A Trial in Prague

A useful history lesson for people who either weren't around or weren't paying attention, Zuzanna Justman's documentary traces the rise of communism in Czechoslovakia, as seen in the events surrounding a pivotal trial in 1952. The trial, unsurprisingly, was all staged: The 14 defendants had been tortured for more than a year before confessing, and none of the men appears to have been guilty. In fact, it's astonishing how loyal most were to their party, notably Rudolf Slansky, the second-highest ranked official in the state, who himself had initiated several "purges." However, Slansky was Jewish, and that made all the difference: Having originally backed the creation of the state of Israel only to see it become an ally of the West, Stalin was determined to set an example by taking care of "Zionists" (phrased thusly because hatred of mere Jews would be contrary to communist principles). Ironically, many of these Jews had originally taken up the cause of communism as a reaction to the Aryan ideals of Nazism. The whole truth about the trial finally emerged 16 years later, under Khrushchev, but may have been lost amid the vast record of Stalinist atrocities. For those who wonder what the initial appeal of communism might have been, it's articulated very well by the surviving families, as is the reason why it all went so horribly wrong for them.