Operation Landmark

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Location of the bogus border installations in today's Czech Republic

Operation Grenzstein (Czech: Akce Kameny ) was an intelligence service operation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR) during the Cold War from 1948 to 1951, the aim of which was to place refugees from the republic. According to other sources, the operation did not end until 1958. The idea for the operation goes back to Colonel Antonin Prchal, who tried to prevent the escape of Czechoslovak citizens to West Germany after the February revolution .

Performing the operation

American occupation zone with the border between the federal states of Bavaria and Czechoslovakia

After the assumption of political control by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the State Security Státní bezpečnost (StB) erected parts of the border fortifications of Czechoslovakia within the Czechoslovakia about 50 kilometers from the border with the US occupation zone in Germany as a false border . The bogus border fortifications that arose near Aš , Cheb , Marienbad , Chodský Újezd , Domažlice , Kdyně and Všeruby u Kdyně included barriers, signs, boundary stones, administrative buildings and border houses. Czechoslovakia followed the example of the Gestapo and the Interior Ministry of the USSR (NKVD).

The fake border installations were used by the secret police in the 1940s and 1950s to arrest refugees who wanted to overcome the Iron Curtain and leave the country. Quite a few of the captured refugees had previously been persuaded to flee by clandestine StB agents who pretended to be anti-communist underground fighters. Had Republic Volatile fake border crossings left behind and they thought they were safe, they were alleged agents of the US Counter Intelligence Corps for counterintelligence interviewed. Through questions about connections to the underground, the State Security received the personal details of other enemies of the regime who, like those who had fled the republic, ended up in penal camps. In conversations with the supposed US military, the fugitives willingly provided information about who in their family or circle of acquaintances would be willing to help the Americans in the event of the fall of the communist regime, assuming that this would be done to the benefit of the named people . In some cases, the victims were led to believe that they had been kidnapped by Czechoslovak police abroad after being questioned by the alleged Americans in the street. Likewise, individual refugees were handed over to the Czechoslovak police by the supposed US border guards after they were denied their application for asylum. That happened to Major Josef Hnatek, a former Royal Air Force pilot . This misinformation leaked out of the prisons to the population, who, in view of the supposed rejection of refugees by the USA, reduced their attempts to flee the republic.

Reactions from abroad

The United States received shortly after the start of Operation landmark detailed knowledge of the operation by Stanislav Liška, police chief of Všeruby and participant in the operation landmark. The official protest of the USA against the abuse of American uniforms and national emblems of June 15, 1948 and July 2, 1948 was rejected by the Czechoslovak government. An investigation showed "not the slightest trace or suspicion of abuse of American emblems or pictures of American statesmen".

It was only after Radio Free Europe reported about Operation Grenzstein that the StB's intelligence operation was stopped by Rudolf Barák .

Work-up

Historians estimate that Operation Grenzstein resulted in nearly 300 prison terms, with 16 refugees sentenced to death. Many of the victims took their own lives as a result of the arrest.

The Department for Solving Communist Crimes in the Ministry of Interior in Prague has been processing the incidents, which have been documented on more than 10,000 pages since 2012. In 2013, criminal investigations into alleged perpetrators were initiated.

Czech citizens have been allowed to inspect the files since 1996.

Cinematic reception

The Czech television film Swingtime by director Jaromír Polisenský from 2007 takes up Operation Grenzstein.

In Tatort: ​​Grenzfall , Operation Grenzstein in the border area with Austria is discussed, although it is historically incorrectly embedded in the time of the Prague Spring .

Theater adaptation

On October 20, 2018, the premiere of the play Operation Kamen took place at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden . This was created in a co-production with the Archa Theater Prague, directed by Florian Fischer.

literature

  • Igor Lukes, KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 (Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, No. 1) (Extracts, March 2011) ( online )
  • Igor Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar Prague, pp. 217 ff., Oxford University Press, USA, 2012, ISBN 978-0195166798
  • Richard CS Trahair: Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations . Enigma Books, 2013, ISBN 978-1-936274-26-0 , pp. 612 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  • Joseph Frolik : The Frolik Defection . Leo Cooper, London 1975.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Spiegel Online : Secret service crimes in the CSSR: Refugee trap on the wrong border , one day, Tabea Rossol, November 1, 2013
  2. ^ A b c Richard CS Trahair: Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations . Enigma Books, 2013, ISBN 978-1-936274-26-0 , pp. 612 ( full text in Google Book Search). Joseph Frolik: The Frolik Defection . Leo Cooper, London 1975.
  3. ^ A b Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, no. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 1
  4. ^ A b Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, no. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 2
  5. ↑ a b image : "Tatort" inspector | Was there really a false Czech border? , Nicole Richter, Lena Kappei, March 8, 2015
  6. ↑ a b RP Online : How the Czech Stasi hunted refugees , Prague, Rudolf Gruber, August 27, 2012
  7. ^ A b c Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, no. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 4
  8. ^ A b c Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, no. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 3
  9. ↑ Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle operation with an American dimension, 1948-52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol 55, No.. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 5
  10. ^ A b c Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle Operation with an American Dimension, 1948–52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol. 55, no. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 7
  11. ↑ a b suite101.de: Action Grenzstein: False border lures refugees into perdition , Patrick Bernig, July 4, 2013
  12. ↑ Central Intelligence Agency : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle operation with an American dimension, 1948-52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol 55, No.. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, pp. 7-9.
  13. ↑ CIA : Ensnaring the Unwitting in Czechoslovakia - KAMEN: A Cold War Dangle operation with an American dimension, 1948-52 , in: Studies in Intelligence Vol 55, No.. 1 , Igor Lukes, March 2011, p. 8
  14. ↑ waldberge.de: The forgotten valley , Český Les, accessed on March 17, 2015
  15. ↑ Deutschlandradio : Fictitious Borders as a Refugee Trap : The “Grenzstein” campaign in the former Czechoslovakia , Kilian Kirchßner, 23 August 2012
  16. ↑ Swingtime in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  17. ↑ Stern : "Tatort" review: Forgetting the story for all the pecking , Sophie Albers Ben Chamo, March 8, 2015
  18. ↑ Operation Kamen. www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de, accessed on October 22, 2018 .

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