Artur London

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Artur London (born February 1, 1915 in Mährisch-Ostrau , Austria-Hungary , † November 7, 1986 in Paris ) was a Czechoslovak communist politician .

Life

London came from a German-Jewish middle class family in Moravia . He was active in the communist youth movement from the 1930s and fought for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War from 1937 to 1939 . From 1939 he lived in France, where he and his French wife Lise (née Ricol) participated in the Resistance in the resistance against National Socialism after the German occupation of France in World War II . From 1943 to 1945 he was imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp .

After the war he lived in Switzerland, in 1948 he moved with his family to Czechoslovakia , where he became Deputy Foreign Minister a year later. In 1951 he was unexpectedly arrested on behalf of the Stalinist Party, tortured and brought to trial for high treason , where he himself had to accuse himself of espionage. In the Slansky trial , which was tried before the newly established State Court in 1952 , he narrowly escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in 1956 and rehabilitated in 1963 after a painful period.

In the same year he emigrated with his family to France, where he published the book L'aveu in 1968 , which reported on his experiences during the Stalinist era. It was a great success, was translated into different languages ​​and filmed in France in 1970 ( The Confession , directed by Constantin Costa-Gavras , with Yves Montand and Simone Signoret ).

Fonts

  • I confess. The trial of Rudolf Slansky. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1970, ISBN 3-455-04500-6 .

literature

  • Jan Gerber: A trial in Prague. The people against Rudolf Slánský and comrades , Göttingen / Bristol 2016, ISBN 978-3-525-37047-6 .
  • Ministry of Justice [of the ČSR ] (ed.): Trial against the management of the anti-state conspiratorial center headed by Rudolf Slansky. (Court record in the criminal case against the management of the anti-subversive conspirators center, which was brought before the Senate of the State Court in Prague from November 20 to 27, 1952 against Rudolf Slansky, Bedrich Geminder, Ludvik Frejka, Josef Frank, Vladimir Clementis, Bedrich Reicin, Karel Svab, Artur London, Vavro Hajdu, Evzen Löbl, Rudolf Margolius, Otto Fischl, Otto Sling, Andre Simone for the offenses of high treason, espionage, sabotage and military treason) , Orbis, Prague n.d. (1953 )
  • Johann Wolfgang Brügel : A survivor of the Slansky trial speaks. In: trade union monthly books , vol. 19 (1968), ISSN  0016-9447 , booklet 9, pp. 563-564.
  • Eugen Löbl, Dusan Pokorny: The revolution is rehabilitating its children. Behind the scenes of the Slansky trial. Europa Verlag, Vienna 1968.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Artur London: L'aveu, Dans l'engrenage du procés de Prague (title translation: The confession. In the machinery of the Prague trial ). Version française d'Artur et Lise London. Gallimard, Paris 1968.
personal data
SURNAME London, Artur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Ostrava
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1986
Place of death Paris