An investigation by the Czechoslovakian government into the sensational rumor that Leon Trotsky, exiled Soviet leader, had come to Franzenbad to discuss with George Tchicherin and A. V. Lunacharsky plans for Trotsky’s return to Russia established that not only had Trotsky not entered Czechoslovakia but he could not be in the country even under an assumed name.
A high government official who inquired on behalf of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from all government departments concerned with Trotsky’s possible entry was informed by different authorities that there was not the slightest suspicion that Trotsky was in Franzenbad or in any other place in Czechoslovakia.
M. Papousek, Czechoslovakian ministerial director for foreign affairs, informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the government had never issued a visa to Trotsky and that Trotsky had never asked for one. He also said that no visa had recently been granted to M. Tchicherin.
When interviewed by the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, M. Lunacharsky, former Soviet commissar of education, smiled and appeared surprised at the report linking him to a rendezvous with Trotsky. He explained that he had arrived in Prague a few days ago but was not going to Franzenbad or anywhere else to meet Trotsky. The government confirmed the fact that he had arrived a few days ago. He registered as coming from Berlin and not from Moscow.
While the Czechoslovakian papers appear to be entirely uninformed on the entire matter, carrying not a single line about it, the Soviet legation explained that Lunacharsky is here on his way to London to attend an international literary and philosophical convention.
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.
