(SANITIZED)KATYN FOREST MASSACRE/STATE SECURITY (STB) ACTIVITIES(SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A001000670008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2009
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 12, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
Czechoslovakia
State Security (StB) Activities
THE SOURCE `EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
3.2 Wy 1953
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to About a week after my return from Katyn in April 1943; Alexandar MACH,, Minister
of Interior, told me to.prepare a speech about my experiences at Katyn to be
delivered before a small select group the next day, which was a Saturday. 'I
prepared m' speech, but that evening (Friday) announcements about my speech
were on the radio and in the nerspaper obviously the speech was to be open
to the public, I immediately called MACH and protested vigorously, but he. said.
that it would be best to go ahead with the speech.; he rlized that the story
would be of tremendous propaganda-value against the Soviets e Under the circumstancE
I refused to deliver the speech but a few hours later MACH telephoned and.. in no
uncertain terms, ordered me tai make the speech on Sunday; he further said that it
would be in public. I ' delivered the speech on Sunday in the Sokol Hall in
Bratislava before a group which included newsreel cameramen and many newspaper
correspondents. I related exai:,tl.y what I bad seen at Katyn and read the Official
report of the investigation. I stated that it was my personal opinion as well as
the opinion of the other members of the Commission that the Polish officers had
been murdered by the Soviets. I tried to make it clear that all the scientific
evidence pointed to the fact that the Soviets had killed the Polish officers in
the late Winter or Rarly Spring of 1940, In order to impress my audience with
the tbreat of Communism, I read a telegram sent by General(fnu) STEFA IK, a
Slovak by birth, tt? French General (fnu) JANINo In the telegrams, he denounced
Bolshevism in. tie strongest and most "bitter terms, saying that "Bolshevism is
the ugliest, most evil force on the face of the ?arth'" oI -iarote' my -epeeccb to' conclud(
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with, "I am not in a position to claim that similar events (as the
.Katyn massacre) have not and are not taking place In other localities.
I cannot condone the actions taken against the Czech students in
Prague (the Germans had shot man Czech students after they had
staged a demonstration in Prague), and merciless reprisal against
the population of Lidice. The human race has reached a new-low"
.
MACH made me take out the references to the shooting of Czech students
in Prague and Lidice, so that the speech ended on a somewhat. general,
humanitarian note. My closing sentence was, "One day in Katyn, a
large monument will be erected in tribute to those murdered there as
a constant reminder to future generations that such deeds should never
again be permitted to take place". My entire speech was printed in
the Slovak newspaper, Slovak, in the beginning of May 1943; MAGI
directed all Slovak newspapers to carry excerpts from my screech, but
some reported only my closing sentences. 'Many organizations,
including the Zbrojovka Plant in Povazska Bystrics.,'requested me to
make speeches about the Katyn investigation, but I refused them all;
the one speech in Bratislava was the first and only public speech I
made about Katyn.
In October 1943, (fnu) LUDIN, the German ambassador to Slovakia,
sent a German official to ask me to make speeches and write articles
for the newspapers on the Katyn affair, because the Soviets had sent
a Commission of their own to Katyn in September and were attempting
to place the blame for the murders on the Germans. I told the German
that the Swiss member of the German investigation commission had made
several speeches as well as written articles for the press on the
subject. I wenVon to point out that I had not heard the Soviet
announcement on Katyn and therefore could not counter their claims.
About two weeks later LUDIN sent another representative to see me,
this. time a Slovak who brought reports of Radio Moscow's comments on
the Katyn massacre. The reports were very brief, and mentioned
nothing of a scientific nature. In a very general way the reports
stated that the Soviets had investigated the Katyn affair and'had
come to the conclusion that the Germans were to blame. I remarked
I could not contest the evidence of the Soviets since they had pre-
.sented none, only a conclusion. On this basis, I refused to write
anything for the newspapers or radio on the Moscow announcement.
In 1945, many professional friends as well as journalists advised me
to leave Czechoslovakia for fear that the Soviets would exile me to
Siberia. Since the front lines were backing up into Slovakia, I went
to Austria, where I stayed until 4 July 1945. At that time US
Occupation Forces were sending all Slovak'nationals back into Czech
territory on the basis of requests broadcast by Radio Prague. .The
American officer in charge of part of this project, a Capt. (fnu)
BERRY, had been staying in the town of Kremsmuenster, Austria. I and
my family were driven to Prague in US Army trucks and delivered to
.the Security Police / bor narodni bezpecnosti -- SNB7, From Prague
we were transported y the SNB to Bratislava and turned over to the
district court. The women and children were released, but I was
confined. In July 1945 I was called before an investigator,
(fnu) HORAK, who wrote down in detail my participation In the Katyn.,
investigation. When Soviet forces entered Slovakia. the Soviet N
accompanied by a Slovak communist from Trnava, (fnu) HARDSTEIN,
searched for me in Ay hometown, Kuklov (District.of Malacky) and at
the'home of.my wife's parents-in Trnava. In September 1945,'an
official of-the . Bratislava police' came to me with a telegram from
the Ministry of Interior in,Prague, which requested that I be Investi-
gated with particular reference to the circumstances under which I had
gone to Xatyn as a member of the German International Investigation''
Committee. The telegram also requested information on the Swiss
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calm me by saying that they would never dream of killing me, that
the StB treated people well, and never killed anyone; he accused
me of misrepresenting them. The conversation jumped back to Katyn.
One of them asked me if I had any idea of the damage I had done to'
the reputation of the glorious Red Army. He said I had done more
damage than if the Red Army had lost two wholje divisions on the
battle field. He asked me who had represented me in my court
hearings, how I had managed to get out so easily, how many people I
had bribed, And who my connections were. They threatened to bring me
before a workers' tribunal, and dispose of me in such a manner that
"not even a dog will-know where you disappeared to". Another man
informed me that they had me at their mercy, that they could do with
me as they liked; even kill me instantly since not one of the
Ministers could order them around, not even Gottwald. "All of those
people are about this big," he said, holding his hand a few inches
above the table. Still another raved "We fought in the hills while
you stayed at home and became fat and rich; you have property and
estates". Another remarked that the French member of the Commission
had refused to sign the protocol on the findings at Katyn and wanted
to know why I hadn't done likewise. I wasn't allowed to say anything.
One of them said that I actually had had more authority than MACH at
the time since I was a member of the Commission. I laughed and told.
them no one would ever believe that. I was accused of being a member
of the Slovak State Council and as such even more important than MACH.
Actually the Slovak State Council was fairly inactive; the only legal
function It had was to try the president or a cabinet minister for
high treason, upon the recommendation of parliament. It was also
supposed to advise the president, but as far as I know, ,the president
never called. on the council for such advice. My interrogation ended
at 0100 the next day, after which I was confined to the jail in the
police presidium building. I slept on a wooden bench with no bedding
in a small room with four other men. The next day I was put in a
cell by myself. The SNB guards impressed me as being fairly decent.
For the,next two weeks similar questioning took place each day In the
morning'ahd in the afternoon; the three men were joined by two others,
making a total of five. During the first week Katyn was the main
topic bf" interrogation. The StB men constantly used a threatening
tone; at one point Capt. KUBIK took two candles out of the desk
drawer. He played with the candles and cast threatening glances at
me from time to time which was supposed to make me talk out of fear
of having the soles of my feet 'burned. Another man, referred to as
MILAN, waved a blackjack around conspicuously. He.said that all he
wanted was the truth, that they certainly would not make me stand
trial again, that with just a few statements I would be allowed to
return to work. MILAN left the room occasionally, whereupon
Capt. KUBIK started his gentle talk. MILAN would shout about Commu-
nist ideo]ogy, calling me "an enemy of the people and dangerous to
society". The questioning always ended with a threat of death.; I
always went to sleep with this on my-mind. I felt that all this was
a psychological preparation. During this first week, I didn't
realize what the StB wanted; I held back nothing, but I quickly
learned that they would not hesitate to use threats in order to get
confessions. I was convinced that if one of their victims refused
to talk, they would not hesitate to use physical torture. At the
end of the second week, they gave me a pencil and paper and told me
to write my account of the Katyn affair in detail. During the
second week the Katyn affair began to take more and more of a back
seat in the interrogation. 'My questioners asked about my connections
with Vladimir CLEMENTIS, Ladislav NOVOMESKY, the head of the Slovak
Educational System at that time, Dr. Daniel TJKALI, Chief of the
Interior Department in Slovakia, Dr. Gustav HUSAK, Chairman of the
Council of Ministers, and Dr. Ivan HORVATH, Czech ambassador to
Hungary. CLEMENTIS and I had gone to the same high school in 1914-
1915, although he was two grades ahead of me. I had had only casual
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10. Some four days later, I went to Bratislava and met him at the agreed
place near the Danube River. He was accompanied by two other men;
we all got into a car and drove to Horsky-Park which overlooks
Bratislava. In this isolated place, I was told to write a detailed
account of everyone I knew in the Union of Slovak Writers. It did no
good to tell him that I had covered the subject in great detail many
times before.,. We remained about half an hour, after which he took me
to the main railway station in Bratislava.
11. After two weeks.. MILAN again came to Trnava, and drove me to an.
isolated spot on the outskirts of town. For the first time a person
who spoke Czech was with him; he said very little, but I could tell
by his speech that he came from Bohemia. MILAN again.asked me'about
the diplomats I had known. I pointed out that I had already given this
information, but he insisted that I write it all down in minute
detail. After this meeting, I was called to Bratislava about five
times, the last time in the latter part of May. At these meetings
everyt n :fg that had been covered before was hashed over again and
again
12. Around the first of May 1951, two Czechs from Prague came to my house
in Trnava and introduced themselves as members of the StB. They asked
about my connection with the Katyn investigation, my trial, etc.
After I had told them, they remarked that I had gotten off very lightly.
One of them accused me of belonging to the worst class of reactionaries
in all Slovakia. Then they gave me a choice of either signing a
statement or going with them to Prague. The statement read that I
agreed to work with the Communist Regime, and, that I would faithfully
serve the People's Democratic Republic. I pointed out that I was
already working.for the state, inasmuch as I was working in a'state
hospital, but they said that that was not enough. I could see nothing
in'the statement that would bind me to the police, so I signed.
13. After two weeks, one of the two men telephoned me and asked me to go
to Bratislava. I went within the next two days; they met me and we
went to the Cafe Reduta. They questioned me about leading Slovak
figures who had immigrated to other countries; they wanted to know 25X1
l4. A week later the same men phoned meat the hospital and asked me to
meet them at the Cafe Savoy in Bratislava. They asked me about well.
known Slovak writers, in particular, Jan SMREK and Emil BOLESLAV LUKAC.
I knew them well; I had met them through the Union of Slovak Writers.
My interrogators wanted to know how these writers felt about Communism.
I said that some had written pro-Communistic works and that some had
been in Moscow. I added that the men were professional writers and had
not dabbled in political matters. They asked me if I believed that war
was imminent between Russia and the West; I said that I believed that
the powers concerned would somehow find a suitable solution to their
difficulties. They made notes of everything I said.
15. One of these men from Prague came to Trnava about two weeks later;
once again he asked me about former political leaders in Slovakia,
namely Alexander MACH, Dr. Mikulas PRUZINSKY, Tidoye GASPAR, Jan
FERJENbIK, and Dr. Geyza MEDRICKY. I told them that as far as I
knee all of them had been arrested in 1946 and were confined in
Leopoldow Prison.
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18. About the first of October 1951, Jozo drove to Trnava with a
chauffeur and a man who spoke Czech. We drove tp the outskirts
of Trnava, where the man who spoke Czech asked ghat I did at the
hospital and whether we had enough chemical supplies in the laboratory.
I'surmised that he was not a specialist in that line, but probably an,:-
_StB man from Prague. He wanted to know everything.I did at work in
detail, my teaching, extracurricular activities, etc. We talked about
an hour, after which they left me in front of the hospital.,;
19. In November of the same year, the man who spoke',Czech'picked me up
in Trnava.and we drove to Sered, about 15 km. east of Trnava. We
went into a restaurant which was empty, and he pulled out of his
briefcase a number of group pictures of celebrations, meetings, etc.
I recall pointing out MACH, but I didn't recognize most of the people;
some were ministers of Slovakia during World War II. We had some
black coffee and soon afterward they took me back to the hospital;
I never saw any of this group again.
20. From the time the StB agents from Prague entered the picture,
Dr. AMBRUS and Ibegan to try to find. some means of escape to the
West. The telephone calls and visits by the StB made me uneasy
because I was afraid that people would suspect me of being an StB
informant; certainly those closely associated with me at the hospital
knew what was going on. All of these frnds agreed, that my only way
out was to leave the country because once you gave information to the
StB, there was no escape. Thinking up new excuses for not doing the
things which :I was ordered to do by the StB began to affect my
efficiency at work. Each time I visited my brother in Kuklov, my
visit and what I did while there was reported by local Communists
.to the StB. The postman, who delivered mail to the hospital, told
me to be very careful because my mail was being opened. An.SNB man
in Voderady, about 15 km. southeast of Trnava,, tc .ld me to be careful
because I was being followed at all times.
21. In February 1952. I received a letter from a member of the House of
Representatives of the US Congress asking for information on-my
participation in the Katyn'investigation. The letter wa$ addressed
to me at the University of .Bratislava. I do not know ,whether the,
letter tint went to the University or whether it.came directly to
me from the Bratislava post ofa -p but ,when I received. it, it was
enclosed in another envelope, with the address-of the hospital
written by hand. It might have been that some friend at the
university or the post ofriae intercepted the letter and re-addressed
it. I could not tell that the'letter had been opened but the
possibility that the StB in. Bratislava or Prague. had intercepted it
cannot be excluded. I conferred with my friends as to what I should
do about the letter; some thought I should take it to the police but
I saw nothing in the letter which could be interpreted as detrimental
to the state, so I didn't follow their advice. As far as I know there
'were"` no investigations as the result of my receipt of this letter.
22. On Sunday afternoon, 6 April 1952, a tall man called on me; he
introduced. himself (in Czech) as. Vincent NECAS, editor of the Czech
Publishing Office (Cesky Tiskovy Kancelar -- CTK). He told me that
the ".American Imperialists" had set up a Congressional committee to
prove that the Soviets were to blame for the massacre of Polish
soldiers at Katyn for propagands purposes. He mentioned that the
Czech journalist, Dr. Frantisek KOZISEK,` d' already written newspaper
articles proving that the Germans were to blame for the Katyn mass
murders. Dr. KOZISEK had gone'to Katyn in his capacity as a journalist
either before or after our Commission was there. He represented the
Moravian-Bohemian Protectorate. I had read Dr. KOZISEK's article which
stated that the Germans had committed "another gruesome, bestial
atrocity", and that the "Americah imperialists" were trying to twist
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