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Zapomenutý příběh o několika dějstvích: kovář Tomáš Rumíšek a „javornická“ vražda z března roku 1949 [A Forgotten Story in Several Acts: Blacksmith Tomáš Rumíšek and the Murder Committed in Javornice in March 1949]

Petr Mallota
Pages 59-64
Citation MALLOTA, Petr. Zapomenutý příběh o několika dějstvích: kovář Tomáš Rumíšek a „javornická“ vražda z března roku 1949 [A Forgotten Story in Several Acts: Blacksmith Tomáš Rumíšek and the Murder Committed in Javornice in March 1949]. Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia. Prague: National Museum, 2016, 70(3-4), 59-64. ISSN 2570-6845 (print), 2570-6853 (online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/amnph/70-3-4/zapomenuty-pribeh-o-nekolika-dejstvich-kovar-tomas-rumisek-a-javornicka-vrazda-z-brezna-roku-1949-a-forgotten-story-in-several-acts-blacksmith-tomas-rumisek-and-the-murder-committed-in-javornice-in-march-1949
Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae – Historia | 2016/70/3-4

On the night of 29th March 1949 a local communist official, Jan Benada, was fatally attacked in Javornik, a village located in southern Moravia. An unknown assailant shot him with a rifle directly in his house. Despite all their efforts, the police authorities were unable to trace him. Among the prime suspects figured the owner of the nationalized distillery Josef Švardala and the local blacksmith Tomáš Rumíšek. Both of them were victims of Bernardʼs former political activities. On 12th August 1950, a Czechoslovakian airliner on the route Piešťany–Karlovy Vary was hijacked by Josef Švardala. He managed to fly along with his family to Germany where he applied for political asylum. Tomáš Rumíšek became a victim of a State Security (StB) provocation in January 1952 during which it became clear that he was the real culprit of the political murder of the communist official. On 11th July 1952, the State Security lured him into a bogus business trip abroad and the following day he was arrested. The Regional Court in Uherské Hradiště charged him with High Treason and murder and on 27th January 1953 he was sentenced to death. Josef Švardala was in a fabricated sentence accused of being his accomplice. The execution of Rumíšek was carried out in the prison situated in Prague-Pankrác on 6th May 1953.

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