Another conspiracy · Czechia · 1945–1952 and after
A communist regime revived collective suspicion using the language of Zionism and foreign agents.
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1945–1952 and after
Another conspiracy · The show trial needs a Jewish enemy
A communist regime revived collective suspicion using the language of Zionism and foreign agents.
A different regime, a new accusation
After the war and the communist takeover, state power adopted a different political vocabulary. In 1952, the Slánský trial prosecuted fourteen senior officials, eleven of Jewish origin. Investigators presented a supposed international Zionist conspiracy. Jewish ancestry became a political marker of suspicion.
Confessions replace evidence
The defendants’ confessions were coerced, and the trial was staged to validate a predetermined conspiracy. Eleven defendants were executed. Antisemitic allegations were part of the case, encouraged by Soviet advisers. The regime’s claim to oppose racism did not prevent it from conducting antisemitic persecution.
The continuity is in the method
The Hilsner affair, Nazi persecution and Slánský trial belonged to different systems. They should not be treated as one continuous policy. What can be traced is the use of Jewish identity to make accusation seem credible before evidence is tested. Each case required particular authorities and people to enact it.