Evening star., 1953-09-16


in Proeue more thon two yeors ogo.
Prague had been cut in half a!
three men had been arrested, ont
by one
had to run the bureau witt
only two tranSlatorS to help me
cover the news through the Il
hours every day that it was made
available by the official Czecho.
slovak News Agency, newspapers
and radio.
I had to look for new help
keep books, write letters. l hao
to get a tire fixed. And had
promised to go see Tyler Thomp-
SON counselor of the United
States Embassy, to talk to him
about my personal safety.
All morning was involved
with Office detail, and it was z
pm. before I was ready to go to
the embassy.
Just at that moment, a caller
walked in. 1t was MiroslaV
(Mike) Hustak. Czech who had
lost his job as an operations OFF,
Ger for Pan American AirwayS
when the line had stopped flights
TO Prague the previous fall.
He had come to my Office about
a month before. asking for work
There was some question about
Hustak. I was not going to hire
him. though I needed another
translator badly and his English
was good. But he had kept COM
Ing to see me.
Though it was chilly that
April day. Hustak, a husky young
man with a low. forehead and
eyebrows that Joined above his
nose, was in shirt sleeves and
hatleSS.
Caller Shows Photograph.
He told me he had a story for
me. and showed me a photo
graph.
It was a picture of the front Of
an old castle, fenced off by iron
bars and guarded by police dogs.
Hustak said this was Kolodej
Castle, northeast of Prague. On
one barred window was an TX"
in green ink.
Pasted on the back of the print
was a typewriter note in Czech,
which Hustak' translated for me.
1t stated that DR.. Vlado Glenn
entis, former Czechoslovak for
eign minister. had been held un-
til recently in the chamber
marked The note said this in
formation came from "a militia
man named Jan"
Hustak told me he had got the
picture from an acquaintance
who knew about the interroga-
ton of Clements, arrested the
previous January on spy charges.
He said the man wanted to sell
me the story. I told him I did
not buy stories.
He promised to try to pry it
out for nothing. Then he started
for the door.
Hey" I called after him,
"you left your picture"
"Oh, you can keep it," he said
hastily, and dashed on out.
1 laid the picture in a desk
drawer and put on my hat and
coat to go to the embassy.
Before l got to the door, it
opened suddenly and some men
in trench coats walked in. There
we're six of them, as I remember.
They surrounded me.
A short blond man in glasses,
with a freckled pokerface,
flashed a blue card from his
pocket.
He looked like the kind of
little boy that breaks windows
and writes bad words on fences.
IlCtuIC 10 DISCOfCICus
But the card told me that he
belonged to the Statni Bezpec-
most Estate Security. the most
widely feared group in Czecho-
slovakia-the Communist secret
police
The little man, apparently the
only one that spoke English, had
me throwing everything from my
pockets onto a table.
Another plainclothesman, who
seemed to be directing things,
picked up a little black note
book.
"Pavel! Ha-ha!" he shouted,
reading from the notebook.
"Vesely! Ha-ha! Pokorny |!
Ha-ha!"
Those were the names of high
security officers reported ar
rested in a purge that had begun
in October with the impriSon-
ment of a Brno Communist
leader named Otto Sling.
A third man went to my desk,
opened the drawer and took out
the photograph I had got from
Hustak. He examined it. pushed
it in front of my nose and cried,
"Spionaz!" cShpee-oh-nahzhD
That was one Czech word ]
understood. 1t meant "espio-
mage"
I headed for a teletype ma
chine. If l could punch mes
sage out on that. it would &c
right into The APPS Frankfurt
bureau. But a detective headed
me off.
Finally, the interpreter told
me l must come to the police
station.
I'VE just want to talk to you,
he said. You will be back here
in an hour"
did not believe it for one
minute. But there was nothing
! could do.
Three of the men escorted me
downstairs and to car parked
in the street.
A bareheaded chauffeur wa
at the wheel. One of the de
tectives got in beside him. Tht
other two sat in back, with mt
bafuooT, thapo