--- description: Ousted Czech Vice Premier Rudolf Slansky is still awaiting trial in Prague for crimes vaguely described as "activities against the state." Last week a clearer picture of the crimes, and... title: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In Hitler's Steps image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In Hitler's Steps by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 31, 1951 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 31, 1951 5:00 AM CUT Ousted Czech Vice Premier Rudolf Slansky is still awaiting trial in Prague for crimes vaguely described as “activities against the state.” Last week a clearer picture of the crimes, and of a growing Communist crusade, emerged from a speech made by Communist Premier Antonin Zapotocky. The speech, an appeal to national pride which might have stemmed from Adolf Hitler, was a bitter attack on “Jewish capitalism” and “interference from Jerusalem.” Slansky, like several of the victims of Czechoslovakia’s current party purge, is a Jew. Therefore, he is, in the favorite word the Commies use to denounce Jews, a “cosmopolite.” The Communist organ Rude Pravo explained further: “Traitors of the type of Slansky . . .are indifferent to the past and present of the people among whom theylive because they have nothing in common with them.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6886665/czechoslovakia-in-hitlers-steps/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6886665/czechoslovakia-in-hitlers-steps/"},"headline":"CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In Hitler's Steps","datePublished":"1951-12-31T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-19T16:46:16.615Z","description":"Ousted Czech Vice Premier Rudolf Slansky is still awaiting trial in Prague for crimes vaguely described as \"activities against the state.\" Last week a clearer picture of the crimes, and...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6886665/czechoslovakia-in-hitlers-steps/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6886665/czechoslovakia-in-hitlers-steps/","name":"CZECHOSLOVAKIA: In Hitler's Steps"}}]}] ```