TY - JOUR
T1 - Fantastic truths, compelling lies
T2 - Radio Free Europe and the response to the Slánský trial in Czechoslovakia
AU - Feinberg, Melissa
PY - 2013/2
Y1 - 2013/2
N2 - This article examines the coverage by Radio Free Europe (RFE) of the show trial of Rudolf Slánský in 1952 and contrasts this coverage with documents on the response to the trial within Czechoslovakia. RFE aggressively portrayed the trial as a pack of lies and condemned its anti-Semitism as not authentically Czechoslovak. The response within Czechoslovakia was more much nuanced. Most publicly accepted the trial as valid and acted in ways that underscored that acceptance. Within this acceptance, however, they varied from the trial script and brought their own meanings to the story. Those meanings were not always ones that either RFE or Czechoslovak leaders would have recognised as true.
AB - This article examines the coverage by Radio Free Europe (RFE) of the show trial of Rudolf Slánský in 1952 and contrasts this coverage with documents on the response to the trial within Czechoslovakia. RFE aggressively portrayed the trial as a pack of lies and condemned its anti-Semitism as not authentically Czechoslovak. The response within Czechoslovakia was more much nuanced. Most publicly accepted the trial as valid and acted in ways that underscored that acceptance. Within this acceptance, however, they varied from the trial script and brought their own meanings to the story. Those meanings were not always ones that either RFE or Czechoslovak leaders would have recognised as true.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0960777312000501
DO - 10.1017/S0960777312000501
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871322692
SN - 0960-7773
VL - 22
SP - 107
EP - 125
JO - Contemporary European History
JF - Contemporary European History
IS - 1
ER -