ANTI-SEMITIC MOVES OF CZECH GOVERNMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R014300250005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 2006
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: November 5, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Relea[46708/08 .W82-00457R014300250005-5
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY - " 31Pet0
iij dX It
CLASSIFICATION SECRET/CONT,ROL U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT NO.
COUNTRY Czechoslovakia
25X1 SU BJ ECT
25X1
Anti-Semitic Moves of Czech
Government
NO. OF PAGES
25X1 A
DATE DISTR. 5 November 1952
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1. As early as 1945 the Kremlin undertook measures to help the dews in Palestine-
.n the hope of winning the support and sympathy of the World Zionist Movement,
and establishing Israel as the first pro-Communist state on the Mediterranean.
A :large part of the material aid for the Jews came from Czech heavy industry,,
particularly the Skoda works in P1zer1? and Zbrojovka in Brno,, from which
quantities of arms and munitions were smuggled to Palestine.
2. In order to guarantee deliveries the Secretary of the Czech Communist Party,
Rudolpfr Slansl ys himself a Jew, formed several offices manned by his close
friends and collaborators. As one result of this,, Czech secret agents
infiltrated the Jewish fighting forces and even the Zionist organizations.
3. Slnnsky' also founded a special secret emigration office in Bratislava,, which
forwarded a large number of Jews from Czechoslovakia and Poland with semi-official
exit permits. This developed into a large traffic as Slansl s friends and
collaborators accepted bribes in gold, jewels and foreign currency for
permitting Jews to emigrate to Austalia and New Zealand as well as Israel. The
line of travel was through Bratislava and Bucharest to Ruse and Constanta. The
Jewish authorities became worried and protested.
Signs ' used the moneys not for personal purposes,, but to set up his own secret
service and to consolidate his political position. Slansky's brother Richard,
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head of the press department of the Czech Foreign Office, and such friends as
Tau.ssigova (fnu),, Fuchs (f4 u) or Pollac (Inu) used their money for personal.
purposes. This corruption spread after the Communist coup deetat,, when Slans1 f;s
friend Loebel (fnu) gained control of the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
5. This connection with World Zionist circles was almost the only way in which hard
currencies could be brought into the country, and it greatly strengthened
Slansky's position in. the regime. The Kremlin expressed satisfaction with
Approved For Release 2006/08/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457RO14300250005-5
CLASSIFICATION SECRET/CONTROL ?m U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
 Approved For Release 2006/08/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457RO14300250005-5
25X1A
. SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
Slansky?s position and his frequent interventions in a pro Moscow sense, while
waiting for the development of po~itical action in Israel, directed from Prague.
Sl,nskyls friends Geminder, Gustav Bares, Frank and Koehler, succeeded in gaining
strong influence in the MAPAM Party.
6. During the Korean trouble the hopes placed in these groups by the Kremlin,
especially by G.M. Malenkov and the opportunist group, failed of realization.
Malenkov thereupon considered himself as misled by Slansky, and Klement Gottwald
exploited the opportunity for the campaign against Slansky in the Czech Politburo.
During the campaign Gottwald mercilessly purged Slanskyas Jewish friends, thereby
cutting him off from the Party.
7. Slansky s friend Goldstucker, sent as Ambassador to Israel, tried to restore the
situation, by informing Jewish pro-Soviet groups in Israel about Soviet. intentions
with regard to the Arabs. At the same time Jewish international commercial circlets
and Zionist financiers became more suspicious about the possibilities of East-
West trade exchange through Czechoslovakia and gave fewer-opportunities to
Sl'ansk5?0s collaborators.
8. After Slansky?s arrest he was involved in currency manipulation and emigration
traffic by the depositions of such arrested collaborators as Lace Cermak, alias
Kats, Jiri Landa, alias Lebl and Mordachai Oren, who was sent to Prague by the
MAPAM in December 1951 to arrange a settlement for the release of Slansky and his
Jewish followers.
9. Gottwald, satisfied with the support of Malenkov,and silently backed by
Ambassador Lavrentiev, went on with the purge of other supporters of-Sl'anskr, such
as Lomsky (fnu) and Kaper (fnu). As Slansky?s supporters were 80 percent Jewish,
this took on the character of an anti-Semitic move. This impression was
strengthened by the brutality of Antonin Zapotocky?s methods. Zapotocky has been
frequently accused by former fellow-prisoners in German concentration camps of
being on the best of terms with the Gestapo and SS. The chief accusers were
Dutch Jews, and although Zapotock.y has vehemently denied the charges, he has
never forgotten them. The struggle with Slansky and his supporters thus soon
became q genuine anti-Semitic campaign on ZgpotockyBs part. Gottwald instructed
the leading Party theorist Stoll (fnu) to indicate a Party line of a campaign
against the cosmopolitanism of the Jewish members of the Party, in order to
give the campaign an ideological basis.
10. The campaign is being carried on in three main areas.
a. Within the Czech Communist Party, where the Jews installed by Slansky have
lost influence and position under the attacks of jealous non-Jews.
b. In the working classes, influenced by criticisms of the abuses of Jews
favored by Slansky, who enriched themselves and continued to live in luxury.
c. Among the bourgeoisie and peasantry,, influenced by the numerous Jewish
leaders of the Communist Party who have made it hard for them.
11. With an anti-Jewish campaign in full swing, Gottwald sacrificed even,some. . of his
closest friends, such as Ludvik.Frejka,, alias Freund,, his chief economic adviser,
and gave an agreement to the general dismissal of Jews, refardless of their
positions or connections with Slansky. This purge has not yet ended;'but it is
evident that the Jews, who obtained key positions in the politioal.and economic
direction of the country, cammot~be eliminated until the end of 1952 at least,
regardless of the fate of Slansky himself. However, it is expected, that the
elimination of Jews from positions of influence will bring anti-Semitism to an and.
Approved For Release 2006/08/08 : CIA-RDP82-00457RO14300250005-5