Buď připraven k udání - Dokumentární povídky z 50. let – Doležal Miloš (2025)

People in the Shadows of Lost Freedom

To inform, prohibit, imprison, deport, and kill, but also to risk, save, help, and bravely resist hatred. Dramatic stories set in the 1950s in Czechoslovakia are united by the raw stamp of the era, yet their actors, choices, and behaviors are diverse. It would seem that this is a time thoroughly described by historians, journalists, and witnesses. However, the fourth and final part of the series of documentary stories by Miloš Doležal brings previously unknown tales that illuminate this period from unexpected angles. The seven essays are based on the author's thorough study of documents and testimonies from participants and witnesses. And where the author's previous book 1945: The Summer of Demons ended, this volume begins. In the autumn of that year, the glassmaker, philanthropist, and anti-Nazi resistance fighter Čeněk Císař is driven to humiliation and suicide. Josef Vašíček is shot by Russian 'liberators' while protecting his family. The guard of the Leopoldov prison, Ján Blahút, who murdered the farmer Václav Průša, father of seven children, remains unpunished. The guard of the Pankrác prison, Václav Sisel, on the other hand, 'deceives with his body' — seemingly strict, but in reality a discerning man who...