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THE CONFESSION

Are they there again?

Is it one of your cars?

Not my department

I don't deal with VIPs

But you're being followed

By his department?

But why? There must be an explanation

They're not being discreet either

What do you want with me?

It's started again

- How long? - Three days

- Are you sure? - They're there now

Coming!

Why do you think it's Security?

If it isn't, I have a right to some protection

Here are the registration numbers

Get Pavel

It's not just me, you know

They're after all of us International Brigade veterans

I'm fed up

Why not confront me with Noel Field?

I know he's in prison in Hungary

Who's behind all this?

It's aimed at Spanish Civil War veterans

and those in France or London during the occupation

You too

Even if you are with Security

Loebl, Pavlik and Feigl held major posts, too,

and they're in prison now

He's undersecretary of the Interior and he's sent back to party school

Otto has been dismissed too

Today it's my turn

And tomorrow?

Whose turn will it be?

Are they Security cars?

Then you'd better find out who's giving the orders in your department

If it's who I think, it could be dangerous

- Don't they know? - Better not

Why? It concerns them too, doesn't it?

- You came together? - We met by chance

Some chance,

when all Spanish Civil War veterans are being watched

It's going to look like a meeting

You and your surveillance Things are difficult,

but nobody's watching me

You lost your job Sling's in prison

I've been sent to the party school

for a course on the dialectics of the class struggle in socialist construction

The undersecretary is being followed without the head of security's knowledge

Shoemakers are always the worst shod

Why not resign?

Leave your job, confess your errors

They won't let me, yet they cut me out

Type this for the departmental meeting

It was this morning

What's going on?

The minister said your presence wasn't necessary

And you all believed him?

I don't believe, these days

I just wonder where it will all end

The party decides

All misunderstandings can be resolved by the party

Unless it's higher up

I thought it was about the Field affair, but Bedrich says it isn't

The Field affair is settled

The party secretary

This meeting is pointless

It's me again

G?rard insists He thinks it's very important

He's very busy He'll call you

For the party, the matter is settled

But you know what Security is like, refusing to let go

Still, you have friends there The head of Security, for instance

And he's pretty embarrassed,

as he knew Field too

We'll have our own Rajk trial soon

No, the circumstances were different

They're just the same

Here, too, we are discovering spies, traitors, Titoists

You spoke to my successor?

His new minister - He seems to believe it all

Your dossier is growing fast We haven't heard the end of this yet

It has ramifications everywhere: Poland, Germany

It's him you ought to see

Let's go They won't believe we met to chat over old days in Spain

Starting to feel guilty already, eh?

Don't forget

"Both donkey and master are safest when furthest away"

They're still there I'll ask the minister to see you

Gerard wants to talk to you He's very concerned

I'll see him tomorrow morning

Tell him the Field affair hasn't done him any good

Dozens of comrades had contact with Noel Field during the occupation -

We haven't found the enemy in our ranks

We knew that death and betrayal were inseparable from revolution

It's our turn to experience betrayal and death

so that the revolution may continue

That's what's important - that it continue,

even if we are destroyed

Go and see him tomorrow

What else should I do?

Nothing Have faith in the party

Who is it?

You the Frenchwoman? Someday your husband will hang

Who was that?

Nothing A wrong number

Who are you? What do you want?

Let go of me!

Who are you?

Shut up!

The handcuffs

I demand to see a party representative

Shut up You're not demanding anything

Who are you?

I want to see - - Shut up!

Undress him

Put it on

Bills, various papers

Cuff links, pen

Take 'em off!

350 crowns

Two party cards

Family photographs

Here's the Frenchwoman - Inform my family

She'll think you've run off

Darex vouchers

Worth 1, 200 crowns

He uses the foreign diplomats' store

Everyone makes sacrifices for socialism,

but he lives like a bourgeois

Leave those alone!

Your number is 3225

Don't forget it

Start walking!

No sitting or standing still Keep walking!

The party's always right

There must be a misunderstanding The truth will come out,

but you must submit to the rules, even if it's hard

At least to show good faith

You'll get the same whenever you stop!

Walk!

Walk!

Food!

No food for him

Walk

Did you see G?rard this afternoon?

He didn't come by?

Did you see G?rard this afternoon?

He didn't come by?

Is Zavodsky there?

Excuse me

- Police search - What's the matter?

What's the matter?

My children are asleep up there What's the meaning of this?

We have orders to search the place

I have a direct line to the Central Committee. I'll inform the secretary.

We'll see what he has to say

- Have you got a warrant? - We don't need one

I told you We have orders to search

And I tell you, not without a warrant

Go up to bed, Mother

You stay here, madam

My eldest son

He was born in prison In France

At La Roquette

A prison in Paris

Why were you there?

Because that's what the Germans did to communists in 1942

Being pregnant, I escaped execution

- Were you in prison long? - No, I was deported to Ravensbruck

My son was the youngest political prisoner in France

My husband was sent to Mauthausen

"Night and Fog" Do you know what that means?

Those are photos of my husband in the Spanish Civil War

and the French Resistance

Put that away It's only my daughter

Evening, honey

- Isn't Daddy here? - He'll be here soon

They're colleagues of his

Did you have a nice time at your party?

Go to bed quickly and see that the little ones are asleep

Some coffee?

Police search!

You're behaving like the Nazis!

I didn't see the warrant

Go to work as usual Not a word about this

- May I speak to the minister? - At 5:00 am?

After the school, we'll go to the Ministry

They took nothing important Letters, papers, photos

Fifteen years of life together

Souvenirs of Spain, prison letters

Gerard never kept official papers at home

We'll take care of it Call me anytime on the direct line

He missed an appointment

He needs weekly treatment for his lung problem

We'll take care of it He is merely in isolation

Nothing's changed for you and your family

The Ministry car and chauffeur are at your disposal, as usual

Did you see the minister?

Yes, G?rard hasn't been arrested

He's simply in isolation

until certain problems have been cleared up

They need his help

It's a serious, confidential party matter

So long as he has a chance to explain I feared the worst

Let me know if I can help

He told me nothing had changed

I'll be looking after you from now on Here is your car

Let's hear you!

What are your requests and complaints?

I want to see a party official

Identify yourself!

Undersecretary of-

You're nobody! What's your number?

Number!

You're 3225 We'll be back when you know that

Walk!

Put these back on

Don't stand still! Keep walking!

You're here to confess your crimes You must confess

Confess what? Who are you?

Date - February 1 Confess Admit who you are

I'm the undersecretary of Foreign -

You're a number What is it?

- Your number? - 3225

What am I accused of?

You know very well There's a name for men like you

What's your name? - The party knows my -

Don't invoke the party

Never invoke the party You're hereto confess, and you will

I want to see an official - Confess what?

- Confess! - Be specific

- You'll confess - I want to see an official

I'll make you confess

At first we tried to aid the party, to help it see things clearly

To understand ourselves and the mistakes that had brought us there

We were prepared to admit that our mistakes

may have harmed the party

The years of discipline, our whole education, led us to believe

that the party was never wrong, that the USSR was always right

We aren't acting alone We have advisers!

In all humility, we felt it better to err with the party

than be right as individuals

You must confess!

Confess what? Ask me specific questions

Eat!

Enough eating Walk!

That's enough Start walking!

Walk!

Stand up!

You will not maintain this hostility You will obey!

Please, is it day or night?

You're here for a very serious reason

The party ordered your arrest

We are entrusted with your interrogation

concerning international espionage and treason

against the Soviet Union and our country

Your duty is to help us establish the truth

You are not the only one involved

Other important people are implicated in this affair

You alone can help yourself

You have been in the party a long time

I appeal to you to help the Soviet Union and our party

Anything to say?

I have constantly demanded a hearing by the party

Ask me anything

Very well, we shall draw up a report

Tuesday, February 4

I declare -

When did you establish contact with American intelligence?

How were you recruited by the American spy Noel Field?

Have you collaborated with American spies in addition to Noel Field?

Never! No one!

Silence!

Answer the questions!

Heads will roll We have all the proof we need

We have methods you never dreamed of

You will confess

Your choice is either to try to redeem yourself

by making a full confession

or to remain an enemy unto death of the Soviet Union and our party

So answer the questions

Enough! Hand over the bowl!

Enough!

Keep walking!

You can sleep now

On your back, regulation position

Arms straight

Stand up! Your number?

You can sleep now

Stand up!

Your number?

3225

You can sleep now

Get up!

Your number?

You must obey orders

You and your filthy race, you're all alike

We'll finish what the gas chambers started

You say that, wearing the party insignia?

Don't moralize to me, you traitor!

You thought you controlled the party, but you've all been expelled

You're lying! That's impossible It's against the rules of the party

What's this bourgeois conception of democracy?

The Central Committee can assume emergency powers

Look at these cards You, Vales,

Zavodsky, who was head of Security

We know about your criminal activities in Spain and France

thanks to our advisers

We'll track down the others and expel them too

You're not the Central Committee

We're above the Central Committee

Our task is to unmask traitors, even within the Committee

We represent the power of the proletariat

Your friends who protected you have talked

You will talk too

You will answer these comrades' questions

Like Zavodsky, who has made a full confession

As head of Security, he knew it was the only way to save himself

Zavodsky?

Confess?

But confess what?

You recently attended a clandestine meeting

Why?

You called the meeting!

You led this Trotskyist group from the International Brigades

What decisions did you make?

You expressed your Trotskyist opinions in Spain? What did you do?

Sectarian sabotage?

You met Rajk in Spain? Was he your contact with American intelligence?

Rajk was executed as a spy in Hungary You know what to expect

The Polish traitors Rwal and Winkler?

Why did you protect the Titoist Dapchevich in Spain?

Your only chance to save yourself

is to confess even more fully than the others

You are the leader

Here we uproot weeds before they spread

You knew Rajk in Spain

So he put you in contact with the Americans

You were with Bartos in Spain What do you know of him?

We know he deserted

Jares was in your unit. Do you remember?

This report describes him as a suspect Trotskyist element

Like all your friends, here and abroad

My connections were with the French and Italian communist parties

Who said all this?

We have everything fully documented in this matter

Thanks to our Soviet advisers,

we have full details of your espionage network

Zavodsky's confession

He describes in detail the criminal activities of your Trotskyist group

It's not true Zavodsky couldn't have

Isn't that his signature? Each page is signed!

It isn't possible Not at Marseille

Yes, it is �My activity for the Americans in Marseille"

I presume you recognize his writing?

Zavodsky and the rest pulled the wool over your eyes

To show good faith and help the party,

you must confess everything

Confess what? That I was a spy?

Your view of things is too subjective

Zavodsky was arrested after you He confessed immediately

He knows it's the only way out

But it's all untrue

The French Communist Party and the Resistance can bear me out

It's no use We have other confessions saying the same thing

Here everyone confesses, believe me

You were their leader It's your only chance

Think of what might happen to your family

Listen "I spied for the Americans in order to overthrow the regime

In this criminal activity, I was directed by" -

Look Your name, in black and white

What can you do against that?

Thirsty?

A man confesses to serious crimes committed on your command

In court, what will be believed?

Your denials

or his self-incrimination?

He's still talking too - Lies

It's the confession that counts

Why is he risking his life by making these confessions?

To save his life, do you understand?

I want to help the party, but I can't-

I forbid you to speak of the party

And I forbid you to give this traitor anything to drink

Abandoned by the party, comrades, no one would doubt my guilt

I myself never doubted the Moscow and Rajk trials

How could any communist believe that the infallible party

was capable of making the innocent confess?

Confess what, why?

We will use any method to uncover your treason

Zavodsky says he knew of your American activities,

but remained silent because you knew of his Gestapo connections

Your friend Vales admits to having collaborated with the British police

Though Jewish, you survived the concentration camps Why?

Because you collaborated

The Americans recruited you through captured Gestapo files

Walk!

The party is informed of cooperative attitudes in prisoners

3225 Present

Louder!

What did you do? Why are you here?

I don't know

They won't let me sleep And it stinks

Nothing to eat or drink

I'm innocent

Wait

We've had orders about you You're a special case

Don't tell anyone, or I'll be punished

I want to see a party official You're committing a crime

For 10 days I haven't slept, eaten or drunk

I want to be questioned officially, with my answers recorded

You haven't slept or eaten?

I'll see about that

The guards tend to do as they like

We've got Holdos now

All you veterans of Spain are in the bag

Here - in Hungary, Poland, Germany

All the international Brigades are implicated in this affair

Rajk was asked exactly the same questions at his trial

His case seems to interest you

But, of course, his confessions brought you closer to discovery

You approved of his trial to conceal yourselves

We shall act as the Hungarians did in liquidating Rajk and his gang

I propose a resolution

condemning the spy and traitor Laszlo Rajk,

unmasked by our Hungarian comrades

All in favor, raise their hands

Many veterans of Spain are implicated

There weren't only us good guys in Spain

Can't see the forest for the trees

To sum up then

"I have committed certain errors in my work

through my negligence

I have had dealings with Kohnova,

Vasela, Pavlik and Feigl,

already convicted for their dealings with Field"

Vasela wasn't convicted

She killed herself during the trial

Not Vasela then

"I accepted American imperialist money

for my underground party work"

Sign it

Isn't it better this way?

You can sleep now

I retract I only signed under physical coercion

- What? - Yes, physical coercion

So you think this is a confession? We haven't even begun

You'll sign much more than that

Let's start again

He'll speak, or we'll finish the matter by finishing him

Come on, start with your life

Walk

Tell me your story from the beginning

Date of birth?

February 1, 1915, at Ostrava

My father was a railroad man

Why aren't you called by your real name?

Gerard was my name in the French Resistance

French Resistance - how odd

You are a communist and a Jew, yet you survived the Gestapo

Bizarre

Carry on - My son was born in prison

His mother named him G?rard, not knowing if we'd ever meet again

Don't try to make me cry

Carry on

My father was the fifth of eight children,

son of a railroad man in Moravia under Austro-Hungarian rule

Then he went to Switzerland

and in about 1900 emigrated to America

He learned English very quickly

He could recite Whitman's poems by heart

and pages of Paine and Jefferson

In New York he met my mother, also an? migr?

They came back home together

In the First World War, he was a stretcher-bearer

Through contact with Russian prisoners,

he learned about Bolshevism

From him I first heard of Rosa Luxemburg,

the Spartacists, Lenin, the Commune of Canton

It was he who made me read Heinrich Heine

He pointed my way into the Communist Youth

In 1930 we wanted to blow up the Ostrava prefecture

Well, did you blow it up or not?

Last night, you told my colleague you did

No, we were only 15

We merely dreamed of doing a daring deed

Dreamed? This morning, you told me the opposite

So you have three different versions of that story?

Start again from the beginning Let's see if you have a fourth

I'm listening

I was born in Ostrava -

You say your friend Wagner disappeared in Moscow in 1935

Yesterday you didn't know what had become of him Which is it?

Start again

I met Wagner in Moscow when -

No, from the beginning Date of birth?

Carry on

You said your father made you read "Enrich N", What next?

Heinrich Heine

He pointed my way into the Communist Youth

He was incensed by the Sacco and Vanzetti case

We demonstrated together

He respected Bakunin's physical courage

and admired Kropotkin, all of whose writing he knew

But he did not share the basic anarchist ideology

An old member of the socialist left,

he became a founding member of the communist party in his hometown

Outcast by polite society and by the Jewish community

who thought him a traitor

because he was an atheist

and supporter of anti-religious organizations,

he found it hard to get work

His family didn't help

Except my uncle Zigmund, who never tired of lecturing him

I saw my father for the last time in Moscow in the summer of 1935

He had aged considerably

In order to visit us,

he arranged to come on a trip - on an organized trip with

other people who were with him

He wanted to meet my wife

Everything interested him

Sometimes he asked questions which I had difficulty answering

which I had difficulty answering

He disliked some things in Moscow

There were things he didn't understand

But he had fulfilled his dream

of seeing the Red Square and Lenin in his mausoleum

When he left, he was sad

He wondered when we would meet again

I never saw him again

Nor my mother, my brother Jean

or my sister Juliette

They died in concentration camps

We are in a 200-foot-square office

with a gray-green cabinet

A typewriter

An empty beer glass, a cup of coffee

Filthy traitor!

Get out, you!

You'll account for this

Let's finish this

You filthy Trotskyist bandit

You had already begun your activities in Moscow

Go on!

They're going to hang me

Kill him if he won't talk!

I'll disappear like Wagner in Moscow

They confiscated my card They say I'm a Trotskyist!

They'll say my conscience drove me to suicide

Suicide He didn't have the courage to confess

You're in luck, but you'll hang anyway,

and our people will be avenged

If it's who I think, it's dangerous

Our advisers want you alive for the trial

They want us to grant diplomatic status to Soviet advisers

But they're policemen

We benefit from their experience of the Moscow trials

The presence of these advisers seemed to us

a natural consequence of Soviet aid to socialist countries

I have five months to make you confess

Radek held out for three

That's the record, so I have time to spare

Each night someone goes missing They're preparing a major trial

Confess, or you'll be tried secretly

You'll be hanged

Finally, they found a discrepancy in my various biographical accounts

Admit you're a Trotskyist!

Admit it!

You were in touch with Trotskyist spies in Moscow in 1936

To avoid discovery, you went to Spain

Wagner worked for the Comintern for years

He came to see me in my Moscow hotel

Because of this lapse, they took away everything -

my party card, my job, my room

Stalin can't possibly know

Stalin can't possibly know

Look, he's starting to break

Look at this beautiful phrase

starting to break

A quotation haunted me

"The individual becomes guilty not because he is guilty,

but because he may be thought so"

Look at this beautiful phrase

"This is what I have to say about the Trotskyist group

of International Brigade volunteers"

Now we can really get to work

Your friend, Tonda

All misunderstandings can be resolved by the party

Your friend's talking about a Trotskyist group

Three weeks - no sleep, practically no food

He's confessed everything

- It's not signed - It's the carbon

That's fine, but what our friends want

is "Trotskyist espionage organization"

Get him to sign that

You'll be signing, too, since you're their leader

Our party comrades will stop you

Did you help us?

It's unthinkable that the party -

He's raving

Stalin knows what he's doing

What should I do?

- Confess! - What? That I spied?

Stalin knows what he's doing

What should I do?

He's had it

Stalin says the most precious capital is man

If he's drowning, he must be helped

Eat

I heard Smola say, "Leave him for a moment"

Lying there, I had a wonderful vision

of myself on a Monte Carlo beach where I'd never been

When I arrived in France, the first thing I did was come here

The doctor advised it for my lungs

- Tell it all - What?

The whole story

- Who to? - Write a book

I know some publishers

- Who for? - For us

Communists aren't ready for this kind of truth

They'll say that dirty linen should be washed in private

Or that there's no smoke without fire,

that I didn't have the true party spirit

It's too soon objectively

Write it anyway

They're still in power

They wouldn't let it be published

Publish in France

No, there first Such a book should spring from changing circumstances

So you'll say nothing?

I have no personal grudges It's a general problem

Precisely

Who will speak for the dead?

Who spoke up for us at the trial in 1952?

Did you?

Do you remember what you said?

That we were mad dogs, Titoist spies,

Trotskyist bandits

You all knew about my activities in France

But no one spoke

Did you?

No

- Why? - I'd have been expelled

That's too easy Did you think they were guilty?

We didn't have enough information until 1956, the 20th Congress

The bourgeois press, as you call it,

could have told you it was trumped up

But you were living in a closed world

with the party as God

Apart from details, your story tells me nothing new

The existence of this hellish mechanism was known

One politician said that hell,

as the Prague trials remind us, has its own logic

He also had a nice turn of phrase to justify the wars in Indochina

and Algeria, with their million dead

Anyway, all this explains how but not why

Stalin eliminated the best, the most brilliant

Stalin, who wasn't alone, was once a seminarian

Public confession, humiliation of the sinner

Also, he was infallible

During the cold war, there were rifts between the People's Democracies

They had been born not of true revolution,

but of Soviet military successes

There were serious economic and societal problems

Stalin did not like independent socialist powers

Tito would not blindly copy Russian-style socialism

Tito was declared an agent of imperialism

"Titoist" became a synonym for "spy"

Just as Trotskyist had previously

So?

So, after the Rajk trial, the party agreed to Soviet advisers

I consider this a proof of trust

You will work as a group under the direction of our comrade advisers

You will be answerable only to them,

the president of the Republic and the secretary of the party

The party has no power to interfere with this activity

At the end of February, I was again transferred

No, these cars are too modern

In 1951, it was the Tatra plan with the rear fin

Being in an ordinary prison again gave me hope

You can lie down

You'd take fright if you could see yourself

Today's March 6

For 35 days, you have refused to cooperate

Your negative attitude is reported to the party every day

Right We'll start at the beginning again

On condition that-

Conditions? Your life is at stake!

Your only chance is to confess everything

Take him away

Prepare yourself for interrogation

You have four hours' sleep

Remove your jacket Regulation position

You must confess your guilt

As an obedient member of the party, you must submit

If I am not a good communist, but a Trotskyist spy,

why appeal to my loyalty?

If I'm a good communist, why am I here?

Telephone, sir

Keep an eye on him

It's him in the corridor

How weary he must be

His fate's sealed

And what about mine?

A few years in a state farm till this blows over

Zavodsky was executed in 1954, after the others

We've received a letter from your wife

"It isn't easy to support a family, of course,

but with the help of the party, I'll manage"

She has the right spirit She has repudiated you

Why so surprised? It isn't the first time

One of your friends has confessed that she was his mistress

You bastard!

It's all in here!

Imbecile!

They're a fine lot, your Trotskyist friends!

I know she's French, but him!

They were caught in his office

She was leaning against his shoulder

"In that case, you had intimate relations with her?"

Answer: "Not intimate, just very friendly"

Question: "Was she leaning against your shoulder?"

Answer: "Yes"

"According to the dictionary, that means you were intimate"

Answer: "All right, intimate then" He confessed she was his mistress

Who dreamed all that up?

Guess! What concerns us

is that she has repudiated you and placed herself in the party's hands

- ls there new information? - Every day

Send me all documents about G?rard I want to see them first

What's happening to my husband?

You write too many letters

Our comrades have better things to do than read them

However, I was instructed to see you What do you want?

To know what's happened It's been two months

He seems to be deeply implicated All this is about him

But is he under arrest or not?

I have a right to know, as his wife and a party member

He has not been charged,

but there are matters to clear up

I've shared his life for 16 years It's an open book

A man may seem open, then one day secrets emerge

- Not him - Because you love him

There have always been traitors, agents provocateurs,

cops in the workers' movement

The wives never unmask them

In 1941, in your party,

you had to execute the national organizer

Gitton, you mean

He'd been a police informer for years

The national organizer

Hasn't he been acting strange lately?

Leaving you alone, coming home late?

Was he arrested - put in isolation for his private life?

I've already said he hasn't been charged

You should go back to France with your family

You mean I should be the first to condemn him?

I won't believe he's guilty until he tells me so

Life will be difficult for you

I regret to say you can't go on working for the radio now

Why?

They said I'm the best reporter in the French service

You'll have to work in a factory instead of in public service

ls the factory a punishment?

How sad for the workers in a workers' state

That is how things are managed in the Soviet Union

They're taking our things I couldn't stop them

What are you doing?

Here's your paper, Father

What's going on?

The minister's orders The villa is needed

We're moving you - Where to?

Here it is

It could have been worse

You could put the children here

Who's that lady?

A friend

Her brother's with Daddy We'll be working together

ls her brother in prison, like Daddy?

- Who told you that? - Everyone at school says so

You are Londonova?

Yes You know my husband?

I've heard of him through friends

Well, I need a job rather urgently

I've no skills

No matter We'll teach you

- And you? - I've found a job at Autorenova

That's right next door You'll be neighbors

You can start at the end of the month, if you like

I'd like that Thank you

- We'd like to be together - If possible

I'll try to arrange it

Come over here!

- I frightened them off - No, you didn't

Yes, I did I'm used to it now

Did you see they've arrested the party secretary?

How far will they go?

I wrote to him about G?rard, but he refused to see me

Well, it's over now This arrest makes everything clear

HOW?

At my paper, they say he's responsible for all the arrests

it's a purge against those who criticized his economic policy

Even I had my share of persecution

Gerard will be freed soon You'll see

He was the party newspaper editor Soon he was arrested too

He confessed, became one of the 14 accused

and was executed

Here he is

I wish you much joy

Sit down

In six months, you've worn out around a dozen interrogators

You even made the commandant lose his patience

But never mind, it doesn't matter

We'll start from the beginning, all over again

We have plenty of interrogators and lots of time

You'll confess, even if it takes a year or more

I have five months

So I'm in no hurry

You have no idea what awaits you

Put these on

Get up, please

Walk

Later I learned that during the Nazi occupation, and before,

Kohoutek had been in charge of police anticommunist work

"I had dealings with Noel Field in Geneva in 1947"

Sign it, please

But the party knows that

So much the better Sign

The party knows about this

"For these dealings,

Noel Field paid me the sum of" -

How much?

Not "for these dealings" but "during these dealings"

It was to pay my sanatorium expenses The party knew

Who said it didn't? So he gave you money?

- Yes - How much?

I don't remember It was five years ago

Walk

It wasn't for any dealings

I had contracted tuberculosis in the concentration camp

The party knew of Field's welfare service for deportees

Go on

How much did Field give you? 300 Swiss francs? More? Less?

- More - How much?

Double, or more

Face the wall 800 francs, say?

Now we're getting the facts That's what I want

"In 1947"-

Come closer

"Noel Field paid me the sum of 800 Swiss francs"

Sign, please

- But the party knows - Go ahead

Szony, condemned to death in the Rajk trial, got only 300 francs

But mine -

Were for the sanatorium No one denies that

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings with the American spy, Noel Field"

Sign it

No In 1947, I didn't know Field was a spy

ls Noel Field an American spy?

Didn't the Rajk trial establish that Field was an American spy?

This resolution voted by the party condemns the traitor Rajk

Did you sign the resolution?

- As a cover- - No!

Did the Rajk trial establish that Field was a spy in 1947?

Yes But in 1947, we didn't know he was a spy

Let's say that in 1947 you had dealings

with a spy unmasked in 1949?

Say it then

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings with the American spy, Noel Field"

Yes, but in 1947 I couldn't know what would be discovered in 1949

No one could foresee in 1947 that Field was a spy

Very good

Let us now consider each fact objectively

Later we shall consider the subjective aspect

Noel Field was an American spy You had dealings with him

I did, because -

- What dealings? - I did, because -

Espionage Espionage dealings

- Certainly not - Admit it

No I was ill and penniless,

so I got in touch with Field's welfare service

I am not a social worker

How did you establish espionage contact with Field?

It wasn't espionage

You signed these statements

"In 1947, in Switzerland,

I had dealings with the American spy, Noel Field"

"In 1947, Noel Field paid me the sum of 800 Swiss francs"

Reconcile these facts

Why should an American spy pay a communist official's expenses?

We are simply considering the facts

As I said, the subjective aspects

will be dealt with at a later stage

"In 1947, I had dealings with Noel Field

As he is an American spy" -

I've put it as favorably as I can -

"and I had dealings with him, I am objectively guilty of espionage

During this time, Field paid me 800 Swiss francs"

Sign, please

As you see, I have eliminated subjective conditions

Oh, excuse me

The carbon too

That one is for translation

For our comrade advisers

I was forgetting

Here's a letter from your wife

Then you can sleep a while

Regulation position

Sit down

There's a little additional signature required

"The International Brigade volunteers

are self-confessed Trotskyists and traitors

Objectively, therefore, as their leader, so am I"

Sign, please

After signing, you may write to your family

"In the Communist Youth, I had already worked under Smirkovsky,

whose Trotskyist past is well known"

I never said that

About working with him?

About him being a Trotskyist

He said that himself

Recognize his hand?

It's his all right You're merely confirming his confession

We and our advisers believe you were a Trotskyist before Spain

Why should you?

Type this

In 1936, you gave shelter in your Moscow hotel

to a man called Wagner, a Trotskyist expelled from the party

You expressed doubts about the Moscow trials

I must insert something about this

Come here

"In Moscow, I lived in a hotel where Trotskyists had been arrested"

The president and the secretary of the party will be pleased

They lived there too

Exactly The secretary of the -

The ex-secretary of the party

is here

Don't start raising your hopes That won't exonerate you

On the contrary, it proves that you all got important posts

to seize power on behalf of American imperialism

So you say

No, so he has started saying, and you will confirm what he says

I won't sign

You will like the rest

Do you think this arrest was made lightly?

The secretary corresponded with the Englishman Zilliacus

by diplomatic pouch through your office

How often?

- It concerned the peace movement - Zilliacus was a spy

Add this "I received and transmitted" -

How many letters? Four? Five?

No, two

"Five letters"

I'll have this translated You can sign after

Put them on

And keep walking

It's been translated Now you can sign

Then you can sleep

What the -

It isn't the same Let me read it

Read the copy

It's not the same

It is You're tired

- There was no carbon - There was

- No - Sleep now

From certain testimonies - yours and others -

you evidently betrayed the clandestine Central Committee to the Gestapo,

indirectly occasioning the execution of Fucik

Testimonies? What's all this filthy nonsense?

We must synthesize all this material

You said, "I organized Klecan's repatriation from France"

He was in your Trotskyist group in Spain

And you were the leader of these Trotskyists

- I had instructions - - Sit down

I had instructions Klecan was interned in France

We got him out and supplied him with papers to go home

And Klecan betrayed Fucik and the Central Committee

Under torture

Were you there?

- Hearsay - Unproven

Members of your group overheard you order Klecan to betray the Committee

- Klecan - - We have their testimonies

Forget the Central Committee

Reicin has signed a statement about that

Change them

"In Spain, I admired the anarchist leaders

more than the party's"

I won't sign that I admired leaders like La Pasionaria, Durruti -

Walk

You were told to walk!

We've wasted several days on this affair

I've put off my departure to clear things up

Given your anarchist activities as a youth -

- I had none - You wanted to blow up a building

I was 15

The formative age

It's only a formality Handcuffs

Not grounds for indictment

These are merely administrative reports

The party can be severe or lenient, irrespective of testimony

Trust in the party It's your only chance

I'll have earned my leave anyway

"In Spain, I knew the Titoist Dapchevich"

You admitted that

I said I knew him, but also Luigi Longo, Pajetta, Andr? Marty -

Face the wall

We're not concerned with them yet

I never mentioned the word Titoist

It's not a word It's a political concept defining our enemies

But in Spain, in 1937, they were Yugoslav communists, not Titoists

An ex-undersecretary too You don't know the ABC's of dialectics

The past must be judged in the light of truths established today

Do you know what Titoism is?

Say it

I approved the denunciation of Titoism

Then don't go back on it!

As Tito's minister, Dapchevich is a Titoist

There'll be no sleep for you until you sign this

- How was your leave? - I'm back on form

Good The way things are going -

Always splitting hairs Easy to see he's a Jew

How sensible of you to advise your wife to return to France

It's best for her

Have you seen her?

Why? Didn't you write to her?

Sit down

The party requires a report synthesizing all of this

and reflecting your activities as a whole

To save time, our comrade advisers have worked on this project

- So I'm doomed - Not at all

The report is for internal use, not for the courts

Look, your fellow accused have already signed,

and theirs are more serious

"In 1947, in Geneva, I had espionage dealings

with the known American spy, Field

In return for information given, he paid me 800 Swiss francs"

In return for information given?

But that's impossible

The party approved the formulation

Do likewise Show you're a good communist

And say I'm a Trotskyist spy?

Because you are still a communist, you have been able to confess

Confession is the highest form of self-criticism

And self-criticism is the principal virtue of a communist

They want corrections

It's your friend Hajdu. Put "Zionist" instead of "Trotskyist"

He's a Jew, not a Zionist

In a People's Democracy, "Jew" is an insult We'll say Zionist

Zionist is a political concept

"Jew" is forbidden in Russia They say "Hebrew"

Say "Hebrew" then "Zionist" isn't the same

"Hebrew" doesn't sound as good

Anyhow, the order is to say "Zionist"

Right Let us continue

No, wait This is the report for the prosecution

Afterwards, you can dictate one for the defense

There never was any dossier for the defense

Through repetition, words like Trotskyist or Titoist lose all meaning

I'd have signed a statement saying "my one-year-old Trotskyist son"

The only solution was suicide

I tried twice

And yet you're still a communist I don't understand

No, I do It's faith

You are believers who dislike the church

Which one?

There are several And God is dead, so one can be a communist

What happened to Field?

He reappeared in Hungary in 1955, released and rehabilitated

He doesn't want to return to the West

What was he? An American agent or a Russian agent?

Wait for his memoirs

But why him?

After the Spanish war, he ran an American aid service

for refugees in Marseille and Geneva

It was there that he helped dozens of communists

He also had contact with Allen Dulles's American intelligence service in Switzerland

America and Russia were allies against Hitler

Then came the cold war

The Americans got rid of Field for knowing communists

The Russians passed him off as an American agent

You were saying, after 20 months in prison -

You must learn questions and answers by heart

Take him away

Put the blindfold on

"Question: Have you told all about your conspiracy against the state?"

"Yes, I have held nothing back

I confess my participation in the conspiracy"

Say your lines when he stops talking, just as we rehearsed

- There you are - He knows his lines

Take that off

You don't look well How often do you exercise outside?

Never in 21 months

Never? Luckily it's almost over now

It hasn't always been easy Put that back on

You are going to see your leader and accomplices

The party requires a report on this confrontation

Remove the blindfold

Sit down

Zilliacus made frequent trips to the People's Democracies

He was in contact with me here, with Gomulka in Poland,

with Tito and his Fascist clique in Yugoslavia,

with Rajk in Hungary, with Kostov in Bulgaria

So we eventually found ourselves in the same trap

The party secretary who had ordered the arrests

and the minister of Security

who planned the proceedings with the Soviet advisers

I created the center of conspiracy against the state

I learned later that the secretary had tried to commit suicide

Padded walls prevented him from battering his head again

Next time he was alone, he shut the door and tried to hang himself

The man who found him just in time was later decorated

For official posts, I appointed men who had lived in the West

such as Bedrich Geminder,

Josef Pavel, Karel Svab and the undersecretary of Foreign Affairs

Why retract here? No one will know

The party requires a report on this confrontation

Retraction means no hearing

Survive to speak at the trial

You've signed all this

I was part of the conspiracy against the state led by the party secretary

I headed the Trotskyist group at the Foreign Office -

Stick to your lines like that

and you'll be able to appear at the public trial

Slansky claims his role was limited to ideological leadership

So did Bukharin in Moscow, but it cost him his life

Learn all that now

He'll help you out

Prosecutor: "How many espionage letters

did you forward to Zilliacus?"

Answer

Two, maybe five I deliberately kept no records

Prosecutor: "Be more precise Mention's been made of 10 letters"

Answer

There may have been 10

Your injection

It's calcium

That warms you up, doesn't it?

You're as white as chalk We'll have to fix that

Guided by my bourgeois instinct, to further my career-

Guided by my bourgeois instinct and to further -

No "Selfish" Bourgeois and selfish

Guided by my bourgeois and selfish instinct, to further my career,

I became a cosmopolitan while in the West

and defected to the bourgeois camp

That's very good

No, it's not good at all

The text is all right

But you'll never convince anybody you're guilty like that

Learn these 15 pages by Thursday

You'll have to put in some more sincerity

You're lucky to be in this trial

You aren't the main defendant now

- For the injection? - Yes, only five more

That'll give him a bit of color

Take that off

Dr Novak, president of the State Tribunal

Have you any previous convictions?

Two In 1931-1933 and in Paris in 1942

For what reasons?

The first was for communist activity

The second was for anti-Nazi activity

Don't note that

Have you a lawyer?

I don't want one

It's the law The state will appoint one

Dr Ruzick, your lawyer

Despite the seriousness of your position,

I see that the state is spoiling you

Stuffing me, you mean, like a goose

- Pardon me? - My position is serious?

You risk the death penalty

That is the punishment you have earned by law

Your only hope of a lighter sentence

is to plead guilty and behave well in court

What was your role in the conspiracy?

I confess that I furthered espionage relations

between the party secretary and the British agent, Zilliacus,

by using the diplomatic pouch

I myself maintained espionage relations with the American agent, Field

I've just spoken to the prosecutor

In his opinion, your case is the least serious

A maximum of 15 years

I told you, you're lucky to be in this trial

But you must behave well, or your family will suffer

The minister of Security wants to see you

I appeal to you in the name of the party and the president

Stick to your statement in court

You will do the party a great service

The situation is serious, war threatens

The party expects you to be guided by its interests

It'll be held in your favor

Your family will not suffer the consequences of this trial

The evening before the trial, they brought me a new suit from home

Don't forget the tie

- These ones? - Yes

- Will he be freed soon? - I don't know, madam

Is he coming home?

They fetched my brother's things too Maybe they'll be home tonight

Off to school, children

SAVE SACCO AND VANZETTI

We tater learned that, since conditions were icy,

the ashes of the executed men

were simply scattered on the roads

The driver had his little joke

Fourteen people in one car!

Us and the 11 in the sacks!

The court is in session

Accused, has the delay stipulated by law

to precede your appearance been respected?

I advise the accused to follow the indictment and proceedings closely

I ask them to benefit from their right to express opinions

I remind them of their right to defend themselves as they see fit

The public prosecutor

The inquiry conducted by the minister of Security

has established that, after the Second World War,

in an attempt to secure world domination,

the American imperialists organized a conspiracy against peace

They created clandestine centers in the People's Democracies

composed of corrupt elements

I accuse them as traitors,

Trotskyists, Titoists, Zionists and enemies of the people

of conspiring in the service of the American imperialists

and under the leadership of Western intelligence agencies

to break our alliance with the Soviet Union,

to overthrow the regime

and to restore capitalism by impeding socialist construction

But although the conspirators and their leader

succeeded in occupying important posts in both party and state,

they did not manage, unlike Tito in Yugoslavia,

to usurp power and attain their criminal ends

Thanks to our people's loyalty to the Soviet Union,

the conspiracy was broken

On the basis of these facts, the accused:

Former secretary of the party, of Jewish origin

Former head of Department of International Relations,

of Jewish origin

Former head of Economic Department, of Jewish origin

Former assistant secretary, Czech

Former minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovak

Former undersecretary of National Defense, of Jewish origin

Former undersecretary of Security, Czech

Of Jewish origin -

Of Jewish origin, both former undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs

Of Jewish origin -

Of Jewish origin, both former undersecretaries of Foreign Trade

Of Jewish origin, former secretary of Finance

Of Jewish origin, former secretary of the Regional Committee

Of Jewish origin, former editor of the party newspaper

All these I accuse of having -

For three hours, absolute silence reigned as the indictment was read

We were being filmed,

soon to be displayed in cinemas

The court will adjourn

Sit down

Cigarette?

Coffee?

Are you okay?

- Vitamins - Sit down

Is it going well?

Drink that

it's a political expedient

Open your mouth, these are vitamins

Do you need anything?

The president hopes you will acquit yourselves well

Did you give him some coffee?

All right?

I've been making inquiries

There will be no death sentences

What the party needs is not heads but a top-level political trial

Any death sentences will be purely for the sake of form

If anyone retracts in court,

the microphone will be cut off

and the 20 prosecution witnesses will testify

It's mine

The court is in session

We are resuming live transmission of the conspiracy trial

You are about to hear the testimony

of the former undersecretary of Security

The American spy, Noel Field, unmasked during the Rajk trial,

testified that he had formed an espionage network in our country

How did you conceal what you knew of this?

When we realized we could not suppress his evidence,

I ordered a formal inquiry to be made

I warned those involved to prepare their defense

There's a slight change in the text to be learned

You're next Let's hear the beginning of your statement

- I know it perfectly - Question:

What led you to become an active enemy of the state?

I was raised in a bourgeois milieu, estranged from -

Do you want an interpreter?

Do you understand the questions and can you reply?

What school were you at?

The German school in Ostrava

- What is your first language? - German

Do you know German really well?

I haven't spoken it for a long time

So you know no language well

You are a typical cosmopolitan

What was your attitude to the workers?

I was indifferent

Did you understand the question?

What was your attitude to the workers?

I was indifferent to the interests of the workers

I was indifferent to the interests of the workers

I never felt affinity with them

Their national interests were alien to me

Your turn soon

Remember, everything depends on your attitude

I was raised in a bourgeois milieu,

estranged from the workers

Guided by my bourgeois instinct-

bourgeois and selfish,

to further my career, I was changed by 11 years in the West

I became a cosmopolitan and defected to the bourgeois camp

I confess I have been guilty of actively participating,

from 1948 to the day of my arrest,

in the conspiracy against the state

I acknowledge my guilt in having furthered -

That man on the radio isn't my father, is he?

I told them at school he wasn't

You go to bed too

espionage relations with the British agent, Zilliacus,

by using the diplomatic pouch at the Foreign Office

I myself also maintained espionage relations

with the American agent, Noel Field,

supplying him with espionage information

My wife decided to write of her despair and confusion

to the president, whom she knew

We shall read you the letter sent to the president by Londonova,

wife of one of the traitors on trial

"President Gottwald After my husband's arrest,

knowing what I did of his life and his activities,

I thought him the victim of traitors

using him to shield their own criminal activities

Unfortunately, after hearing the indictment and his confession,

my hopes crumbled

My husband was no victim, but a traitor to our party

and a traitor to his country

My grief is great, naturally

But as a communist,

I must be thankful for this unmasking

and join all sincere comrades

in demanding just punishment for these traitors"

As ex-factory director, I can leave early

Because of me

You should never have hired me

No, I'm not of working-class origin

and I was in the West during the war

I don't blame you at all I know you are sincere

But you were wrong to write that letter

I wrote it to the president and not for public broadcasting

But you heard him plead guilty

I heard a great deal too much, and all of it rings false

They're reciting lessons

I don't believe in this trial

Why would the party hold it if it weren't true?

- There have been precedents - Precisely

The whole thing smacks of anti-semitism

It's intolerable

Yesterday's heroes becoming spies and traitors -

I can't accept it

I'm handing in my party card

You realize what that means?

But why should he confess, a man like him?

Well, he -

I hope he'll tell us one day

When I heard the indictment,

I analyzed once more Reicin's activities during the occupation

and concluded that he must have betrayed to the Gestapo

Julius Fucik and the clandestine Central Committee

Forget the Central Committee

That's all in Reicin's statement, already signed

I would like to recall Fucik's last words

"Whoever has lived for the future

and fallen for its beauty is a figure hewn in stone

But he who, with the dust of the past,

tries to build a dam against revolution, is but a puppet,

even though wearing epaulettes of gold

Men, whom I loved so, be vigilant"

The testimony of Fucikova, widow of the Resistance hero,

made an indelible impression on the judges

The leader of the conspiracy said,

"Our conspiracy against the state comprised hundreds of members"

A big task lies ahead for the judges

- Coming? - Yes

I'll continue

These three benches tremble under the weight of crimes committed

This leader should be seen by all

His red hair, his Judas eyebrows, his furtive eyes

crushed under the huge weight of his crimes

A dead man A dog should die a dog's death

The court is in session

In 1939, I established espionage contacts in London

With whom?

With the American agent Emanuel Voska

to whom I gave information

concerning communist cells in England

Carry on

I also had dealings with the intelligence agent Hamson,

who summoned me in December, 1944,

to a meeting at the Ministry of Information

at the British Ministry of Information,

concerning my subversive activities

in our country-

in our country after it was liberated

Return to your place

Court adjourned

In ridiculing justice, you confirm your activity as an imperialist lackey

It will cost you your life

Traitor

Don't leave him

He gambled his life away

He did it on purpose

He'll pay for making a mockery of the trial

The court is in session

Rise to receive sentence

From November 20 to 27, 1952, the State Tribunal has heard

the proceedings concerning the leaders of the conspiracy against the state

In the name of the Republic,

sentence of death -

In the name of the Republic,

sentence of life imprisonment-

life imprisonment-

life imprisonment

The accused are granted time

to consult their lawyers

as to whether to accept these sentences

Likewise, the court reserves its rights

Court adjourned

Where's my interrogator?

Where are our interrogators?

Where's my interrogator?

I want to see my interrogator Go get him

Where have our interrogators gone?

Where are the interrogators?

I'll appeal

I want to appeal too

Me too

- So do I - We must

Here are your lawyers

There are truckloads of resolutions demanding death for all of you

The international situation is deteriorating. World war is looming.

With Eisenhower elected, the party needs you

if you appeal, then so will the court

And that means hanging

Comrade countries are demanding your death

If you accept the court's decision, you will be pardoned

The party needs a trial, not your heads

The court is in session

Accused, do you accept your sentences?

I accept and renounce my right to appeal

I accept and renounce my right to appeal

I accept

and renounce my right to appeal

Criminally, we had all been rehabilitated by 1963

Politically, some of us remain unrehabilitated

Why did no one retract at the trial in front of the journalists?

Because only triumphant adversaries of communism would have believed us

You were freed and rehabilitated in 1963?

No, I was freed in 1956, but it's more complicated

A year after Stalin's death, the minister of Security, Beria,

and certain advisers were executed in Russia

in 1955, a commission began to investigate the trials

Kohoutek's gang were imprisoned

We survivors remained in prison

Two years later, Kohoutek was pardoned,

whereas many of his victims

lingered on in prison for two or three years

Don't you remember me?

What happened to us?

Do you understand it at all?

You know, when you were freed in 1956, I was in prison!

Those who gave the orders then are still in power

I followed orders

I expect I was under surveillance too

May I offer you a drink?

How's your wife? All right?

I know she did a lot for you, here and in France,

after realizing you were innocent

How's your health?

You must take care of yourself

I've found a nice, quiet job

They won't catch me again

I'm happy for you

April 1968

Do you want to keep this Kohoutek story?

"What happened to us? Do you understand it at all?"

August 20, 1968

I read it all night

Is he really going to publish?

Not me, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers

They're awaiting the manuscript

The situation is still troubled, you know

The imperialist forces are mounting

You may bring grist- - To the enemy's mill I know!

You'll at least take me to the airport?

I'm not alone now

The party wants the truth told, despite certain difficulties

- I hope we won't regret it - Good-bye, my dear

Of course, they'll say, "I wouldn't have confessed"

They'll wonder why I'm still alive

But at least I'm not alone now The party and I speak together

In January, 1968,

the reactionary forces were removed from the party

A new era began in Czechoslovakia

The people found their voices again

after years of silence, passivity, indifference or scorn

This was the proof that socialism lies in the liberty of the masses

But the day I arrived in Prague,

I had to witness my country invaded by 600,000 men

and 6,000 tanks of the Warsaw Pact powers

USSR - YOURS CSR - OURS

WAKE UP, LENIN! BREZHNEV'S GONE MAD!

ARISE, LENIN! THEY'VE GONE MAD!