Evening star., 1953-09-20

(The tolloaDing article is an
analysts of William OGtiS' sir
part series on his experiences in
Red CsechOSloU1kiG from the
eteppoint of an antt-CommuntSt
refugee from an Eastern Euro
pedn country. The lUriter,
lalUyer ,0ho has had 1Uide eT-
perience NTH Communist police
methods before taking political
refuge l0eSt of the Iron Curtain,
has been guaranteed anonymity
as protection for kinSn1en In his
former countryJ
Associated Press Correspondent
William Oatis, in last weeks ac-
count of his trial and Imprisonment
in Red Czechoslovakia, has done
more than recite afreSh the we'll
known story of malignant Commu-
mist dictatorship. He has shown
himself to have been a tragically
naive man. That is the most chari-
table deduction to be drawn from
his series, which ended in The Star
last Friday.
His tale of sudden arrest, searches
without warrants. 1nterrogationS for
days without interruption and de-
tention in Jail for indefinite periods;
his accounts OF breaking down the
unlucky prisoners and their exhaus-
tive pretrial rehearsals are the
usual phenomena of Communist
rule. They were ell-established
police state techniques even before
the Moscow trials of the '30s. How
Mr.. Oats reacted to these things
can arouse only deep sense of pity
for the man and grief for the even
less fortunate Czechoslovak patriots
to whose deaths and tortures he
must have contributed. however un-
willingly or unwittingly.
1t is easy, of course, to sit back
IN q rocking chair thousands of
miles away from the scene and
criticize. And mere criticism would
be monstrouSly preSumptuouS. Only
the victim can judge himself. Each
individual case of torture is differ
ent. It is q matter between the
interrogators and their victim. No
bystander could possibly know
enough of the unSpoken, unseen
circumstances to set himself up as
Judge. But it would be throwing
away an opportunity if all of us in
the western world did not try to
learn from Mr.. Oats shatterlng
experience.
There are lessons in the Oats
story which should be studied care
fyI1t hHY
expects to travel behind the Iron
Curtain or suspects that he may
some day find himself behind it
contrary to his will. Business firms
which operate behind the Iron Cur
tain should also make very sure
that their employees are familiar
with Mr. Oats case and the pitfalls
he encountered, pitfalls like the
ones that trapped Robert Vogeler
and Edgar Sanders in Hungary.
If there can be some profit from
the Oats experience, maybe the
high price Mr.. Oats paid can be at
least partially recouped.
Here, briefly, is list of things Mr..
Oats might have done differently:
. He might hdUe been less free tDith
his admissions and confessions. AS
chief correspondent for the ASSo-
Ciated Press in Prague. Mr.. Oats
should have had enough experience
in human behavior not to fall such
easy prey to the promises, preferen-
tial treatment and sweet words of
the Communist police. It is almost
unbelievable that interrogators of
doubtful integrity, using vague as
surances, could persuade Mr.. Oats
to make so many admissions, especi-
ally of espionage.
Considered along with other pris-
oners of the Communists, Mr.. Oats
must be judged to have been a very
lucky man. The Reds gave him
preferential treatment, by their
standards. They did not subject him
to bodily torture, as they so often
have done other prisoners.
Before the court he repeated his
confessions as if he had been
drugged. But. by his own state
ment, he was not under narcotic in
fluenceD
. He might hare been quicker to
see that the Communists 1Uere less
interested in conUictinq him as
spy than in framing him as an i'm
portant part OF an anti-gouernment
conspiracy.
. He should not hare carried around
messages tDtth data about police
informant in his o1Un Office. This is
a dangerous kind of sport, especial
ly if such notes are torn up before
the eyes Of many, and then left to
be picked up and pieced together by
the ever-present police. This was