Vězni z uranových oblastí odsouzení k trestu smrti [The Prisoners from Uranium Mines Sentenced to Death]

Pages

31-40

Citation

BÁRTÍK, František. Vězni z uranových oblastí odsouzení k trestu smrti [The Prisoners from Uranium Mines Sentenced to Death]. Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia. Prague: National Museum, 2016, 70(3-4), 31-40. ISSN 2570-6845 (print), 2570-6853 (online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/amnph/70-3-4/vezni-z-uranovych-oblasti-odsouzeni-k-trestu-smrti-the-prisoners-from-uranium-mines-sentenced-to-death

Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia | 2016/70/3-4

The present article focuses on one of the persecution mechanisms that the communist regime used against its opponents. It examines the subject of people sentenced to imprisonment who served their time in the labour camps set up in the uranium mining areas (1949–1951). These men under the burden of working and living conditions, longed for freedom and some of them tried to solve their hopeless situation – the perspective many years in prison – by attempting to escape. While some escapes were successful, some of the runaways were caught or even shot fleeing. Those caught were put on trial and, depending on the period of the escape, their original sentence was extended from a few months to dozens of years, some were even sentenced to death. The attention is turned especially to these men and these trials. The emphasis is placed also on the last moments (memories of relatives on their last visit, farewell letters) of those sentenced to death.

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