Muž bez minulosti - Podivuhodný příběh Karla Nováka – Česal Aleš (2024)

In the 1950s, Czechoslovak security forces detained a man near the state border with Poland who was deaf-mute and suffered from memory loss. For twenty-seven years, the State Security was unable to determine his true identity or what his mission was. Was he an 'imperialist' agent? A war criminal? Where did he come from and where was he going? Did he assume a false identity? Although his ID stated the name Karel Novák, in the now-declassified files he appears under the aliases N-44, Unknown, or Martian. His neighbors and acquaintances nicknamed him Karel the Spy. His secret withstood harsh interrogations and drugs, and it still endures today. His death in the early 1980s is also shrouded in mystery. The author has processed one of the most enigmatic cases of State Security based on archival materials that span hundreds of pages. The story of the man without a past, Karel Novák, is set in the historical context with the aim of answering not only the question of who Karel Novák was but also why he aroused such great interest from State Security for three long decades.