COMMUNISTS: End of the Trial

Six days after they were condemned, Rudolf Slansky, Vladimir Clementis and nine other alleged Communist fomenters of “Zionist” and “Jewish nationalism” went to the gallows.* As dutifully as they had confessed to all manner of errors and evil, they had waived their right of appeal. They went to their deaths in the same grim Pankrac prison where they were tried.

*The usual procedure in Communist Czechoslovakia: a strong, thin, silken noose, tied around the victim’s neck, is then passed over a pulley at the top of a heavy stake. The victim is dropped from such a low elevation that his neck is not immediately broken. The executioner, who is standing near by, accomplishes this with his hands.