Sik Brands As ‘lie’ Tass Allegations That ‘u.s. Zionist Money’ Was Behind Him

Ota Sik, the self-exiled Czech-Jewish economist, has denounced as “a racially colored lie” charges circulated by the Soviet news agency Tass that he had accepted “Zionist money from the United States” to overthrow the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Mr. Sik’s comment was published yesterday in the Prague newspaper, Svobodne Slovo. He wrote, “It is somewhat awkward when a Communist must respond to such a racially colored lie of a Communist news agency.” Mr. Sik, who was deputy premier and chief economist in the reform regime of Alexander Dubcek, fled to Switzerland when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia last summer. He visited Prague briefly several months ago. He has been a frequent target of the press in Poland and East Germany.

Radio Prague commentator Peter Pithart said last week in a broadcast that anti-Semitism was seeping into Czech politics, especially as a means for finding scapegoats for “the nation’s catastrophe.” He said that “it is perhaps not correct to speak about mass moods, but the seed has been sown.”