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289:. During interrogations, Šling would often confess and then retract his confession. Records indicate that Šling was conscious that the investigations were shaped by Moscow. Eventually, he believed that he had to be sacrificed for the Party. He apparently felt obligated to produce evidence against Slánský when he in turn became the target of investigations.
243:, not national, socialism, by routing out "bourgeois" nationalists and Zionists, and Šling came under scrutiny. The Rajk trial had revealed the possibility that the center of the international plot was in Czechoslovakia. Šling’s name was culled from interrogations from the Hungarian trials, as were the names
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A curious incident occurred during the trial: Šling was wearing the same trousers as at his arrest. Because he had lost so much weight since his arrest, and because the prisoners were not given belts, lest they use them to commit suicide, he had to hold his trousers up with his hands. During his
281:
The final draft of the resolution, submitted by Köhler and a
Central Committee delegation from Prague, accused Šling of being an enemy agent, committing espionage, incorrect methods, suppressing criticism, sabotage, and not recognizing opposition from the class enemy. Šling was expelled from the
368:
On 21 August 1963, Otto Šling and the others convicted in his trial were officially rehabilitated by the KSČ and acquitted of all indictments. Three years earlier, the USSR had stated publicly that an anti-state conspiracy center had never existed. In the
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498:
Please be advised that of the sources used, the Dubček
Government’s report came out as part of a political push for the reform of socialism, and the Loebl, London, and Šlings texts are all memoirs that reference Czech records.
862:
320:
In Šling’s closing statement, he said, “I was a treacherous enemy within the
Communist Party…I am justly an object of contempt and deserve the maximum and the hardest punishment.” On 27 November 1952, Rudolf Slánský,
857:
360:Šling was executed on 3 December 1952. His last words were, “Mr. President , I wish every success to the Communist Party, the Czechoslovak people, and the President of the Republic. I have never been a spy.”
274:. It did not confirm espionage. Šling's wife and two children were taken to Prague on the night of 5 October. His wife was imprisoned there for more than two years, until the conclusion of his trial.
373:
Government’s
Commission of Inquiry, Václav Kopecký’s report in February 1951 is labeled a “mass of fabrications, idle gossip, and irresponsible dramatics about the Šling-Švermová case.”
376:
This rehabilitation came at a time of de-Stalinization, when governments blamed the previous regimes and ideologies for the current situation. Reports on the trials came out during the
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cross-examination, Šling was gesticulating and accidentally let trousers fall down, causing a merry uproar in the courtroom from all, including Šling, except for the interrogators.
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led the KSČ to begin its own search for conspirators. It had to respond to the growing trend in other
Eastern European countries (especially obvious in the trial of
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On 6 October 1950, Šling was arrested. The only evidence of his conspiring against the Party was a letter of unconfirmed authorship, supposedly sent by Šling to
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Otto Šling was born in 1912, the son of a Jewish factory owner and his wife. In his teenage years, he became politically active and joined the
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with others involved in the
Communist cause. There he met Marian, whom he married in 1941. During World War II, he worked as the secretary of
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166:Šling was injured in Spain. After returning home briefly and the German advance into the Sudetenland in 1938, he emigrated to exile in
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The scripted show trial that included Šling, Slánský, and twelve others began on 20 November 1952. All were accused of being
152:
578:
The
Czechoslovak Political Trials 1950-1954: The Suppressed Report of the Dubček Government’s Commission of Inquiry, 1968.
124:
In 1952, Šling fell out of political favor as Stalin was trying to increase his power in
Eastern Europe. He was accused of
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177:
After the War ended, Šling returned to
Czechoslovakia. He was elected to the Provisional National Assembly and became the
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Up through mid-1950, Šling was still supported by the
Central Committee. After he conducted a controversial review of
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By February 1951, fifty people were imprisoned in connection with the Šling investigation, including
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278:, General Secretary of the KSČ, distanced himself from Šling, although they had been quite close.
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period of 1968 in Czechoslovakia, though were quickly suppressed after the invasion of the
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party. “Šlingism” became synonymous with the slightest deviation from the party line.
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embarked on a period of terror and show trials. In 1949, trials were conducted in
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After graduating from the German high school of Teplicích, Šling in 1932 entered
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in 1936, he joined the International Brigades in a medical capacity and went to
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to study medicine. He never finished his course or qualified; with the outbreak
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district officials, the Party grew more suspicious. In the summer of 1950,
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Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
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in Hungary) to link internal treason to an international conspiracy.
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asserted that the KSČ had not been infiltrated by any conspirators.
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People executed by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic by hanging
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drafted a resolution on the errors in the Brno Regional Party.
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Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954)
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Members of the Constituent National Assembly of Czechoslovakia
132:, and executed. He was later politically rehabilitated by the
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109:, Šling became the Communist Party's Regional Secretary of
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Members of the Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia
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were sentenced to death; the remaining three, including
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Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century – and After.
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In the autumn of 1949, there was a push to reaffirm
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364:Rehabilitation and posthumous references to Šling
93:politician. He was born into a Jewish family in
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153:German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague
148:movement that developed after the Great War.
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357:and Artur London, received life sentences.
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580:Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971.
313:-nationalist enemies of the Czech people.
525:. 22 August 1963, issue 52476: p. 6.
89:(24 August 1912 – 3 December 1952) was a
66:Learn how and when to remove this message
128:, convicted and sentenced to death at a
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29:This article includes a list of general
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564:Cold War International History Project
429:"Czech Party Again Ousts Mrs. Slansky"
205:in 1948, the Communist regimes across
561:Rudolf Slánský: His Trials and Trial.
7:
521:“Executed Czechs ‘Rehabilitated.’"
843:People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
181:(KSČ) Regional Party Secretary of
35:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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807:Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
179:Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
134:Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
802:Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
20:
483:"encyklopedie dějin města brna"
445:Otto Sling, who was also a Jew
1:
893:Executed Czechoslovak people
384:troops in August that year.
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551:William Morrow and Company
97:, a market town in south
82:Otto Šling (Otto Schling)
878:Slánský trial defendants
848:Jewish Czech politicians
838:People from Nová Cerekev
266:Arrest and imprisonment
50:more precise citations.
193:Suppression of dissent
83:
888:Executed Czech people
221:, but prime minister
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883:Executed politicians
588:Truth Will Prevail.
272:Emanuel Viktor Voska
172:Young Czechoslovakia
750:(life imprisonment)
732:(life imprisonment)
726:(life imprisonment)
713:(life imprisonment)
101:, then part of the
660:Vladimír Clementis
592:Merlin Press, Ltd.
514:2nd ed. New York:
435:. 28 December 1970
433:The New York Times
349:, Otto Šling, and
331:Vladimir Clementis
228:Pressure from the
201:’s expulsion from
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873:Jewish socialists
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533:My Mind on Trial.
157:Spanish Civil War
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466:. Retrieved
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458:"Otto Sling"
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437:. Retrieved
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394:Artur London
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351:André Simone
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260:Bruno Köhler
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249:Gustáv Husák
245:Artur London
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230:Soviet Union
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107:World War II
95:Nová Cerekev
91:Czechoslovak
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833:1952 deaths
828:1912 births
781: [
720: [
707: [
704:Vavro Hajdů
688: [
679:Josef Frank
669: [
666:Otto Fischl
637:Prosecution
557:Lukes, Igor
537:Harvest/HBJ
503:Works cited
382:Warsaw Pact
355:Eugen Loebl
347:Otto Fischl
234:László Rajk
48:introducing
822:Categories
787:(executed)
778:Karel Šváb
774:(executed)
772:Otto Šling
768:(executed)
762:(executed)
756:(executed)
738:(executed)
717:Evžen Löbl
700:(executed)
694:(executed)
681:(executed)
675:(executed)
662:(executed)
653:Defendants
549:New York:
535:New York:
468:2018-09-28
464:(in Czech)
462:www.psp.cz
415:References
339:Karel Šváb
299:Trotskyist
199:Yugoslavia
197:Following
140:Background
130:show trial
87:Otto Šling
56:March 2012
31:references
760:Otto Katz
523:The Times
516:Routledge
311:bourgeois
293:The trial
203:Cominform
163:in 1937.
146:communist
117:(now the
105:. After
590:London:
439:10 March
388:See also
219:Bulgaria
795:Related
594:, 1968.
539:, 1976.
518:, 1994.
494:Sources
307:Titoist
303:zionist
211:Hungary
183:Moravia
136:(KSČ).
126:Zionism
99:Bohemia
44:improve
631:(1952)
576:, ed.
566:#50. (
371:Dubček
256:Znojmo
241:Soviet
217:, and
215:Poland
168:London
33:, but
785:]
724:]
711:]
692:]
673:]
161:Spain
441:2019
247:and
187:Brno
121:).
111:Brno
568:pdf
185:in
113:in
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309:-
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54:(
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