Heliodor Píka
Encyclopedia
General Heliodor Píka was a Czechoslovak army officer who was executed by his country's Communist
regime after a show trial
.
in the Russian theatres during the First World War. He was captured at Berestechko
on October 5, 1916 during the Russian campaign, but by 1917 he had returned to duty as a member of the French Army
, and would later serve with the Czechoslovak Legions in France. By 1920, when the Legion was disbanded, Píka had risen to the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, Píka studied at a French military academy, graduating in 1920.
organization in Palestine. (Selling arms to non-state actor
s was forbidden by international conventions, but the Czechoslovakian foreign affairs department granted its approval.) He would later travel to the Balkans
, from where he arranged defections of Czechoslovakians and Hungarians from German-occupied territory.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Píka was appointed chief of the Czechoslovak Military Mission to the Soviet Union (in Moscow
). Loyal to the London
-based government
of exiled Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš
, Píka supported their democratic policies despite Soviet opposition. Píka was under constant pressure from the Soviets to betray Beneš, but despite attempts at blackmail
, Píka remained loyal throughout his tenure, which lasted until 1945.
Following the war, Beneš promoted Píka to deputy chief of the general staff of the Czechoslovak Army, where he was responsible for the arms industry. He held this position until late February 1948, when he was dismissed from the Army on the orders of Rudolf Slánský
, with the assistance of Army Security Intelligence Office (known as , its Czech abbreviation) chief Bedřich Reicin
(the former head of Czechoslovakian military intelligence, who held a grudge against Píka from the time in which they served together in the USSR).
and high treason
. The Czechoslovakian authorities forged a memorandum that purported to link General Píka to British military intelligence. (Historian Edward Crankshaw
noted that the document, written in broken English, was "the most appalling and most unimaginably inefficient bit of forgery [he had] ever come across".) Despite the inadequacy of the memorandum, Píka was held through 1948 and interrogated by -trained officers of the OBZ.
Reicin appointed Karel Vaš as chief investigator in the Píka case. Reicin would later, in a departure from standard practice, name Vaš the second prosecutor at Píka's trial. According to Reicin's secretary, Vaš told Reicin: "[j]ust tell me how much you need for Píka, fifteen years or the gallows
, and the indictment can be manufactured accordingly...."
From January 26–29, 1949, Píka was tried in secret before the Military Senate of the State Court in Prague. (This court was specially created as an instrument of political repression in mid-1948.) Charged with high treason
, damaging the interests of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union, and undermining the ability of the state to defend itself, Píka was not allowed to present a defence, and no witnesses were called. Píka was sentenced to death.
Píka unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. Píka and his lawyer asked President Klement Gottwald
(leader of the communist government) for clemency, but this effort was also unsuccessful.
Heliodor Píka was hanged in the yard of Bory Prison in Plzeň around 06:00 on the morning of June 21, 1949. In a farewell letter to his family, written the night before his execution, he wrote: "I am sure that this is not a judicial error but a political murder". Offered the chance to express his last wishes as he stood at the gallows, he said: "my ultimate desire is that the nation remain united, and that everyone, without regard for their differences, work toward the unity of our people".
He was the first of over 200 Czechoslovaks tried and executed for political reasons by the communist government of Czechoslovakia. His body was never found.
During the Prague Spring
of 1968, Píka's case was reopened at the request of Milan Píka (son of Heliodor) and the elder Píka's lawyer, and a military tribunal declared Heliodor Píka innocent of all charges.
In 2001, Karel Vaš was indicted by the Czech police's State Office of Investigation on charges of having knowingly used false evidence, falsifying a confession, exceeding his powers and using psychological violence during the Píka affair. These counts would carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. In June 2001, after a trial before the Senate of the Prague City Court, the eighty-five-year-old Vaš was found guilty of introducing false documents and statements, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Both Vaš and his attorney maintained Vaš's innocence, and promised to appeal.
, 3rd class upon Píka in 1991. On September 1, 2004, Píka was awarded the highest Slovakia
n decoration, the Order of the White Double Cross, 1st Class. (Píka was the first, and , the only recipient of the military version of this award.) Píka earned several French medals for his military service as a Legionnaire in France during the First World War. He was also the recipient of many Soviet, American and British military decorations.
In 1992, Píka was posthumously promoted to the rank of general. Following the conviction of Vaš, a June 21, 2001 ceremony was held at Czech Army headquarters in Prague to confer full military honours upon Píka.
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
regime after a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
.
Early life
Heliodor Píka served as a Czechoslovakian LegionnaireCzechoslovak Legions
The Czechoslovak Legions were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I...
in the Russian theatres during the First World War. He was captured at Berestechko
Berestechko
Berestechko is a city in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. It is located at around . It is located on the Styr River. As of 2001, its population was 1,904.Berestechko received Magdeburg rights in 1547. In 1651, the Battle of Berestechko took place near the town....
on October 5, 1916 during the Russian campaign, but by 1917 he had returned to duty as a member of the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
, and would later serve with the Czechoslovak Legions in France. By 1920, when the Legion was disbanded, Píka had risen to the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, Píka studied at a French military academy, graduating in 1920.
Service in the Czechoslovakian Army
In the 1930s, Píka acted as a military attaché to Romania and Turkey. In 1938, in a bid to prevent the occupying German forces from using Czechoslovakian Army matériel, he disposed of it by selling arms to the militant HaganahHaganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
organization in Palestine. (Selling arms to non-state actor
Non-state actor
Non-state actors are categorized as entities participating or acting in the sphere of international relations; organisations with sufficient power to influence and cause change in politics which are...
s was forbidden by international conventions, but the Czechoslovakian foreign affairs department granted its approval.) He would later travel to the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, from where he arranged defections of Czechoslovakians and Hungarians from German-occupied territory.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Píka was appointed chief of the Czechoslovak Military Mission to the Soviet Union (in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
). Loyal to the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based government
Czechoslovak government-in-exile
The Czechoslovak government-in-exile was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee, initially by British diplomatic recognition. The name came to be used by other World War II Allies as they subsequently recognized it...
of exiled Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
, Píka supported their democratic policies despite Soviet opposition. Píka was under constant pressure from the Soviets to betray Beneš, but despite attempts at blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
, Píka remained loyal throughout his tenure, which lasted until 1945.
Following the war, Beneš promoted Píka to deputy chief of the general staff of the Czechoslovak Army, where he was responsible for the arms industry. He held this position until late February 1948, when he was dismissed from the Army on the orders of Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia...
, with the assistance of Army Security Intelligence Office (known as , its Czech abbreviation) chief Bedřich Reicin
Bedrich Reicin
Bedřich Reicin was a Czechoslovak army officer and politician.Reicin was born into a poor Jewish family...
(the former head of Czechoslovakian military intelligence, who held a grudge against Píka from the time in which they served together in the USSR).
Charges of high treason
In early May 1948, despite his status as a high-ranking military officer, Heliodor Píka was arrested without a warrant and accused of espionageEspionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
. The Czechoslovakian authorities forged a memorandum that purported to link General Píka to British military intelligence. (Historian Edward Crankshaw
Edward Crankshaw
Edward Crankshaw , was a British writer, translator and commentator on Soviet affairs.Born in London, Crankshaw was educated in the Nonconformist public school, Bishop's Stortford College, Hertfordshire, England. He started working as a journalist for a few months at The Times...
noted that the document, written in broken English, was "the most appalling and most unimaginably inefficient bit of forgery [he had] ever come across".) Despite the inadequacy of the memorandum, Píka was held through 1948 and interrogated by -trained officers of the OBZ.
Reicin appointed Karel Vaš as chief investigator in the Píka case. Reicin would later, in a departure from standard practice, name Vaš the second prosecutor at Píka's trial. According to Reicin's secretary, Vaš told Reicin: "[j]ust tell me how much you need for Píka, fifteen years or the gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
, and the indictment can be manufactured accordingly...."
From January 26–29, 1949, Píka was tried in secret before the Military Senate of the State Court in Prague. (This court was specially created as an instrument of political repression in mid-1948.) Charged with high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, damaging the interests of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union, and undermining the ability of the state to defend itself, Píka was not allowed to present a defence, and no witnesses were called. Píka was sentenced to death.
Píka unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. Píka and his lawyer asked President Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
(leader of the communist government) for clemency, but this effort was also unsuccessful.
Heliodor Píka was hanged in the yard of Bory Prison in Plzeň around 06:00 on the morning of June 21, 1949. In a farewell letter to his family, written the night before his execution, he wrote: "I am sure that this is not a judicial error but a political murder". Offered the chance to express his last wishes as he stood at the gallows, he said: "my ultimate desire is that the nation remain united, and that everyone, without regard for their differences, work toward the unity of our people".
He was the first of over 200 Czechoslovaks tried and executed for political reasons by the communist government of Czechoslovakia. His body was never found.
Aftermath
The day after Píka's conviction, Reicin, writing under a pseudonym in the Czechoslovakian Army's newspaper, published a series of articles casting a politico-ideological slant upon the Píka affair. Reicin's articles were soon republished in a widely circulated pamphlet entitled "A Path That Leads to the Depths of Treason".During the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
of 1968, Píka's case was reopened at the request of Milan Píka (son of Heliodor) and the elder Píka's lawyer, and a military tribunal declared Heliodor Píka innocent of all charges.
In 2001, Karel Vaš was indicted by the Czech police's State Office of Investigation on charges of having knowingly used false evidence, falsifying a confession, exceeding his powers and using psychological violence during the Píka affair. These counts would carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. In June 2001, after a trial before the Senate of the Prague City Court, the eighty-five-year-old Vaš was found guilty of introducing false documents and statements, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Both Vaš and his attorney maintained Vaš's innocence, and promised to appeal.
Honours
The Czechoslovakian government conferred the Milan Rastislav Stefanik OrderMilan Rastislav Stefanik Order
The Milan Rastislav Stefanik Order is an award given "to recognize eminent contributions to the defence and security of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic". It was bestowed by the President of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic...
, 3rd class upon Píka in 1991. On September 1, 2004, Píka was awarded the highest Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
n decoration, the Order of the White Double Cross, 1st Class. (Píka was the first, and , the only recipient of the military version of this award.) Píka earned several French medals for his military service as a Legionnaire in France during the First World War. He was also the recipient of many Soviet, American and British military decorations.
In 1992, Píka was posthumously promoted to the rank of general. Following the conviction of Vaš, a June 21, 2001 ceremony was held at Czech Army headquarters in Prague to confer full military honours upon Píka.