State Security (Czechoslovakia)
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Státní bezpečnost Štátna bezpečnosť |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 30 June 1945 |
| Dissolved | 1 February 1990 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Type | Secret police |
| Jurisdiction | Czechoslovakia |
| Headquarters | Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Parent agency | National Security Corps |
State Security (Czech: Státní bezpečnost, Slovak: Štátna bezpečnosť) or StB / ŠtB, was a plainclothes secret (political) police force in former Czechoslovakia from 1945 to its dissolution in 1990. Serving as an intelligence and counter-intelligence agency, it dealt with any activity that could possibly be considered anti-state or western influence.
From its establishment on June 30, 1945, the StB was bound to and controlled by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. The Party used the StB as an instrument of power and repression; State Security spied on and intimidated political opponents of the Party and forged false criminal evidence against them, facilitating the Communists' rise to power in 1948. Even before Czechoslovakia became a Communist state, the StB forced confessions by means of torture, including the use of drugs, blackmail and kidnapping. After the coup d'état of 1948, these practices developed under the tutelage of Soviet advisers. Other common practices included telephone tapping, permanent watching of apartments, intercepting private mail, house searches, surveillance, arrests and indictment for so-called "subversion of the republic".
The StB's part in the fall of the regime in 1989 remains uncertain. The reported murder of a student by police during a peaceful demonstration in November 1989 was the catalyst for wider public support and further demonstrations, leading to the overthrow of the Communist regime. The StB were alleged to have used agent Ludvík Zifčák as the dead student Martin Šmíd. This was based mainly on Zifčák's testimony. However, in 1992, the Czechoslovak parliamentary commission for investigation of events of November 17, 1989 has ruled out this version, stating that "the role of former StB lieutenant L. Zifčák was only marginal, without any connection to critical events and without any active effort to influence these events. Investigation of related circumstances has indisputably proved that L. Zifčák's testimony that attributes a key role in November's events to himself is based on facts, which are either technically impossible and unfeasible, or contradict actions of persons mentioned by him, which aimed to completely different goals."
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