[Page 173]

In Eastern Europe new winds began to blow. Russia was having problems with Yugoslavia that refused to follow Stalin's political line. Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia and Stalin in Russia were at each other's throats, but Stalin could do little since there were no Russian troops in Yugoslavia. The pro–Russian elements in Yugoslavia were rounded up and disarmed. Tito was ready to fight and had the support of the West, namely the USA. Stalin had to accept defeat but decided to tighten control over his empire. The Russian secret services received orders to tighten controls in Eastern Europe. No more Tito–type situations. The various communist parties in Eastern Europe were told to prepare to take power in their countries. Fear and panic swept the communist world as the winds of the cold war progressed. Stalin's paranoia with Jews began to emerge into the open. Russian papers began to write anti–Jewish articles. The Jewish theater in Russia was being dismantled and the great Yiddish actor Salomon Michoels was banished to Minsk where he would be murdered. The Russian secret services received orders to begin to tighten their control in the satellite countries; even the NKVD in Prague was told to follow local events closely.

According to Toman's revelations at the American military base, the Czech Communist Party was ordered to prepare plans to seize power in Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, the Czech party was ordered to cooperate with the Soviet NKVD in Prague. The plotters began to draw plans and prepare lists of people that had to be removed from power, dismissed or jailed for the coup to succeed. One of the first to be eliminated would be Zdenek Toman. He was a Jew, well connected with Zionist and American organizations, lived for many years in England, and very independent and sure of himself in relation to the Russian secret service. The Soviet NKVD remembered Toman's acts of independence and was happy to settle scores with him. Gottwald and Slansky also wanted to rid themselves of Toman who was too involved in all kinds of financial and black market operations that provided money to the party apparatus and goods like perfumes to the wives of the party leaders^[1]. Some communists were also happy to reduce his power. Toman was also very close to the Czech establishment, namely Jan Masaryk. His downfall had to be carried out very slowly but decisively since he controlled military forces, notably the border guards and other forces at his disposal in the Interior Ministry. The decision to destroy him was made in typical Stalinist fashion, namely he would be promoted to be Deputy Minister of the Interior. He lost control over the security forces to one of his subordinates in the fall of 1947^[2]. Toman was neutralized by the move. As he himself told Tad Szulc, “I had access to all the files and knew what everybody did, so people were afraid of me.” Toman still retained control of the Czech foreign intelligence services but his influence was on the decline, he was being pushed out of power. Nosek hinted to Toman that he would not be invited to the festivities at the Russian embassy party in honor of the Russian revolution, an event that was a must for all–important Czech communist officials.^[3] Toman revealed some fears to his wife but she dismissed them. Toman was not invited to the party. The event encouraged his many opponents who, like sharks, smelled blood in the water. His wife Paula encouraged him to continue to build the new communist Czechoslovakia. Paula Toman was a devoted Communist Party member. Toman began to notice that his office was being ostracized by the Soviet NKVD. Even the Czech secret service organizations began to distance themselves from his offices.

Meanwhile the plotters began to look for people that could testify against Toman. It had to be people who knew Toman, worked with him and were intelligent. One of them would have to be the star witness around whom the entire case would be built. The team soon found Captain Adolf Puchler, a

Captain Adolf Puchler

Communist Czech leader Klement Gottwald addressing party members

General Secretary of the Czech Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky

The first page of Puchler's letter to Rudolf Slansky

Document Nr. 1
A Letter of Captain Adolf Puchler to the Secretary General of the Central Secretariat of the Czechoslovak Communist Party Rudolf Slansky
National Archives of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. (K. Svab – H. Hynkova)

Prague, December 22^th 1947

Captain of Army A.A. Puchler
Prague, XII., Korunni Avenue 127
Tel………

To the Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Sir Rudolf Slansky

Prague.

Honorable Secretary General,

According to the discourse I had on December 10^th with my good friend Sir Antonin Pengler from Derby, England, I allow myself to reveal to you the following information:

Since 1927 I have served with the Secret Service of the Czechoslovakian Army. I performed offensive intelligence activity abroad. During the war years 1939 – 1945 I was a member of the Czechoslovakian Army units in the West and was awarded military honors. I was always evaluated by my superiors as a fully reliable and loyal person, honest and disciplined. During the performance of these assigned tasks, I frequently risked my own life.

In September 1945 I was assigned at the request of the Ministry of Interior to the London Branch of this ministry. Since the day of my appointment I performed mainly investigatory tasks. In January 1946 I was assigned by my chief, Doctor Toman, to perform other jobs too, connected to financial matters. Doctor Toman informed me that these activities were official and served the Czech Communist Party. I was also told not to ask questions but to execute the orders. As a disciplined intelligence agent I performed these assignments exactly as ordered. I never asked Doctor Toman for details. I frequently traveled between London and Prague with a special diplomatic passport.

On April 1, 1946 I was ordered by Dr. Toman to raise –50.000 English pounds to buy Czech bijouterie or jewelry that would be transported to England and sold on the black market. Doctor Toman told me clearly that it was in the interests of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and the Interior Ministry. He promised me 25% from the net profit, as a special reward. I was ordered by Doctor Toman to contact the head of the army headquarters General Bocek, to obtain a courier letter from him. Doctor Toman knew that I had good relations with General Bocek, and indeed he obtained the courier letter for me without asking for details or explanations. I alone had to organize the transfer of the bijouterie to England. I obtained the financial resources needed for purchasing the bijouterie partly from Doctor Toman directly – 450.000 Czech crowns, and partly by selling my foreign currency deposits that I had sent to England in 1939. I was then to sell the jewelry in England and bring back English pounds that would be sold on the local Czech market at a tremendous profit. I purchased the jewelry according to these orders. Before leaving for England Doctor Toman asked for his money of 450.000 Czech crowns. He informed me that he expected an imminent inspection by Major Pokorny, head of the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Interior. I told Doctor Toman that the money had been used for the purchase of the jewelry. Doctor Toman demanded categorically that I return his money and ignored my protests that I had no money to give him. He then advised me to borrow money from my acquaintances in Czechoslovakia and to promise them that I would open Sterling accounts in England for them. People would thus send money abroad without paying taxes or duties, a highly illegal act. I acted according to his suggestions, I found people interested in illegal transfer of Czech crowns to England and getting British Pounds. I obtained 450.000 Czech crowns and turned them over to Doctor Toman. I transferred the jewelry to England where it was sold illegally. The money was brought back to Czechoslovakia in English pounds and distributed. I personally gave Doctor Toman 3,500 English pounds in July or August 1946 in profit money.

During his stay in London Doctor Toman tried to sell some photo cameras. I had an appointment with him at the Hyde Park Hotel, where he appeared in the company of a person unknown to me. He left this person in the lobby and told me that he got acquainted with him in a shop in the Strand and this man was interested in buying the cameras. On seeing the party, I immediately began to suspect that he was a British agent. I advised Doctor Toman to tell him that he could only sell the cameras after paying customs tax. The cameras were brought to England by Toman in the diplomatic luggage. I got the impression that the English customs officers and security services were suspicious of Czechoslovakian officials and shadowed them. To this day, I don't know how Toman sold the cameras.

In 1946 I executed a number of similar actions that were ordered by Doctor Toman. I purchased jewelry in Czechoslovakia, transferred it in diplomatic pouches to London, where I sold it on the black market for sterling. In the autumn of 1946, I don't remember the exact date, Doctor Toman asked me to withdraw 8,000 English pounds from the Czech treasury on behalf of Mrs. Toman for her journey to London. On receiving the money, I handed it over to Mrs. Toman. Doctor Toman urged me in Hungarian to seal the package containing the money with a special seal and not to reveal the contents of the package to Mrs. Toman. I took the precaution and wrote down all the serial numbers of the British pounds. A few days later I was asked by Mrs. Toman to help her purchase clothing fabrics in London at Rudinger Company on Regent Street 335, and at the Hartman Company on Bond Street. She gave me a bundle of B#1 notes to pay the bill. I identified these notes as the same notes that I handed her in the sealed parcel and I recognized their numbers.

I returned to Prague prior to Christmas 1946. Not all the business transactions were closed, since I still had part of the jewelry in London where I also had #10,000 in the office vault. In Prague Doctor Toman asked me to immediately raise 1,000,000 Czech crowns for him. I obtained this amount from Czech citizens as loans against my promise to get English pounds for them and deposit the money in their accounts in England.”

The charge letter continued to describe financial deals and cash transactions that were ordered by Doctor Toman and executed by Puchler. No supporting evidence was enclosed with the letter.

Then the letter turned to matters of state.

“In 1948 Toman participated in activities to the detriment of the state. He kept contacts with enemies of the state such as Ladislav Prchala, Chairman of the so–called Czech National Committee for Western Europe, and Mirko Cerny, a member of the same enemy organization. He passed information about the Czech defense intelligence services, to them and to other similar persons particularly the names of the agents that would affect the security of the nation. The release of this information would weaken the Czech defense apparatus.

Aurelie Rosenberg, being related to the head of the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Interior, Zdenek Toman, extracted information from him regarding military intelligence information and passed it on to people that worked for organizations that were inimical to the State of Czechoslovakia. She passed on military intelligence information to people like Dr. Imrich Rosenberg who worked for Ladislav Prchala, and thus participated in enemy activities aimed at our country, with the objective of destroying our people's democratic regime by force.

So all of them, together with additional people, conspired and contacted directly or eventually indirectly with enemy powers, who sent foreign military activists to damage the republic, with the aim of violently changing the constitution of the republic, mainly its independence, unity and the people's democratic form of the state, and these activities were carried out during the very important period of the building of the republic, the people's democratic regime, in a time that demanded tranquility, and in the period the republic was being threatened by organized activities of the reactionary forces from inside and from abroad, that were in very grave circumstances…

They disclosed directly, eventually indirectly to the enemy powers, issues that were not to be disclosed being that they were important to the defense of the republic, and their activities were dangerous since they revealed state secrets.

Doctor Zdenek Toman was sworn to secrecy due to his position as a chairman of an important department of the Ministry of Interior in Prague. In the years 1946 and 1947 he conducted personal illegal business activities, which could damage the credibility of the republic abroad, by smuggling bijouterie and other high–value items in diplomatic luggage to Great Britain.

In 1947 Doctor Toman obtained from M…. (unreadable–I.H.) /Abraham K…. (unreadable)/ big amounts of money that led to the release of K, a former Jewish head of the Ostrowce Jewish concentration camp. He was a war criminal and was arrested by the Czech authorities. He was released by Toman who used his power as an official by damaging the state interests.”

The letter in essence outlined the case against Toman. No other high official was involved. Toman functioned in a vacuum. He bought and sold jewelry to make money which he did not spend. His style of living was very modest. Notice that the letter does not say that he entertained lavishly or had big expenses. The letter goes on with imaginary acts of wrong doing when in reality the communist party was the one that seized power illegally and destroyed the Czech Republic.

The letter goes on and lists a variety of illegal operations that Puchler performed for Toman. Most of these operations were illegal and supposedly served Toman. The basic charge was the smuggling of jewelry and selling it on the black market in England. The letter demands action.

The letter should have been sent to the Minister of Justice, Dr. Ortina or to the Minister of Interior in charge of police matters, Nosek or the Minister of Defense, General Svoboda. Instead Puchler send his accusation letter to the Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Rudolf Slansky. The latter was not a member of the government and held no official position in the Czech administration. Receiving such a letter was a crime in itself since Slansky was not authorized to receive or handle state security matters. Slansky showed the letter to Gottwald as planned. The latter presented the document to the government or the cabinet. They had decided on a plan of action. Both Czech communist leaders were under pressure from Moscow to move ahead with the seizure of power in Czechoslovakia. Gottwald and Slansky apparently set up a closed committee within the central party committee to co–ordinate activities with the Russian and Czech security services handling the case. This was no ordinary investigation. This involved an important and powerful member of the communist party. The findings would have to be presented at the right time to the Czech Central Committee for action. Both Czech communist leaders knew that they would soon seize power and then dispose of the case of Toman. The investigation had to be conducted in a highly secretive manner in order not to provide ammunition to the anti–communist forces. The fact that the communist party was involved in plotting to seize power was another reason for total secrecy.

Toman was accused of betraying the interest of the country by revealing secrets to foreign countries. Basically, the letter accused Toman of being interested in money. An accusation that would be hurled against many Jewish communists in future trials. Of course, London was picked as the center of all illegal activities since Toman, Puchler and Rosenberg spent the war years in England. The fact that Britain disliked Toman and did everything in its power to remove him from his post for allowing the Jews of Eastern Europe to cross Czechoslovakia never entered the case. British secret services were closely watching all the activities of Toman's agents in England and would have loved to expose or compromise Toman in such an affair. The fact that no such event occurred gave little credence to the smuggling stories. Even the CIA records noted the anti–British feelings of Toman. But logic and facts aside, Stalin had decided to finish Toman.

Slansky and Gottwald began to execute the order. The letter was the first actual step in the destruction of Toman. The search began to find incriminating evidence against Toman. The findings were known in advance. Toman must be found guilty. Rumors and innuendoes were collected and entered in the file. Supposedly huge profits were made and the money supported the Czech Communist Party and also some officials of the party or their wives received beautiful gifts^[5]. We know from Aranka's and Toman's testimony that the Tomans had few friends and barely mingled in Czech society due to his position. Toman himself stated that he never made speeches or participated in public debates. People knew of him but not him. The mere mention of his name or office was enough to discourage people from approaching him.

Toman was very busy and began to stay at his office at night. According to Aranka, her brother hardly came home and there was a lack of food in the house. She criticized him for the situation at the house and she herself brought food to the family from her own house and tried to help Paula and the baby with their needs. Meanwhile, the Czech security found enough evidence to make a case against Toman. The evidence was presented to Slansky and Gottwald who presented it to the Czech Central Committee.

The latter approved the arrest of Toman that was issued on January 28 1948. The execution of the act was delayed since the Czech communist party was involved in the final preparations to seize power in Czechoslovakia and decided to postpone Toman's arrest. On February 25th 1948, the Czech communists seized power in the country. Within two weeks, on March 10, 1948 Jan Masaryk, beloved Czech leader, supposedly committed suicide by falling out the window of his office. The Czechs were bewildered by the rapidity of events. They saw their country slip into the orbit of the communist world. Rapid changes took place overnight, border controls were closed, non–party officials were arrested or dismissed en masse, unreliable officials were sent home or arrested, and many people, including Jews, immediately left the country. An arrest warrant was issued against Imre Rosenberg on March 23, 1948^[6]. But Rosenberg was tipped off and left the country in a hurry, first to Brussels supposedly on a mission for a Czech business company; he decided to extend his stay in Belgium and then left for London.^[7] He wrote to his wife that he was very busy and would soon return home to Prague. Aranka was a bit worried by his absence and spoke to her brother regarding Imre Rosenberg. He of course assured her that everything would be fine. The secret service never bothered to question Aranka about the whereabouts of her husband. The secret service did visit the Rosenberg family in Nove Mesto and asked questions. According to Menachem Rosenberg, a nephew of Imre, the police visited the Rosenberg home several times and even arrested Abraham Rosenberg, the brother of Imre. He was kept in jail but was released, since it became obvious that he knew very little about Imre's business activities. The two brothers maintained a distant relationship. Abraham survived the Holocaust in the camps and returned to his furniture store in Nove Mesto while Imre lived in Prague and led a very busy political life. Abraham did not know too much about Imre's whereabouts or activities^[8]. As the days passed Aranka became more concerned and spent more of her time with Paula Toman and the baby. Lenke and Simon Lebovitc also managed to leave Czechoslovakia. The Czech and Russian secret services began to suspect that someone was dismantling their case, for important people that were essential to the case began to disappear, notably Rosenberg whose name appeared in Puchler's accusation letter. The secret service began to fear that Toman would also disappear. The Interior Minister, Nosek was ordered to place Toman in a maximum security place, a so–called rest home in total isolation. The order was immediately carried out and Toman was quietly whisked off to his isolation without even saying good bye to his wife and baby.

Toman was kept in isolation while the communists consolidated themselves in power. Most of the non–party officials were purged, even some party officials that were independent, were dismissed. Paula did not know what happened. Aranka urged her to see Nosek and talk to him about Toman^[9]. She saw Nosek and asked him what had happened to her husband. He assured her that he was fine but needed absolute rest and isolation. He told her that he would soon be home. Shortly thereafter Toman was sent home. In March of 1948 Imre Rosenberg arrived in London, where he started to contact people notably Zionist organizations regarding help to get his wife Aranka out of Czechoslovakia. This proved very difficult since the Czechs were looking for him and already checked the Rosenberg family in Czechoslovakia. All his attempts to get Aranka out of Czechoslovakia failed. He decided to head to Canada where he was naturalized in 1954.

The Toman family was very happy to see Toman home after a lengthy absence. He rested for a few days and then headed to his office. A few days later, on April 27^th 1948, he was arrested at 10.40 in the morning in his office. He was not presented with a charge sheet nor informed of his crimes. His sister Aranka Rosenberg–Goldberg was arrested on April 28, 1948 at 8.40 in the morning. She too was not shown a charge sheet or formal arrest order. At that moment she was not even employed, having been dismissed from her job at the social services some time earlier. In all likelihood they decided to arrest her to ensure her presence in the country and at the forthcoming trial of Zdenek Toman.

Footnotes

1. Lukes, Journal, pp18–19 Return
2. The Czeck police charge sheet. Return
3. Toman's letter to Ben Gurion University dated 12/3/1982 Return
4. Aranka's testimony at her trial in Prague. Return
5. Lukes, Journal, pp18–19 Return
6. Czech records and Aranka Goldberger testimony. Return
7. Menachem Rosenberg, Imre's nephew. Return
8. Ibid., Return
9. Aranka testimony at her trial Return

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