Soviet and East German propaganda organs have singled out two prominent Czech liberals, both Jews, to blame for the current wave of protests in that country against repressive measures imposed by Moscow. Former Vice Premier Ota Sik and Prof. Eduard Goldstuecker, president of the Czech Writers Union, have been held responsible for the recent self-immolation of several Czech students in gestures of opposition to Soviet attempts to crush liberal reforms.
Dr. Sik and Dr. Goldstuecker both returned to Prague recently from self-imposed exile to take their oaths as members of the Czech regional assembly. An East German radio broadcast assailed Dr. Goldstuecker as “an oppressor of creative Marxist writers, a proponent of the theory of alienation, a fraternizer with the Western secret service and a man who encouraged anti-social forces and served the imperialists.” Dr. Sik, author of the economic reforms under the regime of Alexander Dubcek, was accused of “associating the Czech economy with capitalist monopolists and their crises of unemployment and exploitation.”
Dr. Goldstuecker and Dr. Sik left Czechoslovakia at the time of the Soviet invasion last summer. The former is a visiting professor at Sussex University in England and the latter lectures at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Both were warmly welcomed when they returned to Prague and reportedly told colleagues that they intended to return permanently to Czechoslovakia when their present university commitments are fulfilled. The Czech news media pay scant attention to the Soviet and East German broadcasts attempting to whip up anti-Semitism among the Czech populace.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
