Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Czech Author Slams Claim He Aided Reds

Kundera denies turning in secret agent to Communists

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 13, 2008 6:32 PM CDT

(Newser) – Czech author Milan Kundera emerged from media isolation today to denounce a story that he betrayed a Cold War agent to the Communists, the Guardian reports. A historian says that in 1950, Kundera ratted on a Czech deserter hired by Western intelligence; the man served 14 years of mostly hard labor. "I am totally astonished by something that I did not expect, about which I knew nothing only yesterday," Kundera said.

He called the accusation "the assassination of an author." But Kundera's alleged aid to police only scratches the surface of his secret life, a historian said: "A murky and convoluted story has now accidentally surfaced...it indicates there may be other reasons for his reclusiveness than we previously imagined." Kundera, who has criticized communism in his novels, supported the Communist Party in his early years.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

June 27, 1967 file picture shows Czech born writer Milan Kundera in Prague. (AP Photo)

The cover of Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." (Flickr)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Today at around 1600 hours, a student, Milan Kundera, born 1.4.1929 in Brno ... presented himself at this department and reported that ... Iva Militka ... had met ... Miroslav Dvoracek ... who had apparently deserted ...
- Police report quoted in Respekt magazine

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Czechs, Brits Reject Deal to Save EU Economy

Critics attack European Union's fiscal belt-tightening deal

(NEWSER) - The Czechs thought about it, and they said no. All other 27 EU member states except Britain agreed today to join a compact to impose budget discipline on fellow nations, the BBC reports. British Prime Minister David Cameron had already refused to take part, saying that ceding control of his country's budget is "not in my national interest." The Czech Republic, not yet in the euro, cited "constitutional reasons" for rejecting the treaty. More»

Secret Cold War Project Revealed After 45 Years

Project Hexagon collected crucial intelligence on Soviets and Chinese

(NEWSER) - An ultra-secret clan of scientists and engineers who toiled in a gigantic enclave in Danbury, Conn., can finally reveal its covert activities. Declassified in September, project Hexagon launched the most successful spy satellite network of the Cold War and collected crucial data for decades that helped undermine the Soviet Union, reports the AP . From 1971 to 1986, more than 1,000 people worked grueling hours, speaking in code and denying the project's existence even to family members. More»

Anti-Communist Hero Vaclav Havel Dead at 75

He was Czechoslovakia's first democratically elected prez after 'Velvet Revolution'

(AP) - Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who wove theater into politics to peacefully bring down communism in Czechoslovakia and become a hero of the epic struggle that ended the Cold War, died this morning. He was 75. Havel was his country's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent "Velvet Revolution" that ended four decades of repression by a regime he ridiculed as "Absurdistan." As president, he oversaw the country's bumpy transition to democracy and a free-market economy, as well its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. More»

Josef Stalin's Daughter Dies in Wisconsin

Lana Peters defected from Soviet Union in 1967

(NEWSER) - Josef Stalin's only daughter has died in Wisconsin at the age of 85. Lana Peters—born Svetlana Alliluyeva Stalin—handed the US a massive Cold War publicity coup when she defected to the US in 1967, publicly burning her Soviet passport, and declaring: "I have come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in Russia." A memoir she published soon after arriving in the US, in which she described her father as distant and paranoid, became a best-seller. More»

Nazi Party Endorses Occupy Wall Street

...as does the Communist Party

(NEWSER) - Well, this is one endorsement the Occupy Wall Street movement probably wasn't gunning for: The American Nazi Party has officially backed the Occupiers in a statement on its website . The ANP, which also calls itself a National Socialist party, writes that the Occupy Wall Street movement is “TAYLOR [sic] MADE for National Socialists,” and urges its members to join in. “Produce some flyers EXPLAINING the 'JEW BANKER' influence—DON’T wear anything marking you as an ‘evil racist’—and GET OUT THERE and SPREAD the WORD!” More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Czech Author Slams Claim He Aided Reds