Word: vaclav
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first day, when Communist Minister of the Interior Vaclav Nosek "discovered" the National Socialist Party's conspiracy against the state, Prague shivered with cold and fright. Truckloads of armed police with brand-new automatic rifles rumbled through the streets. Opposition leaders were arrested and Parliament, scheduled to meet next day, postponed the session indefinitely. Archbishop Beran of Prague was refused permission to pray for peace on the Communist-controlled Prague radio. In the streetcars, which used to be favorite political forums, passengers were silent. President Eduard Benes' executive office announced that the President "asks all citizens to maintain...
...Vaclav Eduard Benes '50, nephew of President Eduard Benes of Czechoslovakia, offered a cine yesterday as to the whereabouts of his uncle...
Among the 20 students and outsiders attending the meeting was Vaclav Eduard Benes '50, grandnephew of the present Czech president. Young Benes deplored the fact that he was unable to throw any light on reactions to the new government, since his most recent letters home remained unanswered...
After a weekend of sustained government crisis, Gottwald acted. Police of Communist Vaclav Nosek's Interior Ministry, armed with tommy guns and bayoneted rifles, surrounded most government offices and the Prague radio station. The Czech radio announced that the border was closed to all except those with new police visas on their passports...
Czech Communists promptly began wrapping their promised bread with Communist threats. Communist Party Secretary Richard Slansky announced: "If anyone now dares to criticize the Soviet Union it will be a crime against the state." Communist Minister of Information Vaclav Kopecky more ominously added: "From now on anti-Communism is actually high treason." Retorted the National Socialist Svobodny Zitrek: "What are the Communists threatened by? Nothing but democracy...