In this illustrated, five page reminiscence, former Communist refugee Ivan Pluhar (b. 1927), recalls those dreadful days following the end of the Second World War when it became clear to all the citizens of Czechoslovakia that their Soviet "liberators" had no intention of leaving their country. This article will give some indication what it was like during the earliest years of the occupation and how dissenters were treated during that period.
Having made public his general distaste for communism, the author was kicked out of the local university on the grounds that his intelligence was "too low for a successful student" and sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the Jachymov uranium mines. Some two and a half years later he made good his escape in the company of six other inmates.
Pluhar's exploits were documented in greater detail in his escape memoir that came out some time after this article: Seven For the Run: A True Story From the Cold War.
A Quick Read About Soviet-Enforced Atheism
Behind the Iron Curtain...
Additional magazine and newspaper articles about the Cold War may be read on this page.
From Amazon: Seven for the Run: A True Story from the Cold War
