Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

The collaborators who were not that high in society and other people who cooperated with
the Nazi power were judged by the extraordinary people’s court. In total 33,000 people were
sentenced.
The postwar rise of the left and the transformation of the country.
With the end of WWII the political situation in Czechoslovakia changed and turned dramatically
to the left. Of course this was a worldwide effect and similar tendencies for example
were seen in Italy and France. After the war the prewar political parties on the right were prohibited.
In Czechoslovakia this meant the end of the Czech Agrarian Party and the Slovakian
People’s Party. The prohibition of these two was explained with words that these two parties,
“Strongly overstepped the interests of the country.” 2 A new block was established under the
name National Front and it formed the national political scene. There were four Czech parties:
the Communist Czechoslovakian Party, the Czechoslovakian People’s Party, the Czech National
Social Party, and the Czech Social Democratic Party. There were also two Slovak parties: the
Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Slovakia. The time between 1945-1948 is called
delimited democracy because there was no opposition against the National Front, although
this party was forming the state politics, influencing the main problems, and business issues of
the country. Its decisions were accepted with complete consent and was obligatory for government,
parliament, and others in public service. The special position in government had its presidium:
a chairman and five deputies, who were representing the other political parties. These
six people were deciding on all the important questions and they were holding an unusual
amount of power this way.
The strongest interference into the state economy was the nationalization 3 of industry,
mines, and financial institutions whereby Czechoslovakia was on its way towards socialization.
The nationalization happened in other countries too, but its reach was not as extensive
and it was done for the purpose of propping up certain major industries that were suffering
as a result of the war. The governments in other countries deviated towards nationalization
with compensation and they were counting on the fact that the organization will be ready for
denationalization later. Czechoslovakian denationalization was distinguished with its huge extension.
Its main bearers were two political powers: the Social Democratic Party and the Communist
Party. The other parties finally agreed on everything, but there were disputes about its
reach. The demands of the Communists and the Social Democrats seemed to high to the other
2 The Republican party of agriculture and farming, in short the Agrarian party. During the Second Czechoslovakian Republic
it was a main part of a Party for national unity. It was often upbraided for collaboration during WWII. However,
many of its representatives joined the rebellions abroad and had no sympathy towards Nazi occupants. As it was already
mentioned, the representatives of the protectorate goverment were sentenced after the war to imprisonment.
Hlinka’s Slovakian People‘s party was a Slovakian right political party, which existed in the first half of the 20th century.
Its original aim was the autonomy of Slovakia, but gradually an authoritative and fascistic tendency grew in it. It was a
leading party of the newly established “Slovak Republic” on March 14, 1939. The main ideas this party proclaimed were:
catholic clergy, nationalistic intelligentsia, and a Christian and nationalistic thinking nation.
3 Nationalization is mentioned in an interview with Pavel Levý who said, “My father lost his business quickly. First it was
stated that businessman will gather in cooperatives, but finally everything was nationalized in 1949. The business was
taken over by a company called Mototechna and then by Domácí potřeby and my dad was kept there as the manager.
The typical way they did it was taking his business over with unpaid invoices. He had to pay those. My father did not have
much stuff, but if one bought new machines he had to pay them off for a long time then. This happened to my colleague
from work whose parents had a mill and they had to pay off the machines for the rest of their lives. Then there was a
financial reform and all money lost its validity 1:50 and debits dropped on 1:5. It was a thievish regime.”
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