Show Trials : Stalinist Purges in Eastern Europe, 1948-1954

Show Trials combines first-hand knowledge with hitherto unpublished, confidential material, to offer a penetrating and candid account of the Stalinist purges that occurred in Albanian, East German, Bulgarian, and Rumanian purges, as well as in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. George Hodos shows how these trials played a pivotal role in consolidating Soviet domination over the satellite countries during Stalin's lifetime. As an important addition to our understanding of these events and times, Show Trials is essential for historians of Eastern Europe and absorbing reading for anyone interested in world affairs. Contents......Page 8 List of Abbreviations......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 1 Introduction......Page 20 2 Prelude in Albania......Page 24 3 The Kostov Trial in Bulgaria......Page 32 4 The Field Connection......Page 44 5 The Road to the Rajk Trial......Page 52 Personal Notes I: May 1949......Page 59 6 Preparations for the Model Trial......Page 62 Personal Notes II: July–August 1949......Page 70 7 The Rajk Trial......Page 78 Personal Notes III: August 1949–March 1950......Page 86 8 The Unleashed Terror in Prague......Page 92 9 The Slánský Trial......Page 102 Personal Notes IV: May 16, 1950......Page 108 10 The Reinterpreted Show Trials in Romania......Page 112 Personal Notes V: March 1950–April 1952......Page 125 11 The Interrupted Show Trials in East Germany......Page 132 Personal Notes VI: April 1952–June 1954......Page 147 12 The Polish Way of Show Trials......Page 154 Personal Notes VII: July–September 1954......Page 173 13 Consequences and Conclusions......Page 178 Notes......Page 184 Selected Bibliography......Page 198 B......Page 202 D......Page 203 F......Page 204 J......Page 205 K......Page 206 M......Page 207 P......Page 208 S......Page 209 T......Page 210 X......Page 211 Z......Page 212 About The Author......Page 214 Pp. 83-91 discuss the Slansky trial (1952) and its antisemitic aspects, accompanied by the author's personal notes. Rudolf Slansky (1901-1952), a Jew and secretary-general of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, and fourteen leading party members (eleven of whom were Jews) were prosecuted for conspiring against the state. They were seen as Zionist activists and agents of imperialist Israel. The Jewish descent of the defendants was constantly stressed. Slansky and ten others were hanged in December 1952; the other three were sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial formed a direct link with the Doctors' Plot in the Soviet Union. Hodos himself, a Hungarian Jew, was tried in Hungary in 1954 and sentenced to eight years in prison. Includes information on similar trials in Poland, Romania, East Germany, and Bulgaria. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)