czechoslovak
army officer; participated in the Western resistance during WWII. Worked in
the UK from 1940 as a cryptographer and analyst in the II. intelligence section
of the Ministry of National Defense (MNO). A graduate of the War University,
he taught at the Military Academy in Hranice. Left the country on 30 March
1948 and joined the CIO in 1949. Initially he led the operating department at
CIO’s HQ in London, later headed the CIO’s branch in Frankfurt, FRG. He relocated
to Klagenfurt, Austria at the end of 1952 to direct the FSS centre that
sent couriers to Czechoslovakia. Left for the UK for good in 1954 when the
CIO’s activities in this area came to an end.
A summary of couriers lost on duty for the CIO: Between 1950 and 1960, the State Security Service
(StB) had records of 1,090 people connected to the activities of the British intelligence services. 30 couriers
were arrested, two of them executed (Josef Ludvík and Vladimír Palma), and another three were shot
while arrested or on the border (Josef Princ, Josef Zika, and Štefan Krajger).
The C ze c hos lova k i nte lli ge nc e gr oup i n France
National Socialist politician Hubert Ripka and General Čeněk Kudláček, AKA “Hutník,” discussed
the formation of an affiliated intelligence organization in France in 1948. In September of that year,
Ripka was to sign an agreement on the formation of an intelligence section affiliated with France’s intelligence
service, SDECE (Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage), with French
representatives.
Čeněk Kudláček, AKA “Hutník” (1896–1967). A Legion veteran and officer of the Czechoslovak army,
he worked as a teacher in military schools and as a diplomat. He was active in Defense of the Nation
(Obrana národa, or ON – one of the first anti-Fascist resistance groups during the time of the Protectorate)
in 1939 as the first head of its central staff. He had to leave the country in November 1939, where he
connected with the resistance as a superior officer and diplomat. He was dismissed from the army after
February 1948 and left the country in the summer of 1948. He participated in intelligence activities in
Paris until 1956, then lived in the US, where he participated in exile activities.
Specific intelligence activities were carried out by chapters deployed in France’s occupation zones
in Austria and Germany. Couriers were sent to Czechoslovakia across the border with intelligence assignments
and radio transmitters; they sought out and trained collaborators.
The branches were allegedly discontinued in 1954, and the Paris headquarters was closed in 1957.
The leaders and organizers of intelligence activities known to date include Radomír Luža, Karel
Kašpárek and Karel Škrábek. They operated in Vienna and Salzburg, with another branch in BadenBaden,
Germany.
In terms of scope, the French exile intelligence group was the smallest. The (Communist) Secret Police
(StB) tracked 535 persons involved in French networks, both abroad and on Czechoslovak territory.
František Klimovič, AKA agent “13,” was the StB’s most important informer in Vienna.
Couriers were not the only ones affected by the Communist regime’s direct repression. One example
is member of the Czechoslovak section Karel Škrábek (*1919). He left for France in March 1949, joining
Č. Kudláček’s intelligence network in 1952. With Kudláček’s authorization, he left for Vienna to build a
network of cross-border guides. He ended this service in 1954, and lived in the US from 1956. In February
1961 he applied for repatriation through the Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington. He returned to
Czechoslovakia based on an amnesty on April 18, 1961, but was arrested and sentenced to eleven years
in prison for his intelligence activities abroad.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 30 / 31
d		One of the dead drops from Josef Krnínský’s network.
d		The French transmitter of MUDr. Josef Zenáhlík from Vyšší Brod, in the
state in which the State Security Service (StB) managed to find it.
d		The French transmitter of Josef Krnínsky from Velešín.
c		Title page from the StB report on the
exposure of Josef Krnínský.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 32 / 33
The network of collaborators in Southern Bohemia was perhaps the largest and most important
activity of the Czechoslovak section of France’s intelligence service.
Jan Král (1924–1954), a native of Pračov near Český Krumlov, left the country in March 1951 and
started cooperating with the Baden-Baden chapter. From September 1952, he would cross the Czechoslovak
border as an instructor of radio transmitter operators. He trained MUDr. Josef Zenáhlík from
Vyšší Brod and Josef Krnínský from Velešín.
Zenáhlík collaborated with the French from the end of 1951; from Summer 1952 he operated a radio
transmitter in his house and built an intelligence network in his area. He was detected in 1953 as a result
of a combined effort of radio-location and the StB’s partial penetration of the Baden-Baden branch.
Zenáhlík and his group of twenty-three collaborators were sentenced to long-term imprisonment in
late 1953.
Josef Krnínský’s group was also discovered by the StB in the autumn of 1954. Courier Jan Král was
killed by electric shock on the border in the Maršlák area, Český Krumlov District, while leaving the
country on October 16, 1954.
Other initiatives
Aside from Czechoslovak intelligence groups, there were other, uncoordinated initiatives as well. Given
the fragmentary findings of the State Security Service (StB), we know very little about many of them.
The Polish group Rada politiczna (Political Board) operated in Germany, providing intelligence activity
concerning Poland under the US Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). Given the geographic conditions,
Polish operations took place on our territory as well. Czech refugees were used as couriers-cross-border
guides. One of them was:
Rudolf Dziadek (*1924) form Orlová in Silesia. A locksmith engineer by vocation, he crossed the
border to Germany near Aš in September 1948 and started collaborating with the CIC in Munich in
1951. His task was to guide the Polish courier, 21-year-old student Alfred Planeta from Radom, Poland,
through Czechoslovak territory. In addition, Dziadek was to find a collaborator near Český Těšín to
arrange contact with Poland.
The railroad guard arrested both Dziadek and Planeta on a train from Domažlice to Plzeň in the
evening of the very first day of their mission, September 8, 1951. Rudolf Dziadek was sentenced by
the State Court in Brno to 18 years for high treason and espionage on March 21, 1952. Released from
prison after twenty years in October 1963, he lived under StB surveillance. In 1968, R. Dziadek was a
member of the K 231 preparatory committee in Karviná. He left for the FRG in 1969, never to return to
the country.
The Communist regime referred to priests on the borders as “Vatican spies”.
Salesian priest and cross-border guide Titus Zeman was born on January 4, 1915 in Vajnory. A Salesian
priest, religion teacher, and youth educator in Pezinok. Upon his superiors’ request, he and two
couriers successfully brought six Salesian priests across the border on August 30, 1950. Aided by Jozef
Macek, he guided them to Austria through the Malé Leváre area and then to Turin, Italy. Zeman returned
to Slovakia in mid-October 1950 and organized another group of thirteen priests and monks, leading
them successfully across the border along with three other refugees and the couriers Jozef Macek
and Ferdinand via the same path.
Only Ferdinand Totka accompanied Zeman on his way to Czechoslovakia in April 1951. Zeman was
equipped with a false ID in the name of Pavol Plahdaník. He gathered a group of about eighteen priests,
monks, and theologists who had been interned in concentration monasteries since April 1950 as part
b		French courier Jan Král died of electric shock at a border entrenchment.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 34 / 35
of Action “K,” or who faced the threat of arrest. On April 16, 1951, Zeman and the entire group were captured
in the border zone in the Malé Leváre municipality. Titus Zeman’s motivation was undoubtedly
service to his fellow brethren.
The State Court in Bratislava sentenced Titus Zeman to 25 years, Ferdinand Totka to 22 years for
high treason and espionage, and 19 other refugees and/or helpers to unconditional sentences ranging
from 2 to 18 years on February 22, 1952.
d		Photograph of Rudolf Dziadek in
State Security (StB) detention.
bb	 	Report on the arrest of Dziadek and
Planeta.
b		Verdict on Rudolf Dziadek. d		Cover of Titus Zeman’s case file. d		Titus Zeman’s photograph from his
StB case file.
d		Report on the arrest of Titus Zeman.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 36 / 37
Wome n on the b or de r – c our i e r s a nd guides
The dangerous and physically demanding cross-border trips were largely a men’s affair. Yet there
were also female couriers and guides.
Otilie Mücková (*1928 in Brno) was one of them. She left the country in December 1949 when
her friend, former National Security Corps (SNB) member Oldřich Kokorský, came back from Vienna
to Bratislava for her. After a year living in Vienna, she met the guides Josef Fuchshuber and
Eliška Wagnerová (“Lízinka”). Fuchshuber offered her cooperation in guiding refugees across the
border. Otilie Mücková made her first trip in early January 1951, coming from Vienna to Bratislava
with Fuchshuber, and continuing to Frýdek to fetch Czechoslovak Intelligence Office (CIO) member
Karel Zbytek’s wife. Mücková brought her and her daughter to Bratislava, then Fuchshuber guided
all of them across the border near Bratislava-Petržalka.
Otilie Mücková took a total of four trips to Czechoslovakia. She guided about eight refugees and
brought messages. Border patrols caught her on her way to Austria near Bratislava-Petržalka in July
1951. Apart from Fuchshuber’s well-tried route, Mücková would cross the border with Eliška Wagnerová,
as well: they walked 35 km from Popice near Brno to Ziegelhofen in Austria overnight!
The State Court in Prague sentenced Otilie Mücková to 14 years for high treason on February 5,
1952. Her three helpers in Bratislava were sentenced along with her.
Olga Kamanová (*1914) was another courier. She left for West Berlin illegally in June 1952. The
US military intelligence service allegedly acquired her for cooperation. She took a special fourmonth
intelligence course, where she learned how to seek and direct suitable collaborators, use
invisible inks, set up and use dead drops, make and process photographs, use a map and compass,
use the Morse code, and copy stamps and signatures. She was in Czechoslovakia at least four times,
and built her own intelligence network in North Bohemia. She brought information and sometimes
guided people across the border.
One of her collaborators probably betrayed her, and the (Communist) Secret Police (StB) arrested
her at the train station in Ústí nad Labem on 20 May 1953. Olga Kamanová was sentenced to 18
years on 15 February 1954. Her four collaborators were sentenced to eight years on average.
Olga Kamanová was released from prison conditionally in April 1967, having served fourteen
years.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 38 / 39
d		Otilie Mücková after her arrest by the StB.
b	 Proposal for the arrest of Otilie Mücková. d		Photograph of Olgy Kamanová in StB prison, demonstrating hidden
intelligence instructions in the seam of her skirt.
d		Documents presumably made by American intelligence services for
Olga Kamanová.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 40 / 41
C r os s i ng the b or de r
Crossing the state borders with Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany was a life-threatening
endeavor.
Border security represented the first obstacle. As of 1949, the Border Guard Service operated under
the direction of the Ministry of the Interior. From 1950 on, following the Soviet model, it was an armed
force with military organization, consisting of approximately 20,000 officers and (as of 1950) soldiers
fulfilling compulsory service, as well.
The traps forming the “iron curtain” were a further obstacle.
Czechoslovakia’s state border was not set up with any signalling equipment or snares until 1951.
The so-called engineering-technical border security was built between 1951 and 1952:
Signal flares, actuated by touching on a stretched wire, were installed in front of the border•	
entrenchment, on the domestic side.
The entrenchment was located in the middle of a ten to eighteen meter-wide clearing hewed•	
in the forest along the border. A six-meter control zone of ploughed soil for detecting footprints
abutted the domestic side of the entrenchment.
The most significant security measure was the barbed wire entrenchment itself. Between 1951•	
and 1952, it consisted of wooden posts thickly interwoven with barbed wire. Initially it was
made up of a single wall, but it gradually increased to three walls. The two outer walls were
160 cm high; the inner wall was 220 cm high. From 1952 onwards, the barrier’s middle wall
was fitted with 5 to 7 barbed wire conductors with high voltage (2,000–6,000 volts). Apart from
the danger of fatal electrical injury, any short circuit signalled an attempt to cross the entrenchment.
The barrier’s electrification was completed in 1956. The original route was rebuilt and
perfected under the supervision of Soviet consultants between 1953 and 1956. The electricity in
the wire barrier was finally switched off in 1965.
Between 1952 and 1957, the area between the barrier’s walls was mined using kick-start or wi-•	
re-actuated landmines. The mines were removed, as they proved dangerous even for the border
guard soldiers.
Soldiers of the Border Guard Service shot 143 people on the state border. The electrified entrenchment
caused the deaths of almost one hundred people. Two people died of mine explosions; many
more people were injured, often with lifelong consequences. Overall, the “iron curtain” claimed more
than 300 lives in Czechoslovakia.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 42 / 43
d		Jan Kovač, allegedly a foreign intelligence service courier, stepped on
a landmine in the middle of an entrenchment in the Kout area of Šumava
on 20 September 1953. The mine separated his foot at the ankle.
Facing a hopeless situation, he shot himself dead.
b		Miroslav Svatoň, age 22, died on the barbed wire of the entrenchment on
May 16, 1953 in the Rozvadov area. He was probably crossing the border
from Germany to Czechoslovakia.
b		Ferdinand Pavlík, a CIC courier, was caught while cutting through the
entrenchment in the Železná Ruda area of Šumava on 25 March 1953.
The photograph was made during the incident’s period reconstruction
and shows very clearly the courier’s main instruments: insulated pliers and
rubber gloves protecting him from high voltage.
d		An illustration of the entrenchment in 1955 and 1956.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 44 / 45
Communist propaganda created the myth of the border guards’ heroic war with terrorists and subversion
agents. In fact, at least 584 border guard soldiers died between 1948 and 1989. Only 11 of these,
however, were killed by “state border violators”. For example, 185 soldiers committed suicide; 243 died
of the consequences of various injuries and accidents; 39 soldiers died as a result of being wounded by
firearms, and 47 soldiers died while handling border control equipment (electrical injuries; explosions
of mines, grenades, and explosives).
Border crossing in either direction can thus be divided into two periods, separated by the installation
of the border security measures during the year 1951.
Until that time, crossing the border was a dangerous yet feasible operation, subject to excellent
knowledge of the landscape and monitoring of the border guarding system. No special equipment was
necessary.
Once the entrenchment had been erected, it was necessary to cut a passage through it. Insulating
gloves and pliers were used for this purpose. Subsequently, it was necessary to avoid a number of further
measures and traps.
Spe c i a l me thods of c r os s i ng the b or der
Apart from walking, there were other possible ways to cross the border, using existing means of
transport: train, riverboats, or via waterway or air.
Courier transport using balloons was tested several times between 1952 and 1954. Several balloon
pilot training courses were held at the RAF airbase in Cardington near Bedford, UK, in 1953. Some ten
pilots recruited from the ranks of Czechoslovak couriers could have been trained for British and US
intelligence services.
Between four and seven flights to Czechoslovakia took place. The first one to be documented took
place in June 1953, the last in August 1954.
The first flight was successful. British intelligence service courier Miroslav Vaja (1932–1977) landed
near Plzeň during the night of July 8, 1953. On July 13, Vaja successfully crossed the border entrenchment
on his way back to Austria. He was sent on another mission by ground in October 1953, but was
caught by Czechoslovak border guards while trying to cross the border. He was sentenced to twenty
years’ imprisonment in March 1954, and released in 1964.
The last known case ended tragically. On August 13, 1954, two men’s bodies, along with equipment betraying
their mission and false documents in the names of František Malec and Karel Blažek, were found on
the Kočičák hill near Krásná Hora village in the Sedlčany area. Both died as a consequence of falling from a
height. The real surname of “František Malec” was Jakoubě; we do not know “Blažek’s” real name.
General František Moravec’s intelligence group had sent them on the mission. The State Security
Service (StB) gained possession of their full equipment, including a transmitter and instructions for
intelligence work. The balloon was found near Vlašim. The cause of the accident is not quite clear; the
cloth basket probably loosened by accident or mistake and the crew fell to the ground.
Based on the flight plan and map found on the accident scene, the StB concluded that the balloon
had taken off about 1 km west of Hannesried, a village in Bavaria, some 5 km away from the Czechoslovak
border, at 1:32 am on August 13, 1954. The couriers crossed the border at an altitude of 2,250 m, and
died at 3:50 a.m. while landing near Krásná Hora. The flight measured approximately 120 km.
Some couriers probably landed in Czechoslovakia in 1952 using parachutes.
b	 Two couriers from Austria crossed
the border in the Rusovce area
near Bratislava on 12 June 1952.
A photograph from the period
reconstruction shows the control zone.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 46 / 47
d	 Courier Miroslav Vaja’s photographs from the StB case file.
d	 A photograph of Vaja’s balloon, which landed in Slovakia uncontrolled.
b	 A photograph of the British operations balloon used by Miroslav Vaja.
d	 Center of the shot: the place where the couriers were found. Kočičák hill near Krásná Hora nad
Vltavou.
d	 The folding basket of the “invisible” balloon, in
which Blažek and Jakoubě crashed.
d	 The scene of the tragic incident near Krásná Hora nad Vltavou. The couriers’ bodies were
found behind a ridge in the land on the left. Viewed from Krásná Hora.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 48 / 49
d	 A photograph of the dead couriers’ equipment.
In rare cases, couriers crossed the border via the Dyje, Morava, or Danube rivers.
Karel Brabec (1918–1993) swam across the Danube several times in 1951. He had modified a Counter
Intelligence Corps (CIC) diving dress, which he used not for diving, but for swimming long distances in
cold water. He confessed five trips to the StB; reportedly he made ten. He was arrested in Bratislava on
30 December 1951 while distributing leaflets. Brabec was sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment. His
use of the diving suit was just an improvement of his tried and true method for crossing the border.
Several years later, the CIC (Moravec’s group) demonstrably trained its agents for crossing borders
via water using diving equipment: a diving suit and aqualung. Water training formed a part of the universal
training at the DELTA school in Dieburg. Trainees practiced crossing watercourses using rubber
boats, swimming, and diving on the Rhine and Main. The agents were trained to swim 50 cm below the
surface, staying at the same depth, and laying down on the bottom.
d	 Vladislav Křivohlavý’s drawings made while in StB detention. d	 Karel Brabec in the deflated and inflated swimming suit.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 50 / 51
Laborer Jozef Mikuš (born on 20. April 1931 in Šulekov, District of Hlohovec) was another courier who
crossed the border via water. He immigrated to Austria on March 6, 1949, and joined the Slovak Liberation
Committee in 1952. Mikuš was willing to enroll in an armed war on Communists, for a federalized
Europe. The CIC in Linz recruited him as a guide for crossing the Czechoslovak border in April 1954.
Mikuš was recruited to find a border-crossing channel on the confluence of the rivers Dyje and Schifart
(Kyjovka?), where the entrenchment was not installed all the way to the riverbank. He conducted
a survey in late May 1953, and set up three dead drops near Kúty in August 1953. In early April 1954, he
received a rubber suit to cross the river. The dress was partly inflatable; the courier moved by treading
water. The soles of his feet were fitted with special fins with which he propelled himself. On October 9,
1954, he received the assignment to go to Czechoslovakia to set up a dead drop and bring over courier
“Ján”. He was equipped with an ID card in the name of Ján Markovič. He was caught about 50 m away
from the entrenchment in Slovakia after midnight on October 10, 1954. Mikuš tried to escape from
counterintelligence detention in Prague-Bubeneč on October 28, 1954 with no success. He acted bravely
during the investigation, attempting to deny.
The regional Court in Nitra sentenced Jozef Mikuš to 20 years for high treason and espionage on
March 9, 1955.
d	 Karel Brabec’s false ID, in the name of Karel Špaček.
c	 Cover page of Vladislav Křivohlavý’s case file.
C our i e r s ’ a c ti vi ty
Couriers, termed “agent-walkers” by the State Security Service (StB), were referred to as subversion
agents, murderers, and terrorists on the part of the regime. What was the actual objective with which
they were sent to Czechoslovakia?
Couriers were often recruited from refugee camps. They participated in successive perfecting training
courses in all necessary proficiencies and faculties. They were equipped with tools and aids for
crossing the border and navigating the landscape, and money and false ID documents for operating
domestically. Not every courier had a personal weapon.
One of the couriers’ most common functions was cross-border guiding. They performed this service occasionally,
but were often sent for selected refugees. Some couriers specialized in guiding other couriers.
Couriers brought messages, instructions, transmission sets, and leaflets to Czechoslovakia. They
trained radio operators from among selected collaborators in Czechoslovakia. They recruited citizens
for cooperation as the primary sources or collectors of information, as radio operators, accommodators,
or intermediaries. They set up dead drops for forwarding messages.
Weapons were used virtually only in self-defense.
Couriers were not authorized to organize armed domestic resistance. The murder of three National
Committee officials in Babice on 2 July 1951 was a self-willed act of the courier Ladislav Malý. Malý, AKA
“Rudolf Laco,” was a courier from Moravec’s group under the patronage of the US intelligence service.
He left for Czechoslovakia without the knowledge of his superiors.
The capturing of the famed letter “To the Big Street Sweeper” was an operation with exceptional
political implications that resulted in the arrest of Rudolf Slánský and extensive purges within the
Communist Party, culminating in the trial against the so-called “anti-state conspiracy center”. Courier
Rudolf Nevečeřal brought the letter, dated 9 November 1951, from abroad and gave it to the StB, as he
was also an StB agent.
The letter “To the Big Street Sweeper” contained an offer to arrange for immigration. Exiled intelligence
staff from František Moravec’s group probably expected – unrealistically so – that, faced with
problems within the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSČ), Slánský would be interested in leaving the
country. But intermediary Daniela Kaňkovská did not even attempt to deliver the letter, destroying it
instead. Slánský had no idea about the offer. Yet the letter “To the Big Street Sweeper” was a chief piece
of evidence underlying Slánský’s arrest on November 24, 1951.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 52 / 53
d	 The machine gun that belonged to former Board Guard Private and
courier Vladimír Palma (1927), executed 1952.
b	 Courier Bohumil Joska’s equipment.
d		The pistol that belonged to former SNB member and courier Josef Ludvík
(1912), executed 1952.
d		Couriers Josef Ludvík and Vladimír Palma’s equipment d		Courier Ladislav Malý’s photograph. Malý wilfully murdered three officials
in Babice on July 2, 1951.
d		 Karel Brabec distributed leaflets in Bratislava.
d		 A Dikobraz cartoon from 1950. d		Photograph from the couriers’ training abroad – crossing the border
barricade.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 54 / 55
d		Intelligence notes seized from Štěpán Gavenda.
d	 	Intelligence notes seized from Štěpán Gavenda.
c	 Dead drop set up by courier Jan Hošek.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 56 / 57
Courier František Kroc (*1924) was probably sent to Czechoslovakia four times. On his last two
trips in October and November 1951, he prepared for the transport of Jana Horáková (Milada Horáková’s
daughter) and other persons from the country via West Berlin. For this purpose, he was equipped
with false DDR ID documents as well as tools for forging documents. He was arrested in mid-November
1951, before ever actually attempting to guide the refugees over the border. Kroc’s collaborators in
Chabařovice were infiltrated by an StB agent.
The State Court in Prague sentenced František Kroc for life on January 12, 1952. The sentence was
amended to 25 years in 1955.
The activities of couriers from the Czechoslovak branch of the British intelligence service in the
Brno area resulted in the creation of a network of collaborators in the latter half of 1950. The network
obtained information, sent it via couriers or radio transmitters, and guided people over the border.
Courier Jan Brejcha, AKA “Tomáš Oliva,” was its leading personality. The network was destroyed due
to gross security mistakes in Autumn 1950, and its members were disclosed and punished severely.
Courier Josef Kolísko, AKA “Kafka,” shot himself dead in a hopeless situation during his arrest in
Modřice on October 26, 1950. At least 64 people were arrested. Following the ensuing trials, National
Security Corps (SNB) member Leopold Doležal was executed and others sentenced to many years of
imprisonment. The project continued secretly – one of the actors, radio operator Jaroslav Hajda, was
secretly arrested by the StB, re-recruited, and sent on a mission as a provocateur to unveil more British
intelligence service collaborators in Northern Moravia. Controlled by the StB, he acted as a radio
operator and directed what was allegedly StB’s first “radio game,” which it called “A Game of Chess.”
He played the role until March 1952, when he was removed from the case (the StB staged his alleged
death). Hajda’s helpers were arrested and sentenced to many years’ imprisonment after the StB’s severe
interrogations.
A rrest on the border – in f iltration
Couriers caught by the border guard on the border or inland were forwarded to the State Security
Service (StB). Treatment of arrested couriers was coordinated as of the autumn of 1951.
Minister of National Security (MNS) secret Order No. 90/1952 demanded that border guards “escort
all persons who illegally cross the Czechoslovak border from Austria, West Germany, and the DDR to
the MNS Prison within 24 hours.”
The prison was that of the StB Headquarters (later the II. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior)
on Wintrova Street in Prague 6. It was established in November 1951 for “preliminary or operative
investigation into detained persons,” mainly for the purposes of “thorough exploitation of intelligence
knowledge of the arrested pedestrian agents and collaborators.” The main reason for keeping the detention
secret was the possibility of re-recruiting arrested couriers as StB agents and sending them
abroad. The prison was a top-secret facility, with prisoners kept in complete isolation and under num-
bers.
Interrogations were led in accordance with the instructions of the Commander of the I. Sector of
the StB Headquarters, First Lieutenant Kamil Pixa, aimed at revealing the methods, organization, and
focus of intelligence services sending agents to Czechoslovakia. The interrogations were very intense,
lasting as long as 24 hours non-stop.
The StB counterintelligence prison on Wintrova Street in Prague 6 was closed in September 1955.
Couriers of no interest to the StB were usually secretly transported to a standard StB prison. Their
cases were finalized and referred to court. Couriers were usually sentenced for espionage and high
treason to long-term imprisonment or even death (in the event of armed resistance).
Examples of successful infiltration of intelligence groups
Oldřich Mihola was born on 2 January 1928. He left for the US zone in Germany in November 1948,
and started working as a courier for František Bogataj’s group in 1949. The StB recruited him and he
betrayed many of his co-workers: Štěpán Gavenda was arrested in Prague in October 1949 (executed),
Milan Krajčovič (sentenced to 24 years) and Jaroslav Bureš (sentenced for life) in November 1949, and
Miroslav Janeček in Prague in December 1949 (sentenced to 22 years). Mihola was sentenced to seven
years imprisonment for betrayal in Germany; he returned to Czechoslovakia in 1956 and worked as an
engineer for the Danube Sailing Company.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 58 / 59
d		Secret order of the Minister of National Security defining the procedure
for handling dead enemies.
d		A statement by Dobroslav Horák, chief of the StB counter-intelligence’s
investigation department.
d	 	Instructions for exploiting arrested agents in secret prison.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 60 / 61
d		Draft letter by Minister of Interior Rudolf Barák concerning František
Vaněček’s amnesty.
František Vaněček (*1926), AKA “Viktor”, destroyed Rudolf Drbohlav’s group.
He deserted Czechoslovak Army military service and fled to Germany in 1950. At the Valka refugee
camp, he enrolled for cooperation with the US Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), and acted as a courier
in Bogataj and Drbohlav’s groups. On his third trip to Czechoslovakia, he voluntarily approached the
Czechoslovak border guards on May 16, 1951, and was from then on used as a counterintelligence agent
under the cover name “Luděk Stránský”. A very prolific agent, he provided more than 100 messages
to the StB. He was not suspected in Drbohlav’s group – in fact, he worked his way up the ranks from
courier to helper and instructor. After the April 28, 1952 discontinuation of the group that he had disintegrated,
he was even called to the staff of General Moravec’s group in Bensheim in May 1952, although
the group was discontinued on the grounds of infiltration by Communist agents.
He was uncovered by accident in the autumn of 1952 and returned to Czechoslovakia for good. In appreciation
of his merits, he was not prosecuted for his desertion, and the criminal proceedings against
him were stopped on the basis of an amnesty of the President.
Vilém Jelínek (*1913), former police officer, was dismissed from the National Security Corps (SNB)
in 1948 for political unreliability. Fearing prosecution for fraud, he left for the FRG on October 5, 1951,
but returned to Czechoslovakia voluntarily on April 23, 1954. He was recruited for collaboration as
agent “Sámo” in the prison of the II. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior. Sent to Germany, he
succeeded in infiltrating the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), and operated there for six years. He
would come to Czechoslovakia as a courier, and supervised by the StB, he operated a ‘channel’ to the
USSR. The closure of this project (under the StB cover name “Východ” – East) resulted in the arrest of 11
people. Based on Jelínek’s information, East Germany’s Stasi arrested 36 guides in May 1956, effectively
eliminating an MIS channel from West Berlin through the DDR to Poland and Czechoslovakia.
The MIS finally uncovered “Sámo” in May 1960 and interrogated him. A German court sentenced
Vilém Jelínek to one year in prison. He was sent to Czechoslovakia via the Red Cross on 2 May 1962. Intelligence
services and the II. Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior arranged for his formal employment
as the doorman in Prague’s Flora Hotel. For some time, he collaborated with the StB as a tipster.
Following disputes with hotel management, he was dismissed, and worked as a storage worker at Mototechna.
The StB discontinued cooperation with him on the grounds of “loss of possibility.”
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 62 / 63
d		Documents from the proceedings regarding agent František Vaněček’s
amnesty.
d	 	Secret order of the Minister of National Security defining the procedure
for arresting couriers on the border.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 64 / 65
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Achrer Bohumil 1933 US 22 years 5. 11. 1954
Alena František 1922 US 15. 3. 1952 16 years 5. 12. 1952 – ?
Anderle Josef 1918 US February 1949 9 years
life in prison
February 1949 – ?
18. 4. 1950 – ?
Babík Pavel 1924 1953 US 27. 4. 1951 death sentence executed 30. 1. 1953
Bachan František 1906 US December 1950 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
17. 7. 1952 – ?
Balko Eduard 1927 US Autumn 1949 10 years ? – 19. 3. 1951 (escaped)
Barák Arpád 1923 US 15 years ? – 5. 8. 1960
Barták Rudolf 1929 UK 10. 9. 1953 17 years 16. 2. 1954 – 10. 5. 1962
Bartalský Ferdinand 1916 US 15. 3. 1952 20 years 5. 12. 1952 – ?
Bártl Jan 1930 US 14. 5. 1950 17 years 18. 1. 1952 – ?
Bartuška Eduard 1932 US 7 years 19. 1. 1954 – 19. 9. 1960
Batyánek Josef 1928 US 7 years 2. 4. 1954 – 19. 10. 1960
Bednář Karel 1922 US 18. 10. 1952 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
27. 4. 1954 – ?
Bellan Rudolf 1929 US 3. 12. 1951 17 years 18. 7. 1952 – ?
Bělohlávek Alexandr 1931 UK 18 years 27. 6. 1952 – ?
Beneš Bohuslav 1919 1951 US death sentence executed 8. 6. 1951
Betáš Josef 1930 US 25 years since October 1952 – ?
Biščo Milan 1928 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
1950 – ?
Blažek Eduard 1933 US 13. 5. 1953 16 years 15. 12. 1953 – ?
Blažek Jiří 1935 1956 US 6 years 12. 1. 1954 – 11. 7. 1956 (died)
Bodlák Jaromír 1913 US 20 years 17. 7. 1952 – ?
Borbuliak Imrich 1928 US 18 years 21. 9. 1951 – ?
Borýsek Jan 1907 1952 US 21. 10. 1952 (died in detention)
Bosser František 1921 US January 1952 life in prison 26. 3. 1953 – ?
Bosser František 1921 UK 25 years 1952 – ?
Brabec Karel 1918 US 17 years 10. 2. 1952 – 16. 5. 1960
Brabenec Zdeněk 1923 US 17 years
3 years
27. 1. 1954 – ?
6. 6. 1958 (re-tried)
– 10. 5. 1962
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Březina Bohuslav 1917 FR 25 years
death sentence (reduced to
life in prison, 25 years)
3. 11. 1950 – 9. 8. 1962
Bukač František 1915 FR 20 years 2. 6. 1950 – ?
Bulíř František 1903 US 17 years December 1954 – ?
Bursík Josef 1925 1951 US shot on June 1951
Crhák Josef Emerich 1916 UK 16 years 16. 3. 1956 – ?
Čáp Václav 1926 UK 5 years 15. 9. 1960 – ?
Časta Anton 1932 US 9. 7. 1952 16 years 24. 6. 1953 – ?
Čech Josef 1935 US 10. 7. 1951 8 years (reduced on pardon) 21. 9. 1951 – 15. 6. 1954
Čech Josef 1923 FR 25 years 7. 4. 1949 – ?
Čerešně Vojtěch 1915 US 25 years (reduced by 1 year
on amnesty)
17. 9. 1953
Čermák František 1928 US 5 years ? – 27. 5. 1954
Čermák Ján 1927 US 12 years 23. 8. 1949 – 14. 1. 1960
Černohorský František 1907 1952 US 18 years ? – 25. 5. 1952 (died)
Černoušek Josef 1919 FR 7. 7. 1949 death sentence (reduced to
25 years)
18. 4. 1950 – ?
Černý František 1932 US 20. 5. 1955 16 years 16. 3. 1956 – ?
Černý Otto 1908 US 27. 8. 1949 25 years 28. 6. 1951 – ?
Čimbora Anton 1920 FR 15 years 1. 4. 1952 – 27. 12. 1960
Čipera Bohuslav 1919 US 18 years 22. 6. 1951 – ?
Čížek Petr 1913
(1914?)
1952 US death sentence executed 6. 2. 1952
Čoček Josef 1932 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
13. 11. 1954 – ?
Danita Miloslav 1916 US 20 years 21. 1. 1955 – 10. 5. 1962
Davídek Karel 1924 US 28. 10. 1950 17 years 14. 3. 1951 – ?
Dofek Josef 1927 FR 20. 5. 1951 life in prison 23. 6. 1952 – ?
Doleček Jaroslav 1922 US 21. 9. 1952 18 years 24. 2. 1953 – ?
Dolínek František 1915 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
Doubrava Jaroslav 1919 US 20 years 20. 7. 1953 – ?
Ducháček Adolf 1918 US 15 years 9. 2. 1951 – ?
Interi m li st o f dea d, executed, a nd imprisoned couriers.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 66 / 67
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Dújka Jan 1926 US 18 years 17. 7. 1954 – ?
Dunár Ondrej 1931 US 17 years (reduced by
8 years on pardon)
1954 – ?
Dura Josef 1928 US 15 years a 11 months 20. 9. 1949 – ?
Dušek Jiří 1929 US 20 years 28. 3. 1952 – ?
Dušek Oldřich 1919 US 12 years
17 years
25. 6. 1949 – ?
re-convicted 28. 9. 1956
Dvořák Jaromír 1925 UK 11 years 27. 12. 1953 – 13. 8. 1962
Dvořák Jaroslav 1930 1952 US 3. 11. 1952 death sentence executed 6. 2. 1952
Dziadek Rudolf 1924 US 18 years 21. 3. 1952 – ?
Eliáš Bohumil 1928 US 25 years 26. 1. 1952 – ?
Erlach Štefan 1928 US 25 years
18. 2. 1956 additional
punishment 2 years
14. 7. 1950 – ?
Fagoš Bruno 1931 US 22. 1. 1950 18 years ? – 7. 8. 1962
Fiala Josef 1931 US 2 and half year 1951 – 21. 9. 1952
Fořt Zdeněk 1927 US 23 years 23. 10. 1952 – ?
Franta Zdeněk 1931 UK 19. 6. 1960 12 years
4 years + remainder of
punishment
6. 4. 1959 – July 1960
(escaped)
31. 8. 1960 – ?
František Vítězslav 1922 US 24. 2. 1950 12 years 16. 1. 1951 – 10. 5. 1960
Fuchshuber Josef 1928 UK 25 years 26. 5. 1954 – 7. 1. 1956
(escaped)
Fuksa Rudolf 1930 1952 US death sentence executed 9. 8. 1952
Fürbacher Alois 1893 US 6 and half year 12. 7. 1957 – 10. 5. 1960
Fürst Robert 1933 US 15 years 31. 5. 1954 – 29. 7. 1961
Gajdoš Štefan 1932 US March 1952 8 years 12. 6. 1952 – 13. 9. 1959
Ganišin Jan 1921 US 15 years 14. 7. 1950 – 1960
Gašpar Jan 1925 UK 16 years 20. 10. 1953 – 27. 6. 1963
Gaudl Rudolf 1911 US May 1949 20 years 15. 6. 1950 – 11. 5. 1960
Gregor Pavel 1919 US March 1952 death sentence (reduced to
life in prison)
20. 7. 1952
Greguš Josef 1926 US 11 years 16. 10. 1953 – ?
Gruber Karel 1927 1954 US death sentence executed 29. 5. 1954
Haas Jan 1903 US 6 years 12. 7. 1957 – 12. 5. 1960
Hajduk Aloiz 1919 US 9. 11. 1954 life in prison 9. 6. 1955 – ?
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Hajzl Matěj 1928 US 16. 4. 1952 10 and half year 5. 12. 1952 – ?
Hanák Miloslav 1921 US 20 years 18. 12. 1951 – 15. 10. 1960
Hasil Bohumil 1920 1950 US shot 13. 9. 1950 (?)
Hasil Josef 1924 US 9 years about 1948 – 9. 5. 1949
(escaped)
Hauptmann Vilém 1915 US 16 years
Havelka Jiří 1904 UK 15 years 24. 10. 1958 – ?
Hejna Jiří 1930 1952 US death sentence executed 9. 8. 1952
Hladký Ferdinand 1927 US 10 years 5. 2. 1955 – 16. 12. 1959
Hodas Pavel 1927 US 1 year
10 years
15. 5. 1958 – ?
9. 9. 1958 (re-convicted) – ?
Holobrádek Ludvík 1910 US 22 years 22. 5. 1954 – ?
Holotina Jaroslav 1925 US 10 years 23. 11. 1951 – 31. 5. 1956
Homada Jan 1929 US 24. 9. 1951 20 years 31. 5. 1952 – ?
Horník Antonín 1929 FR 16 years 4. 6. 1954
Hostaša Zdeněk 1935 US 20 years 18. 9. 1956 – ?
Hostaša Zdeněk 1935 UK 20 years 18. 9. 1956 – ?
Hrdlička Josef 1914 US 17 years 7. 5. 1956 – 1. 4. 1961
Huták Jakub 1914 UK 20 years
2 years
convicted in absentia
16. 2. 1961 – 11. 5. 1962
Chadima Vladimír 1911 UK 11 years 24. 6. 1954 – 12. 5. 1966
Chalupa Josef 1920 US 1949–1950 death sentence (reduced to
life in prison)
escaped 2. 1. 1952
Jaborek Štefan 1927 US September 1952 20 years 13. 11. 1953 – ?
Jaderný Vít 1932 US 20 years 24. 8. 1953
Jakš Cyril 1916 FR 15 years 15. 12. 1950 – 1957
Jalšovský Štefan 1934 US 3 years 1954 – 11. 11. 1954
Jarmara Věroslav 1927 UK December 1950 22 years 29. 12. 1950 – ?
Jegerčík Rudolf 1928 US 11. 8. 1954 18 years
4 years
11. 2. 1955 – 1958 (escaped)
1958 – ?
Jelínek Alexandr 1909 US 22. 11. 1951 20 years 29. 9. 1952 – ?
Jeřábek Ladislav 1927 UK 3 years
7 months
14. 12. 1958 – 11. 5. 1960
27. 12. 1960 – ?
Jiříkovicová Marie 1918 UK 25 years 24. 6. 1954 – ?
Jíša Josef 1922 UK 22 years 30. 9. 1954 – 10. 5. 1960
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 68 / 69
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Jordan Jaroslav 1925 US life in prison (reduced to
15 years)
23. 5. 1955 – ?
Joska Bohumil 1928 US 22 years 27. 4. 1954 – ?
Jozífek Václav 1928 FR 3. 6. 1952 23 years
reduced by 4 years
(amnesty 1955 and 1957)
12. 9. 1952 – ?
Jurný Miroslav 1921 US 16 years 30. 5. 1957 – ?
Jůza Lubor 1933 US 8 years 7. 9. 1956 – 12. 5. 1960
Kadeřávek Rudolf 1922 UK 20 years 18. 3. 1955 – 10. 5. 1960
Kadlček Jan 1923 US 24. 11. 1951 16 years 18. 6. 1952 – 20. 5. 1960
Kadlček Ludvík 1928 FR October 1951 15 years 18. 6. 1952 – 10. 5. 1960
Kamanová Olga 1914 US 18 years 15. 2. 1954 – ?
Kandráč Antonín 1925 1954 US 20 years
death sentence
? – 1950 (escaped)
executed 29. 5. 1954
Kaska Jaroslav 1925 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
2 years and 6 months
8. 4. 1954 – ?
re-convicted 18. 2. 1956
Kessler Adolf 1932 US life in prison 26. 3. 1956
Kitka František 1922 US 18. 9. 1951 11 years 19. 2. 1952 – ?
Klečka Josef 1906 US 25 years 10. 7. 1953 – ?
Klíma Adolf 1929 US 22 years 17. 6. 1955 – ?
Knesl František 1923 US 25 years March 1952 – ?
Kobrle Vladimír 1910 UK 15 years 1957 – ?
Kohout Josef 1922 UK June 1952 25 years 15. 2. 1953 – ?
Kohutek František 1922 US 22 years 20. 11. 1951 – ?
Kolenatý Ervín 1914 UK 25 years 8. 4. 1949 – ?
Kolísko Josef 1928 1950 UK suicide on arrest 26. 10. 1950
Komandera Rudolf Ladislav 1921 1953 US 26 years 12. 1. 1950 – 6. 1. 1953 (died)
Kostolný Ondrej 1917 US 15. 5. 1954 3 years 21. 12. 1954 – 1. 9. 1956
Košňovský Rudolf 1917 US life in prison (reduced to
18 years)
6. 11. 1953
Kotlán Emil 1933 FR 7 years 31. 5. 1955 – 19. 12. 1955
Kouba Leoš 1935 US 18 years 24. 6. 1954 – 10. 5. 1962
Koudelka Jaroslav 1910 US November 1951 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
19. 11. 1952 – ?
Koukal Lubomír 1925 1951 US death sentence executed 12. 12. 1951
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Koukalová Otilie 1928 US 14 years 5. 2. 1952 – 24. 4. 1958
Koukalová Otilie 1928 UK 14 years 5. 2. 1952 – 24. 4. 1958
Kouřil Ludvík 1938 US 4 years 9. 4. 1955 – 7. 4. 1959
Kovář Jaroslav 1927 US 15 years (reduced
by 3 years on amnesty)
16. 1. 1951 – 24. 2. 1962
Kozický Antonín 1913 US 1951 12 years 15. 1. 1952 – 10. 5. 1960
Krajčíř Emil 1928 US 10. 11. 1952 18 years ? – 15. 11. 1960
Krajčovič Milan 1929 US 24 years 7. 7. 1950 – ? (possible
suicide)
Krajger Štefan 1923 UK shot on September 1951
Král Jan 1924 1954 FR killed by el. current 16. 10. 1954
Král Pavel 1937 UK 10 years 1. 9. 1959 – 12. 5. 1960
Králík František 1924 US 28. 8. 1953 15 years 4. 9. 1954 – 11. 5. 1960
Králík František 1924 FR 28. 8. 1953 15 years 4. 9. 1954 – 11. 5. 1960
Králík Josef 1929 US 16 years 11. 1. 1952 – ?
Kraus Květoslav 1920 US January 1950 15 years 26. 1.
Kroc František 1924 US 12. 1. 1951 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
Krutý Jozef 1934 US 12. 11. 1951 15 years 22. 10. 1952 – ?
Křivánek Jiří 1927 US arrested for a second
time 24. 6. 1951
15 years
25 years
June 1949 – ? (escaped)
1. 6. 1951 – ?
Křivohlavý Vladislav 1931 US 9. 9. 1954 life in prison escaped 28. 6. 1956
Kubát František 1925 US 15. 5. 1950 11 years
21 years
19. 9. 1950 – ?
21. 3. 1952 – 10. 5. 1962
Kučera František 1933 1959 US 6 years 11. 12. 1951 – 12. 8. 1959
(died)
Kučerňák Miroslav 1918 US 23 years 15. 10. 1953 – ?
Kudela Jaroslav 1931 US 19 years 13. 5. 1954 – 10. 5. 1962
Kulendík Otakar 1931 US 11. 3. 1954 25 years 11. 5. 1960 (amnesty)
Kulhánek Josef 1906 US life in prison 8. 12. 1953 – 10. 5. 1960
Kulísek František 1904 UK 13 years 3. 9. 1959 – 23. 2. 1960
Kunčík Jindřich 1932 US 10 years 18. 7. 1952 – 10. 5. 1960
Kuntosch Josef 1929 US 15 years 20. 12. 1956 – ?
Kutnohorský Václav 1916 UK 7 years 26. 3. 1957 – ?
Kvasnička Václav 1921 US 18 years 13. 4. 1954 – ?
Kvíčera Václav 1906 1957 UK death sentence executed 26. 1. 1957
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 70 / 71
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Kyzlík Květoslav 1925 1957 UK 18 years
4 years
15. 5. 1950 – 17. 6. 1957
(died)
Lang František 1928 US 12. 2. 1951 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
27. 7. 1951 – ?
Lang Karel 1936 US 6 years 9. 8. 1954 – 4. 8. 1959
Lažanský Josef 1931 US 1953 life in prison 10. 7. 1953 – ?
Lednický Augustin 1924 1950 US 1950 death sentence executed 10. 10. 1950
Lehotský Alexandr 1920 1955 US death sentence executed 29. 3. 1955
Linder Ladislav 1924 1950 US 1949 death sentence executed 15. 5. 1950
Linhart Miloslav 1923 UK 23 years 19. 2. 1954 – 10. 5. 1962
Lipták Ladislav 1928 UK 25 years 18. 6. 1953 – ?
Liška Josef 1922 1952 US death sentence executed 6. 2. 1952
Longauer Viktor 1923 US 15. 12. 1954 22 years (changed to
17 years on appeal)
6. 4. 1955 – ?
Lorenc Bedřich 1923 1955 US shot on April 1955 ?
Ludvík Josef 1912 US death sentence 27. 2. 1952 – ?
Ludvík Josef 1912 1952 UK death sentence executed 8. 7. 1952
Lýsek Antonín 1926 US 22 years 27. 4. 1954 – ?
Máca Jozef 1920 US 6 years ? – 26. 10. 1954
Macek Blahoslav 1933 US 4 years
10 years
1 year
5. 6. 1951 – ?
18. 1. 1955 (re-tried) – ?
7. 3. 1958 (re-tried) – ?
Macek Bohuš Teofil 1935 US 10 years 1956 – ?
Macek Jozef 1909 US 12. 5. 1955 20 years ? – 10. 5. 1960
6. 3. 1961 – ?
Magula Viliam 1912 US August 1952 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
1954 – ?
Mácha Svatopluk 1925 US 14. 10. 1954 18 years 14. 10. 1954 – 10. 5. 1962
Marcal Jaroslav 1929 US 23 years 26. 1. 1952 – May 1960
Marek Zdeněk 1929 US 5 years
2 and half year
17. 10. 1951
re-tried 29. 4. 1952
Martiňák Pavel 1931 US 18 years, 18 months
additional punishment
2 years
16. 4. 1952 – ?
Maruniak Stanislav 1934 US 11 years 1953 – ?
Mäsiar Pius 1928 US 25 years 1953 – ?
Mašek Jan 1923 US 25 years 27. 4. 1954 – ?
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Mašek Jan 1923 UK 25 years 27. 4. 1954 – ?
Mašek Jaroslav ? 1950 US shot 13. 7. 1950
Menšíková Eliška ? US 18 years 27. 1. 1954 – ?
Mereš František 1920 US 25 years 1954 – ?
Michalička Ignác 1919 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
1949 – ?
Mikuš Jozef 1931 US 1954 20 years 1955 – ?
Minarik Jan 1927 US 25 years
Mišut Ladislav 1923 US June 1953 18 years 5. 3. 1954 – ?
Moravčík Pavel 1921 US 18 years
5 years
October 1954 – ?
25. 4. 1957 (re-tried) – ?
Mrázek Jan 1909 UK 5 years 8. 3. 1960 – 10. 5. 1960
Müller Otto 1933 US 16 years 9. 8. 1954 – ?
Mutňanský Ladislav 1913 US 25 years 1952 – ?
Najman Josef 1923 UK 20 years 30. 12. 1949 – 2. 2. 1957
Nejdl Ervín 1927 FR 20. 5. 1951 25 years July 1952 – ?
Němčický Josef 1922 FR 25 years 27. 3. 1949 – 22. 2. 1963
Nerad Miloslav 1921 US 20 years 28. 8. 1951 – ?
Nettl Robert 1890 1960 UK 7 years 14. 8. 1957 – 18. 1. 1960
(died)
Neuman Eduard 1932 US 15 years 31. 5. 1954 – ?
Nezval Rostislav 1928 FR 15 years 15. 8. 1951 – 12. 5. 1960
Novák Vladimír 1927 US 14 years 14. 8. 1951 – 10. 5. 1960
Novotný Oldřich 1924 FR June 1949 25 years
Nýdrle Jaroslav 1919 US 18 years 26. 10. 1954 – 18. 12. 1959
Nyklíček Vilém 1932 1953 UK 12. 6. 1952
Ociepka Oldřich 1928 US 15. 5. 1951 23 years 20. 12. 1951 – ?
Palma Vladimír 1927 1952 UK death sentence executed 8. 7. 1952
Palounek Štěpán 1914 1958 UK died in prison 3. 4. 1958
Papaj Karel 1921 US 28. 2. 1962 22 years 13. 11. 1952 – 10. 5. 1962
Papala Václav 1922 US 22 years
Paštěka František 1923 US 31. 12. 1948 life in prison 1. 7. 1949 – ?
Pavlíček František 1902 US 1951 16 years 8. 2. 1952 – 19. 11. 1959
Pavlovič Petr 1922 US 25 years 1953 – ?
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 72 / 73
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Pavlů Bohuslav 1922 1950 US shot on arrest 17. 5. 1950
Pešek Jiří 1924 UK 5 years 28. 2. 1957 – 10. 5. 1960
Petrek Anton 1923 US October 1949 25 years (reduced to
12 years on pardon)
14. 7. 1950 – 8. 7. 1959
Poláček Alois 1916 UK 25 years 8. 6. 1951 – ?
Poláček Václav 1899 1961 UK 25 years 12. 11. 1954 – 23. 12. 1961
(died)
Polák Gustav 1928 US 3. 10. 1953 25 years 27. 4. 1954 – ?
Popelka Antonín 1927 US 2. 1. 1950 15 years ? – ?
Popelka František 1910 1963 US 18 years 2. 11. 1955 – 30. 6. 1963
(died)
Pospíšil Jaroslav 1922 FR 11. 6. 1949 20 years 11. 6. 1949 – 13. 9. 1963
Pospíšil Vladimír 1913 US death sentence (reduced
20 years)
19. 12. 1952 – ?
Potoček Josef 1906 1956 UK death sentence executed 1956
Potonec Jan 1920 US 15 years 26. 10. 1956 – ?
Požgay Karol 1924 US 4 years 1950 – ?
Princ Josef 1923 1951 UK shot on December 1951
Procházka Alois 1902 1960 UK 17 years 1959 – 6. 5. 1960 (died)
Prokop Jiří 1933 UK 20 years 8. 10. 1957 – ?
Pščolka Rudolf 1923 FR life in prison 30. 3. 1951 – ?
Púčik Robert 1921 1950 US death sentence executed 20. 2. 1950
Ramisch Josef 1928 US life in prison 8. 4. 1955 – ?
Randák Josef 1919 US, UK 1950 20 years 18. 9. 1951 – 1. 9. 1960
Regec Jan 1919 UK 20 years 18. 9. 1951 – 1. 9. 1960
Rechtík Jan 1924 US 13. 9. 1952 20 years 30. 12. 1953 – ?
Rendl Emanuel 1924 UK 17 years 13. 5. 1950 – 11. 5. 1960
Rokycanská Helena 1923 1952 US death sentence executed 6. 2. 1952
Rokycanská-Kulísková
Matylda
1909 UK 15 years 3. 9. 1959 – 31. 3. 1960
Rokycanský Josef 1903 1960 UK 16 years 3. 9. 1959 – 10. 5. 1960
Rosůlek Miroslav 1904 UK 11 years 3. 9. 1959 – 10. 5. 1960
Roušar František 1922 US 29. 7. 1950 life in prison ?
Rudle Miroslav 1924 UK 7 years 12. 3. 1957 – 11. 5. 1960
Růžička František 1895 US 5 years 12. 7. 1957 – 12. 5. 1960
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Ryneš Zdeněk 1925 US 20 years 15. 11. 1949 – 24. 12. 1960
Řezníček Rudolf 1931 US 12 years 6. 10. 1953 – ?
Říha Josef 1910 US 20 years (reduced to
10 years on pardon)
10. 8. 1951 – 21. 12. 1957
Sabol (Sabola) Ján 1925 US 18 years 18. 4. 1953 – ?
Salajka Jaroslav 1928 US August 1950 22 years 27. 9. 1950 – ?
Salajka Ludvík 1921 UK 1948 – 27. 11. 1949 (escaped)
Sasina Stanislav 1914 UK 17. 2. 1949 7 years ? – 25. 2. 1954
Setunský Karol 1920 US 22 years 19. 12. 1953 – ?
Schmied Alfréd 1926 FR 25 years 1. 8. 1956 – ?
Schneider Karel 1913 US 6 years July 1954 – May 1960
Sikoň Marian 1922 US 16 years 15. 1. 1954 – ?
Sita Hans 1930 US 15 years ? – 17. 2. 1960
Sita Hanuš 1934 FR 8 years 22. 11. 1952 – 7. 10. 1955
Slavík Juraj 1934 US 8 years 22. 1. 1952 – ?
Sršeň Josef (dříve Schön) 1919 US 18 years (reduced to
12 years)
Stošek Vilém 1911 UK 22 years 9. 1. 1953 – 10. 3. 1960
Strečanský Ernest 1924 UK 11. 11. 1952 16 years 2. 7. 1954 – 11. 5. 1960
Sünderhauf Robert 1924 US 1952 25 years 1953 – ?
Sutý (Suchý) Alois 1928 US 14. 11. 1951 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
12. 1. 1952 – ?
Svoboda Jan 1924 1951 US 9. 4. 1950 death sentence executed 15. 4. 1951
Sýkora Gustav 1897 US January 1950 20 years 6. 6. 1950 – 10. 5. 1960
Syrovátka Václav 1914 US 20 years 9. 6. 1955 – ?
Šebesta Věroslav 1904 UK 25 years 29. 8. 1950 – ?
Šelais (Šlais?) Miloš 1927 US 25 years 19. 6. 1952 – ?
Šenkyřík Miloslav US 20 years 22. 12. 1950 – 19. 12. 1962
Šida Petr 1934 UK 4 years
20 years
1954 – 30. 6. 1956
4. 3. 1959 – ?
Šíf Václav 1932 US 10 years 12. 6. 1952 – 5. 3. 1954
Šilhart František 1911 US 14 years 3. 5. 1951 – ?
Šilhavý Karel 1901 US 25 years 9. 1. 1953 – ?
Šíma Rudolf 1931 1951 US 1. 10. 1950 suicide 27. 2. 1951
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 74 / 75
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Šimek František 1921 US 7 years 17. 5. 1949 – ? (escaped)
Šimon Štefan 1926 US 19 years 15. 12. 1953 – ?
Šimůnek Leo 1927 1955 US 10 years 8. 7. 1952 – 1955 (died)
Škeřík František 1923 US 8 years 4. 9. 1953 – 6. 3. 1957
Škrábek Karel 1899 US 8 years 12. 7. 1957 – 11. 5. 1960
Škvára Josef 1919 FR 11 years
Škvarek Andrej 1915 US 23 years 9. 6. 1955 – ?
Šlajs Václav 1920 US 22 years 4. 10. 1951 – ?
Šonský Ivo 1929 US 23 years 3. 7. 1951 – ?
Špirk Ferdinand 1931 US 22 years 18. 10. 1951 – ?
Šťastný Jaroslav 1904 US 22 years 9. 5. 1951 – ?
Štěch Josef 1932 US 22 years
5 years
18. 2. 1955 – ? (escaped)
25. 4. 1957 – ? re-arrested
and convicted
Štencl Bohumír 1921 US life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
27. 1. 1954 – ?
Štěpán Jindřich 1920 US 8 years
25 years
20. 9. 1951 – ?
9. 6. 1955 – ? re-tried
Štípek Karel 1935 US 8 years 11. 11. 1952 – ?
Švihla Květoslav 1926 US 26. 11. 1949 life in prison (reduced to
25 years)
17. 1. 1950 – 11. 5. 1960
Tihlarik Alexandr 1933 US 15 years 29. 8. 1951 – 7. 3. 1963
Tichý Blahoslav 1933 US 16 years 1953 – 1958
Tichý Bohdan 1933 UK 25 years 18. 4. 1956 – ?
Tomášek Václav 1921 UK 14 years
2 years + remainder of
punishment
? – 10. 5. 1960
22. 9. 1961 – ?
Totka Ferdinand 1932 US 20 years
4 years
Toužimský Jaroslav 1923 US 22 years 22. 2. 1952 – ?
Triebe Vilém 1935 US 15 years 12. 9. 1956 – ?
Tschiesche Emil 1923 US 8 years 19. 1. 1954 – ?
Tuček Jaroslav 1923 1959 US 18 years 21. 8. 1952 – 24. 11. 1959
(died)
Udržal Rudolf 1923 UK 15 years 20. 10. 1953 – 10. 5. 1962
Úlehla Jan 1923 US 12 years 4. 7. 1951 – 10. 5. 1960
Urban Václav 1919 1950 FR shot on escape 1950
Surname, Name Year of
Birth
Year of
Death
Intelligence
Service
Date of Arrest Convicted to Imprisoned
Valášek Václav 1900 US 18 years 17. 6. 1955 – ?
Valenta Bohuslav 1930 US 3. 9. 1954 25 years
Vaněk Josef 1923 US 20 years 12. 11. 1923 – ?
Vaňha Antonín 1919 US 20 years 5. 12. 1951 – May 1960
Vaniš Jiří 1920 UK 17 years 2. 4. 1959 – ?
Varga Kazimír 1932 US 20 years
7 years
27. 10. 1951, re-tried,
29. 5. 1957 – 15. 10. 1957
Velich Vladimír 1925 US 17 years 31. 5. 1954 – ?
Veselý Jiří 1897 US 3 years 12. 7. 1957 – 10. 4. 1959
Vlček Václav 1929 1958 US 20 years 10. 4. 1952 – 6. 12. 1958
(suicide)
Vodzik Michal 1931 US 24 years 18. 10. 1951 – ?
Voldřich Milan 1933 US 20 years 16. 2. 1955 – ?
Vondráček Eduard 1925 US 23 years 24. 10. 1955 – ?
Vondráček Josef 1921 UK 25 years 8. 3. 1957 – ?
Vršecký Jaroslav 1905 UK 12 years 1948 – 30. 5. 1955
Vújta Jan 1924 UK 15 years 27. 1. 1956 – 10. 5. 1960
Vurser Vlastimil 1928 1958 US 13. 4. 1953 20 years 10. 9. 1953 – 20. 12. 1958
(died)
Vuršr Vlastimil 1927 FR 25 years 23. 8. 1949 – 12. 5. 1960
Záhora Jan 1927 US 25 years 23. 8. 1949 – 12. 5. 1960
Zahradník Jan 1922 FR 25 years 26. 11. 1954 – ?
Zámečník Bohumil 1906 US 12 years 29. 1. 1953 – 11. 5. 1960
Zbavitel Gustav 1922 UK 22 years 4. 1. 1952 – ?
Zeman Jiří 1926 US April 1951 life in prison 1. 2. 1952 – ?
Zeman Josef 1931 US 18 years 3. 4. 1952 – ?
Zeman Titus 1921 US 10 years 30. 5. 1957 – 10. 5. 1960
Zemánek Miloš 1915 US 25 years 22. 2. 1952 – ?
Zika Josef 1924 US 1949 life in prison 1949 – ?
Zorvan Jan 1920 1951 UK shot 17. 3. 1951
Žabka Štefan 1909 US 20 years 26. 8. 1952 – ?
Žáček Ján 1904 US 6 years 16. 3. 1956 – ?
Žucha Imrich 1927 1960 US 4 years 18. 7. 1957 – 12. 5. 1960
suicide
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 76 / 77
C our t tr i a ls
Punishments for participation in the international resistance belonged among the most severe.
Occasionally, the cases of “agent-walkers” were used in public propaganda campaigns aimed against
the West and intended to intimidate potential regime opponents. Punishments in such trials were
some of the most severe.
A trial with eight couriers took place before the State Court in Prague between January 10-12, 1952.
Staff Captain Milan Moučka, Chief of Investigation Sector VI.B, who had previously directed Milada
Horáková’s trial, put the group together deliberately and prepared the structure of the trial. Moučka
also proposed to publicize the trial.
Those sentenced for high treason and espionage were: former deputy district commander of the National
Security Corps (SNB) in Tachov Jan Hošek (*1904) – death sentence; Emanuel Rendl (*1923) – death
sentence; Jaroslav Dvořák (*1930) – death sentence; Josef Liška (*1922) – death sentence; Petr Čížek
(*1913) – death sentence; František Kroc (*1924) – life sentence; Robert Sünderhauf (*1928) – life
sentence; and František Dolínek (*1915) – life sentence.
The capital punishment was executed in Prague-Pankrác on February 6, 1952.
SNB Lieutenant Jan Hošek left the country in January 1949 to avoid the consequences of his antiregime
activity. As a US Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) courier, he made at least nine trips to Czechoslovakia.
He collected information, guided refugees, and built an intelligence network. He was arrested
on the border on his way to Czechoslovakia towards the end of July 1951.
Emanuel Rendl was interrogated by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation and later served in the
Yugoslavian liberation army. He left the country in September 1949, and worked as a courier in František
Bogataj’s group. He was arrested on the border while returning from what was likely his very first
trip to Czechoslovakia in June 1951. He built an intelligence network on his way.
Laborer Jaroslav Dvořák left Czechoslovakia on his second attempt in August 1950. He was recruited
for cooperation, probably by the CIC, took an intelligence course, and was sent to Czechoslovakia with
intelligence assignments in November 1951. He was arrested on the border on his first trip, after firing
at the border patrol. He lost an eye in the shooting.
Laborer Josef Liška was imprisoned during the Nazi occupation, and then again from 1950, allegedly
for fraud. He escaped from a prison camp in the Jáchymov area to Germany in May 1951.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 78 / 79
d	 	Proposal of the Minister of the Interior for the staging of the trial with
couriers in April 1954.
Worker and former SNB member Petr Čížek was sentenced in October 1949, allegedly for fraud. He
escaped to Germany with Josef Liška and other prisoners in May 1951. František Bogataj recruited him
and Liška for collaboration. After participating in training courses, they were both sent to Czechoslovakia
in October 1951. They were arrested on October 4, 1951 while crossing the border.
Five other trials were staged for people who gave the accused help, information, and cooperation,
and 32 people were sentenced.
Another fabricated trial was prepared in the spring of 1954. Its purpose was primarily to be preventive
and intimidating.
Couriers Bohumil Joska, Vilém Hauptman, Jan Jedlička, and Otakar Kulendík were sentenced for long-term
imprisonment in the “Kandrač and company” trial April 26-27, 1954. Anton Kandrač and Karel
Gruber were sentenced to death and executed in Prague on May 29, 1954. The fellow convicts mostly
did not even know each other – the “group” was fabricated and the trial was biased.
The statistics of victims on the part of couriers and their collaborators are still incomplete. Some
250 couriers were imprisoned; eleven died in prison afterwards. Nineteen couriers were executed, and
at least seven died on the border.
d	 	Falsified I.D. document of Anton Kandráč in the name of Jožo Medveď.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 80 / 81
d	 	Press releases in Rudé pravo about the trial with Jan Hošek and Co. as a part of the campaign against the internal adversary. d	 	Press releases in Rudé pravo regarding the staged trial of Anton Kandráč and Co.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 82 / 83
d	 	Falsified ID card of Jaroslav Dvořák, in the name of Jiří
Jirásek.
d	 	Photographs of the courier František Dolínek from his State Security (StB) investigation file.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Jaroslav Dvořák from his StB investigation file. His wound caused
by the shooting on the state border is apparent in the picture.
d	 	Falsified Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSČ)
membership ID card in the name of Jiří Jirásek, the
cover name of Jaroslav Dvořák.
d	 	Falsified ID card of the courier Jan Hošek.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Jan Hošek from his StB investigation file.
d	 	Photograph of Jan Hošek in his National
Security Corps (SNB) uniform.
c	 	Jan Hošek at the head of the SNB unit.
c	 	Jan Hošek‘s equipment.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 84 / 85
d	 	Falsified ID card of Emanuel Rendl, in the name of Jiří
Hron.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Josef Liška from his StB investigation file.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Petr Čížek from his StB investigation file.
d	 	Falsified KSČ membership card in the name of Karel
Vyžhrálek, the cover name of Josef Liška.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Emanuel Rendl from his StB investigation file.d	 	Falsified ID card of the courier Josef Liška.
d	 	Photographs of the courier Emanuel Rendl from his StB investigation file.
d	 	Photographs of the courier František Kroc from his StB investigation file. Kroc was sent from
abroad to guide Jana Horáková out of Czechoslovakia.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 86 / 87
S ele cted c ourier biogra p hies
Josef Hasil was born in Zábrdí near Prachatice on 8 February 1924. He joined
the Communist Party in 1945, was a National Security Corps (SNB) sergeant,
and served with the Zvonková border unit in the District of Český Krumlov.
The State Court in Prague sentenced him to 9 years pursuant to Act No. 50/1923
Coll. on February 2, 1949. The reason was that on October 20, 1948, he and Sgt.
Zdeněk Výleta deserted to Germany, guiding three refugees for compensation.
They were arrested upon return from Germany on October 25, 1948.
Hasil served his time in a labor camp in Dolní Jiřetín near Most. On May 9,
1949, he and a fellow convict fled the site of the Kolumbus Mine and left for
Germany. He worked as a courier, crossing the border many times. His success
earned him the “King of Šumava” moniker. Many of Hasil’s collaborators in
Czechoslovakia were persecuted and sentenced to many years’ imprisonment. On December 7, 1949 he
was involved in a shooting against SNB members near České Žleby in the Prachatice District. Junior SNB
Sgt. Rudolf Kočí was shot, and Junior Sgt. František Háva seriously injured by gunfire.
Josef Hasil’s older brothers Julius (*1915) and Bohumil (*1920) also crossed the border. A Zábrdí baker,
Julius Hasil sheltered his brother and other couriers. He fled to Germany to avoid arrest in December 1949
and became a courier. Butcher Bohumil Hasil also left the country in December 1949. The US Counter Intelligence
Corps (CIC) recruited him at the Valka camp. A border guard shot him attempting to cross the
border on September 13, 1950.
Josef Hasil stopped his activity in 1953 and left for the US, where he lives to date. The President of the
Czech Republic awarded him with the Heroism Medal in 2001.
Štěpán Gavenda was born in Vizovice on 25 June 1920. He was a locksmith
engineer by vocation; during adolescence he had had several petty collisions
with the law and had stayed in a youth detention center. He tried to reach the
Czechoslovak army abroad in the spring of 1942 via Slovakia, but was caught
on the border and sentenced by a German court to 7 months in prison for attempting
to cross the border. He got involved in guerrilla activities towards
the end of the war and was injured. The SNB arrested him on April 3, 1948,
and interrogated him for crossing the border. Fearing persecution, he left for
Germany, helping three friends to escape from prison and bringing them along.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 88 / 89
He went through several refugee camps, the last being Ludwigsburg, where the CIC recruited him for intelligence
work in November 1948. František Bogataj was his case officer. He crossed the border between
25 and 30 times for the CIC, guiding about 65 refugees to Germany.
Štěpán Gavenda was arrested in Prague on October 1, 1949. Following the investigation, he was sentenced
to death by the State Court in Prague for high treason and espionage on June 23, 1950; an amnesty of
December 10, 1952 changed his sentence to life imprisonment.
On January 2, 1952, he broke through the wall of the feared Leopoldov prison with Josef Heřmanský,
Jaroslav Bureš, John Hvasta, Pravomil Reichel, and Josef Chalupa. On the run, Gavenda disarmed and neutralized
a gamekeeper who tried to hold the group up. Except for Heřmanský, they all reached Germany
safely. American-Slovak John Hvasta was granted asylum at the US Embassy in Prague.
Gavenda testified to the StB that he met his case officer, František Bogataj, AKA “Frank,” in Cham on
1 February 1952. He told him – and RFE later on – everything about the situation in prisons, in Leopoldov,
and in Czechoslovakia. Bogataj no longer trusted him, so he contacted Lucian, the head of the Polish intelligence
organization. But Lucian probably did not trust him either, so Gavenda contacted the CIC agent Jan
Cizík, and was sent on a mission to collect information in Czechoslovakia on October 19, 1952. He crossed
the border to the DDR in the Hora Svaté Kateřiny area, and Soviet Army soldiers caught him on the border
between East and West Germany on 5 November 5, 1952. After his arrest, Štěpán Gavenda made use of the
situation, disarmed his escorts and fled, but was captured again following a short pursuit. He was transported
from the DDR to Czechoslovakia on 10 March 1953.
He reportedly said during the investigation: “I have nothing to say in my defense, and I conducted all of
my illegal anti-state activity on purpose and with a clear view to damaging the current people’s democratic
regime as much as possible.”
Gavenda said during the main hearing before the Regional Court in Uherské Hradiště on 15 April 1954:
“I cannot say today if the idea of working in espionage again occurred to me while still hiding in the country
following my escape from prison in Leopoldov. But when I succeeded in crossing the border and was
in West Germany, I was determined to join the service as an agent again. This is why I called up my boss,
František Bogataj. I did not abandon the idea of espionage even having been rejected by František Bogataj
first and the Polish espionage service later. For that reason I negotiated with Jan Cizík, the purpose of
which was to make him help me get into the country.”
The Regional Court in Uherské Hradiště sentenced Štěpán Gavenda to death on April 15, 1954. He was
executed in the Prague-Pankrác prison on June 28, 1954.
d	 	Štěpán Gavenda as photographed for his StB case file.
d	 	Report on the shooting of Bohumil Hasil.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 90 / 91
Jaroslav Kaska was born in Suché Vrbné in 1925. He was a laborer and a member of the SNB briefly
in 1945. After February 1948 he was a member of the Lípa illegal resistance group in České Budějovice,
printing and distributing anti-Communist leaflets and guiding refugees. Kaska faced the threat of arrest,
so he deserted to West Germany from his army service in 1949. Col Alois Šeda recruited him for the CIC
at the Lechfeld refugee camp in March 1949. Kaska would walk to Czechoslovakia with his friend Jan
Mašek. They set up a network of about 60 people in the České Budějovice and Prague regions; it collected
relatively valuable economic and military information. He made nine cross-border trips for the CIC. In the
latter half of 1950, Kaska joined the UK’s IS service, under the direction of case officer Václav Cukr. Kaska
initially recruited new collaborators at the Valka refugee camp. After a long hiatus, he left for Czechoslovakia
again in August 1951. Upon his return on August 17, 1951, he and Mašek were arrested by Red Army
soldiers in Austria. Following a nine-month imprisonment in the USSR, he was transferred to the StB in
Čop on 14 May 1952.
Kaska had a separate trial, and the Higher Military Court in Prague sentenced him to life for high treason
and espionage on 8 April 1954. The Regional Court in České Budějovice sentenced Jan Mašek for life on
27 April 1954, and seven of their domestic collaborators were sentenced to two to fourteen years. The StB’s
attempts to exploit him in prison as a collaborator for an intelligence game with the British intelligence
service were to no avail. Kaska’s motivation for contacting the StB was an attempt to help his imprisoned
mother and sister.
Jaroslav Kaska held a consciously anti-regime position. The number of his cross-border trips and intelligence
achievements make him a major courier personality.
Vladimír Lutovský, AKA “Láďa Lukeš”, was born in 1923. A farmer in Libějice near Tábor, he joined
the resistance as a guide for refugees and couriers after February 1948. He shot an StB member attempting
to arrest him in 1950 and left the country. He would then cross the border until 1952 as a CIC courier for
Moravec’s group. He shot a border guard member during one incident. He lived in the US after the group
discontinued its activities, and returned to Czechoslovakia after 1989.d	 	Photograph from the StB case file showing courier Jaroslav Kaska
demonstrating the hidden potassium cyanide tablet following his arrest.
d	 	First page of minutes taken with Jaroslav Kaska.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 92 / 93
C onc lus i on
The last detected occurrences of couriers crossing the border date to the latter half of the 1950’s. The
fateful year 1956 demonstrated with finality that there would be no war. The West did not respond to the
uprising in Hungary. The border was impenetrable. Conversely, legal trips between the East and the West
were becoming more frequent, and intelligence services therefore started focusing on utilizing these legal
channels, or “white lines.”
Jaroslav Huml emigrated to the FRG on May 24, 1956. He was recruited by the Military Intelligence Service
(MIS), which sent him to Czechoslovakia nineteen times between 1956 and 1960. His task was to obtain
information of a military nature. He would travel from West Berlin via the DDR to the Czechoslovak border,
which he would cross. He used the same path on his way back.
In reality, StB agent Jaroslav Huml had been secretly slipped into the US intelligence service thanks to
Vilém Jelínek, another StB agent at MIS headquarters. The StB recorded – and later publicized – his case as
“Action East” (“Východ”).
Summary of intelligence operations, 1948-1956
What meaning did the couriers’ dangerous trips have? Involvement in the resistance undoubtedly contributed
to the liberation of Czechoslovakia and renewal of democracy and freedom, especially in the first
few years after February 1948. Given the era in which they took place, we can only guess what importance
the information obtained held within the confused Cold War environment. In the event of a war between
East and West, the operations would probably be appreciated as good preparation. There would be an established
network of radio transmitters and informers on enemy territory.
However, the huge loss of life and thousands of lives affected forever by imprisonment force the question
of how well and responsibly were those intelligence projects prepared and planned. Courier training was
insufficient, especially in the initial period.
The couriers’ trips across the borders of Czechoslovakia remain a challenge for us.
„The analysis of the covered cases of pedestrian agents brings up the question of whether American espionage
could really obtain through them any information capable of disrupting the pursuit of socialism in our
country. If we assess the agents’ personal capabilities, their age, social position, and the possibilities for setting
up relations with persons whose information could materially affect the interests of our economy, we
reach the conclusion that the pedestrian agents were not the premier agents of American espionage – they
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 94 / 95
served merely to detract Czechoslovak security’s attention from the chief American agency. This notion is
supported by the fact that many agents were sent out without any training, without any particular tasks
– just to try and see if they could cross the border and deliver on the assignments of their own will.”		
Report entitled the “American Espionage Agency”, Study Institute of the Ministry of Interior, 12 November 1962.
d		Photographs of panels from the 1960s StB exhibition on Operation „East“.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 96 / 97
d		Photographs of panels from the 1960s StB exhibition on Operation „East“. d		Photographs of panels from the 1960s StB exhibition on Operation „East“.
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 98 / 99
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 100 / 101
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 102 / 103
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 104 / 105
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 106 / 107
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 108 / 109
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 110 / 111
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 112 / 113
p . 9 8
1	 Ing. Petr Alt – 1918
2	 Bedřich Aust – 1926
3	 Jan Bača – 1915
4	 Karel Bádal – 1908
5	 Zdeněk Bárta – 1918
6	 Oldřich Bartošek – 1920
7	 Otto Beitl – 1906
8	 Rudolf Běleš – 1911
9	 Štefan Betinský – 1930
10	 František Bezděk – 1907
11	 Josef Bicek – 1909
12	 Vlastimil Bílek – 1921
13	 Stanislav Bílý – 1928
14	 Ladislav Bitala – 1925
15	 Josef Bláha – 1921
16	 Jaroslav Blažek – 1921
17	 Miroslav Bodský – 1932
18	 František Bogataj – 1913
19	 Bedřich Böhm – 1921
20	 František Braniš – 1922
p . 9 9 	
21	 Jan Brychta – 1922
22	 Alois Bublík – 1916
23	 Jaroslav Bureš – 1922
24	 Josef Buršík – 1911
25	 Václav Ceplecha – 1924
26	 JUDr. Ladislav Comorek – 1918
27	 Ladislav Čáky – 1921
28	 Josef Čambalík – 1911
29	 Zbyněk Čerych – 1925
30	 Anton Čermák – 1907
31	 Karel Černý – 1914
32	 Oldřich Černý – 1923
33	 Oldřich Černý – 1926
34	 Jan Červenák – 1900
35	 Josef Dado – 1926
36	 Jan Daněch – 1928
37	 František Daněk – 1917
38	 Viktor Dernesch – 1924
39	 Antonín Dolejš – 1915
40	 Jan Done – 1930
p . 1 0 0
41	 Karel Douba – 1919
42	 Rudolf Drbohlav – 1914
43	 Václav Duda – 1922
44	 Karel Dufek – 1912
45	 Josef Dvořák – 1913
46	 Jan Džubák – 1924
47	 Imrich Eröš – 1918
48	 Štefan Fabera – 1909
49	 Miroslav Fajkoš – 1926
50	 Velen Fanderlík – 1907
51	 Daniel Faško – 1919
52	 Martin Ferenčič – 1932
53	 Jiří Fiala – 1921
54	 Jan Filip – 1914
55	 Viktor Filípek – 1925
56	 Štefan Fojtík – 1928
57	 Leopold Foltýn – 1912
58	 Jan Formánek – 1908
59	 Ing. Evžen Francouz – 1919
60	 Dr. Rudolf Fraštacký – 1912
p . 1 0 1
61	 František Gajda – 1933
62	 Jaroslav Gajdoš – 1921
63	 Andrej Garžík – 1913
64	 Josef Garžík – 1911
65	 Josef Gottwald – 1902
66	 Otto Gráf – 1907
67	 Josef Had – 1927
68	 Leopold Hájíček – 1927
69	 František Hainz – 1922
70	 František Hašek – 1916
71	 Josef Hasil – 1924
72	 Julius Hasil – 1915
73	 František Hason – 1916
74	 Zoltán, Josef Hawasch (Havas) – 1920
75	 František Hesík – 1913
76	 František Hykš – 1927
77	 Otto Hüttl 1904
78	 Oldřich Haldík – 1899
79	 Stanislav Hucháň (Alino) – 1930
p . 1 0 2
80	 Naděžda Hodrová – 1925
81	 Jaroslav Holan – 1919
82	 Bohuslav Holý – 1925
83	 Ing. Jaromír Holman – 1902
84	 Rudolf Honek – 1924
85	 Leopold Horecký – 1911
86	 Miroslav Horňák – 1926
87	 Emil Horvath – 1906
88	 Josef Horvát – 1908
89	 Josef Hošek – 1926
90	 Josef Hrabáček – 1925
91	 Dr. Zdenko Hradský – 1903
92	 Miroslav Hrnčíř – 1910
93	 Václav Hrneček – 1904
94	 Rudolf Hrubý – 1928
95	 Ignác Huck – 1923
96	 Eduard Husár – 1927
97	 Ondrej Hušek – 1929
98	 Štefan Húšek – 1925
99	 Miroslav Chaloupka – 1928
100	 Josef Chalupa – 1920
p . 1 0 3
101	 Alois Chlebana – Turak – 1927
102	 Josef Chudý – 1920
103	 Dr. Emil Jamrich – 1919
104	 Břetislav Jandásek – 1922
105	 Stanislav Janeček – 1922
106	 Stanislav Jánský – 1928
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 114 / 115
107	 Pavel Jáša – 1934
108	 Miroslav Jelínek – 1923
109	 Karel Jentscher 1912
110	 Jiří Jílek – 1906
111	 Alois Jiroušek – 1908
112	 Karel Juríček – 1914
113	 Miroslav Kabela – 1938
114	 Stanislav Kábrt – 1922
115	 Jan Kantor – 1934
116	 Dr. Vojtěch Karas – 1917
117	 Josef Kerak – 1914
118	 Jindřich Kettner – 1932
119	 Václav Klabík – 1901
p . 1 0 4
120	 Jan Klán – 1911
121	 Adolf Klimek – 1897
122	 Arnold Klinček – 1908
123	 Miloš Knor – 1918
124	 František Kocián – 1923
125	 Vlastimil Kocian 1928
126	 František Koldinský – 1928
127	 Antonín Kolíšek – 1920
128	 Jaroslav Konvalinka – 1911
129	 Ladislav Kopal – 1930
130	 Florián Kopiar – 1930
131	 Josef Kopic – 1931
132	 Ladislav Kordík – 1922
133	 František Kostolány – 1915
134	 František Kotlík – 1928
135	 Amand Koukola – 1933
136	 Vojtěch Kováč – 1925
137	 Jaroslav Kovanda – 1913
138	 Pavel Kratochvíl – 1911
139	 Robert Kreisl – 1903
140	 Anton Krivda – 1920
p . 1 0 5
141	 Vladislav Křivohlavý – 1931
142	 Rodolf Kršniak – 1910
143	 Ludvík Krucký – 1922
144	 Jan Kruntorád – 1901
145	 Dr. Ing. Rudolf Krupička – 1911
146	 Antonín Kuňák – 1912
147	 Štefan Kurcin – 1921
148	 Julius Kuropata – 1923
149	 Josef Kvašay – 1926
150	 Juraj Lacek – 1909
151	 Václav Lacina – 1932
152	 Dr. Branislav Lajda – 1917
153	 JUDr. Oskar Landa – Kobr – 1896
154	 Otto Lang – 1922
155	 Jan Limberg – 1906
156	 Michal Lokšík – 1897
157	 Michal Lošonský – 1925
158	 Jan Lukač – 1925
159	 Vojtěch Lukáš – 1921
160	 Leopold Lukašík – 1913
p . 1 0 6
161	 Dr. Štefan Lukáč (Lukátš) – 1921
162	 Vladimír Lutovský 1923
163	 Ludovít Macák – 1921
164	 Ludovít Macek – 1926
165	 Robert Machač – 1926
166	 Ladislav Malota – 1923
167	 Josef Marek – 1912
168	 Luděk Mařík – 1931
169	 Vladislav Martínek – 1910
170	 Jan Mazák – 1911
171	 JUDr. Josef Majner – 1893
172	 Josef Mičudík – 1920
173	 Jaromír Michal – 1928
174	 Karel Mikeš – 1917
175	 Dr. Josef Mikula – 1915
176	 Josef Mistrík – 1918
177	 Luděk Molnár – 1927
178	 Michal Molnár – 1924
179	 František Moravec – 1895
180	 Josef Mrázek – 1910
p . 1 0 7
181	 Eervín Müller – 1929
182	 Miroslav Murgaš
183	 Cyril Musil – 1907
184	 Emil Nástraha – 1907
185	 Herbert Němec – 1916
186	 František Novák – 1920
187	 Jan Nový – 1919
188	 František Nusko – 1920
189	 Wiliam Oatis – 1914
190	 Ján Oborčok – 1897
191	 Josef Obselka – 1920
192	 Ing. Jan Ohera – 1921
193	 František Omasta – 1919
194	 Dr. Lászlo Orban – 1918
195	 Helga Orbanová, roz. Mimrová – 1923
196	 Antonín Orlita – 1931
197	 František Orlita – 1927
198	 Václav Orlita – 1934
199	 Pavel Orth – 1917
200	 Josef Ostružka – 1923
p . 1 0 8
201	 Rudolf Pačes – 1909
202	 Andrej Parimucha – 1924
203	 Antonín Paška – 1913
204	 Adolf Paulík – 1923
205	 Alois Paulovič – 1922
206	 Lumír Pavlík – 1930
207	 Marie Pekelská-Blaschtowitschová,
	 roz. Tomšů – 1920
208	 František Petrjánoš – 1923
209	 Miroslav Plaňava – 1909
210	 Josef Planý – 1927
211	 František Podlešák – 1924
212	 Antonín Postupa – 1898
213	 Josef Prekop – 1922
214	 Jaroslav, Slavomil Příplata – 1928
215	 Karel Procházka – 1905
216	 Milan Prokop – 1926
217	 Zdeněk Psota – 1930
218	 Jan Puškáč – 1920
219	 Jaroslav Rabinský – 1921
220	 Josef Rampak – 1926
p . 1 0 9
221	 Emil Ransdorf – 1920
222	 Miloslav Rechciegel – 1904
223	 Ivan Renner – 1923
224	 Jiří Rener (Kohn	 - 1924
225	 František Revesz – 1911
226	 Ladislav Richter – 1912
227	 Václav Roflík – 1921
228	 Jiří Roubal – 1922
229	 Karel Roudnický – 1897
230	 František Runza – 1908
231	 Miloslav Růt – 1924
232	 Vladislav Saba – 1926
233	 Václav Sedláček – 1919
234	 JUDr. Jaroslav Schenk – 1906
235	 Emanuel Schvamberger – 1920
236	 Ernst Singer – 1924
237	 Ladislav, Pavel Singer – 1922
238	 Václav Skypala – 1922
239	 Jan Slavík – 1912
240	 Karel Slavík – 1921
p . 1 1 0
241	 Ladislav Slavík – 1934
242	 Zdeňka Smrčinová – 1931
243	 Miroslav Snopek – 1933
244	 Jiří Srnec – 1926
245	 Oliver Stankovský – 1930
246	 Josef Strečanský – 1910
247	 Dr. Jaroslav Strnad – 1918
248	 Jaroslav Stuchlý – 1913
249	 Ludvík Světinský – 1921
250	 Josef Šafus – 1895
251	 Alois Šeda – 1908
252	 Jan Ševčík – 1928
253	 Josef Ševčík – 1906
254	 Ing. Josef Šiftař – 1907
255	 Rudolf Šíma – 1921
256	 Josef Škobránek – 1929
257	 Antonín Škubňa – 1922
258	 Oldřich Škvor – 1920
259	 Jan Šrotýř – 1915
260	 Jiří Štokman – 1920
p . 1 1 1
261	 František Šťovíček – 1914
262	 Miroslav Šulc – 1921
263	 Karol Šumichrast – 1911
264	 Juraj Šupol – 1920
265	 František Šváb – 1927
266	 Jaroslav Táborek – 1895
267	 Vojtěch Tichý – 1920
268	 Richard Tlach – 1927
269	 Josef Trmal – 1927
270	 Josef Trnka – 1932
271	 Slavoj Trojan – 1924
272	 Karel Truska – 1922
273	 Bohumil Tůma – 1933
274	 František Turek – 1913
275	 Bohuslav Úlehla – 1927
276	 František Ulrych – 1906
277	 Miroslav Umlauf – 1926
278	 Jan Urban – 1931
279	 Julius Váca – 1913
p . 1 1 2
280	 Jaroslav Václavík – 1910
281	 Bohumil Valtr – 1912
282	 Robert Valuch – 1920
283	 Tomáš Vávra – 1913
284	 František Včelka – 1909
285	 František Weber – 1919
286	 Miloš Vebr – 1919
287	 Václav Vejsada – 1934
288	 Mirko Vesel – 1903
289	 Jiří Vincura – 1934
290	 Václav Vinš – 1910
291	 Jan Vrabel – 1926
292	 Vojtěch Zaboj – 1922
293	 Rudolf Zahrádka – 1930
294	 František Zelenka – 1914
295	 Jindřich Zika – 1933
296	 František Zimmel – 1920
297	 Miloslav Zlámal – 1922
298	 Anton Žáček – 1926
299	 Antonín Žalio – 1918
300	 Ing. Jan Žemla – 1900
O n t he Cold W ar Front – Czechoslovakia 1948–1956 116 / 117
LiteraturE
Professional literature
Stehlík Eduard: MEASURE. Příspěvek k historii Czechoslovak Intelligence Organization – CIO.
	 Praha, Studentské listy 25/1991, p. 16
Pacner Karel: Československo ve zvláštních službách díl III. a IV., Themis, Praha 2002
Tomek Prokop: Agent LIGHT – tajný spolupracovník v britské rozvědné službě, Praha,
	 sborník ÚDV Securitas Imperii No. 8, 2001, p. 149–182
Tomek Prokop: Československý zpravodajský úřad 1949–1956. Historie a Vojenství, 3/2004,
	 p. 74–90
Tomek Prokop: Dvě protikomunistické skupiny na Moravě v 50. letech.
	 Securitas Imperii No. 12, Praha, ÚDV 2005, p. 245–278
Tomek Prokop: Československo-britské zpravodajské soupeření. Securitas Imperii No. 14,
	 Praha, ÚDV 2007, p. 139–170
Tomek Prokop: Vysílání kurýrů do ČSR pomocí balonů v době studené války.
	 Historie a Vojenství, 2/2007, p. 76–84
Memoirs and popularization literature
Čapek Miloslav: O mužích, na které se zapomnělo. Pragma, Praha 2000
Čapek Miloslav: Poražení vítězové. Kapitoly z třetího odboje. Mladá fronta, Praha 2003
Frolík Josef: Špión vypovídá, Orbis, Praha 1990
Pek Josef: Kronika šumavských hvozdů. Vyprávění o osudech lidí z komunistického zla
	 v padesátých letech. Papyrus, Vimperk 1998
Rambousek Ota: Krochnu s sebou. Sixty-Eight Publisher, Toronto 1978
Rambousek Ota: Paměti lichoběžníka. Paměti agenta – chodce. Primus, Praha 1999
Rambousek Ota: S prstem na spoušti. Primus, Praha 1999
Regime, propaganda and disinformation literature
Beneš Arnošt a kol., Revoluční a bojové tradice II. správy SNB – zdroj síly a úspěchů
v boji proti nepřátelským rozvědkám. IX. správa SNB, Praha 1983
Fiala Vladimír: Akce “Brusel”. Magnet, Praha 1981
Fiala Vladimír: Taylorův návra. Magnet, Praha 1973
Guth Gabriel, Miller Otto: Dirigent zákulisí. Magnet, Praha 1966
Hojer (Gruber) Milan: Souboj v aréně. Magnet, Praha 1977
Pára Eduard, Náprava Luděk: Sedmnáct let československým agentem na Západě.
	 Naše vojsko, Praha 1970