Evening star., 1951-09-10
Psychiatrist Tells
Of Methods Reds Use
To Force Confession
By the Assoeiatsd Press


A Fellow Reporter: If William
Nathan Oats was q spy, then
every decent, self-reSpecting jour-
naliSt is a spy. -.
A Former Colleague: If William
Nathan Oats was q criminal, then
every reporter trying to do con-
Scientious, objective job Is a GRIM
inal. :.
A Psychiatrist: If frail, sensitive
William Nathan Oats confessed
to spying, it is because no man,
however strong. could long with
stand the relentless mental and
physical torture which is one Of
communism's outstanding contri-
buttons to humanity. The tech
nique is exhaustion Of the pris-
oner to produce a sense Of
utter hopelessnesS to make
him feel like a man in a night
mare abandoned alone
-. deserted. -.
In English. German, Bulgarian.
Hungarian, Finnish, Chinese and
many other tongues. this story OF
how Communist Czechoslovakia
sent Associated Press Correspond
ent Oats to prison as a spy Is
booming out from the transmit
ters Of the Voice Of America.
Broadcast to Czechs.
1t is telling listeners behind the
Iron Curtain what the defense
might have been, if the Commu-
nists had permitted a defense. In
a series Of broadcasts. witness
after witness is presented, court
room fashion. to testify in Mr..
Oats behalf.
The Program Services Section
of the State Departments Inter-
national BroadcaSting Division al
ready has been broadcasting the
testimony in the Czech language.
Broadcasts in many other Ian
guages are to follow.
Witness after witness, Ques-
toned by q man posting as de-
tense counsel, testifies to an un-
Shakeable belief that Mr.. Oats
was forced to confess to spying
because he did an objective job
OF reporting in the land Of q
once-proud people now in the iron
grip Of a Red regime.
When the AP chief Of bureau
in Prague was tried, convicted
and sentenced to 10 years, the
Communist court. permitting no
defense, gave the distinct impress
sion that all testimony was care
fully rehearsed and the result
would be a foregone conclusion.
What would the defense have
been? The Voice presents it thus
as it might have been:
Wife Tells Of Romance.
Defense counsel calls Mr.. Oats
wife, the former Laurabelle Zack,
whose testimony was recorded at
her home in st. Paul, MINI.
Mrs. Oats tells the story Of her
romance with an ambitious young
reporter who wanted to be a
foreign correspondent and made
the grade. She recalls his en-
thuSiasm when he was assigned
to London and then to Prague.
He knew the dangers - three
other AP men before him had
been expelled from Czechoslovakia
but, he told her: I'm not going
to let the political climate affect
my job. I'm going there with an
open mind about the regime.
want to get at the truth-the real
truth"
BILL" says Mrs. Oats, in q
message he may never hear, Il
want you to know that I'm wait
ing for you, and I'll continue
waiting, for as long as it takes
for the doors of Pankrac prison tt
open and set you free"
The defense calls DR.. Lawrence
Kubie to the stand. He is q
psychiatrist who was a member OF
the Committee on War .Neurosis
and Psychology Of the National
Research Council. He has made
an exhaustive study of the Com
munist confession" technique
working with persons who under
went that treatment. The defense
counsel then goes on:
@. DR.. Kubie, you are familiar
with the trial Of William Oats
before the Communist court in
Prague. In your professional
opinion, did his confession follow
the usual pattern?
A. That Is q rather general
question, but I shall try to answer
1t specifically. I should say yes,
in attitude and verbiage, the
Oats confession followed the
usual pattern.
Confession" Tactics Described.
@. DR.. Kubie-based upon your
clinical work with former polit-
ical prisoners Of the Communist
states. can you tell us briefly what
may have happened to William
Oats behind the scenes in Pank-
rae prison?
A. believe I can. The key to
the confession is to exhaust the
prisoner. AS far as we can
tell, the most effective device is
not pain or torture, but ex-
haustion and fear and an over
whelming sense of desertion.
Generally speaking. they begin
insidiously. with rather harmless
questions which the person can
answer easily. There is no great
sense Of strain at first. /. Fresh
interrogators are brought in. The
questioning takes on q more