StB

The State Security (Czech: Státní bezpečnost, short StB and Slovak: Štátna bezpečnost, short STB) was the secret police and an intelligence of Czechoslovakia 1945 until 1989.

In addition to the regular police, the Veřejná bezpečnost ( German: Public Safety, in short VB, or Slovak veřejná bezpečnost ) was the StB part of the National Security Corps ( Sbor národní bezpečnosti, short SNB, or Slovak Zbor národnej bezpečnosti, ZNB ) and successor institution to the Obranné zpravodajství ( OBZ ). In addition to the StB still existed the Rozvědka, the Department of foreign espionage in the SNB, as an independent intelligence.

History

It was founded in 1945 by the Czechoslovak Ministry of the Interior as part of the state security apparatus. The StB was before the February coup in 1948 under control of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Since then, the intelligence built up under the guidance of the Soviet advisors was the most important organ of repression of the communist regime, which by all means real and perceived opponents of the new rulers pursued particularly in the period of late Stalinism State and party leader Gottwald and terrorized. His duties were similar to those of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR.

Attached to him, was a created by KGB model department for foreign espionage, the "Enlightenment headquarters ," alias " first administration" ( Hlavní správa rozvědky, 1 správa; Slovak Hlavná správa rozviedky, 1 správa ), which, in particular in Austria and the USA ( due to the large number of exiled Czechoslovaks there) was very active. In October, 1962, the StB Slovak refugee Emil Švec to lure in the vicinity of the border and even to arrest him on Austrian territory. During the time of the Prague Spring, tensions arose between the StB and the Rozvědka. During the StB remained loyal to Moscow line, the Rozvědka distanced itself from Stalinist methods and imputed fully the Government Dubček. Short-term foreign espionage was even completely removed from the competence of the Ministry of Interior. After August 1968, Rozvědka but was cleared of supporters of reform communism and again inspected together with the StB under the roof of the SNB.

In 1977, the StB was able to install one of his agents in the West. Josef Hodic was one of the signatories of Charter 77 and then fled with numerous other politically persecuted to Austria, where he was very active moving in emigre circles. Only after his return to Czechoslovakia in June 1981 it became clear that he was not a refugee but an agent.

In the late 1980s employed the StB about 18,000 full-time employees before it was dissolved on February 15, 1990 during the Velvet Revolution on the instructions of Prime Minister Marián Čalfa to the then Interior Minister Richard Sacher.

As an indirect successor institutions of the domestic intelligence Úřad incurred per ochranu ústavy a demokracie (Office for Protection of the Constitution and democracy ) and the Foreign Intelligence Úřad per zahraniční styky a informace (Office for Foreign Relations and Information).

Problems of dealing with the past

When, after 1989, the management of their own past in Czechoslovakia was in progress, the records of the secret police were still long under lock and key, which among other things meant that you could not defend himself against defamation. The organized by the state access to the archives of the State Security took place in three phases - 1996, 2002 and 2007:

The historian Jan Pauer judges on the one hand, that the opening of the secret police archives in the Czech Republic relatively radical happened, but complains at the same time that the spy reports were presented to the public without comment, thus creating space for denunciations. Numerous fates such denunzierter persons were described in an acclaimed novel by Zdena Salivarová. Similarly, judges and the historian Muriel Blaive. Overall, there were ( to about 2006) more than 750 complaints from people, which has been certified court that they were unduly StB directories.

Public lists of employees

Regardless of the legislation a total of three different lists were published of alleged employees of the secret police since the early 90s of last century.

In 1992, the former dissident Petr Cibulka which later became known as Cibulka lists the documents are available, which is about 160,000 alleged members of the secret police included ( Cibulka himself spoke of 200,000 names). This directory is up to now controversial, because, besides the actual employees also contained the names of totally uninvolved or even spied on victims.

About ten years later, the Czech Interior Ministry published their own lists of employees of the former secret police, who were less extensive. In the approximately 75,000 names it should be only to Czech citizens and only to active employees, which, however, is as unfounded turned out ( as in the case of the actress Jirina Bohdalová, the court clarification reached ), while others, who admitted openly their activities were not out there.

Mid-2009, has released another list of the employees of the former secret police of the ecologist and regional politicians Stanislav Penc, where more than 770,000 people to reside. Also, this list turned out to be controversial.

The documents of the secret police StB found in the archive of the security services in Kanice.

Source, itemisation

• Helmut Roewer, Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl: Encyclopedia of intelligence in the 20th century. Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2317-9.