The presentation of the catalogue for the exhibition on StB surveillance units included a discussion on StB surveillance units, which was attended by Petr Blažek, Jan Kalous and Radek Schovánek. The presentation was introduced by the director of the Kampa Museum Jan Smetana. The event took place on 9 October 2023 at 4 p.m. in the Werich Villa.
Annotation of the publication
The main themes of the Czech-English publication are the surveillance units of the State Security Service and photographs of historical personalities, important events and places taken by their employees during the communist regime. For example, the secret police surveillance actions against Václav Havel, Pavel Kohout, Jan Patoček, František Cardinal Tomášek, František Kriegl, Jan Werich and Western diplomats are presented. The structures of the Administration monitored by the StB, its staff, chiefs and collaborators are also described. The service career of Antonín Kavan, who headed the surveillance unit for several decades, is presented. Attention is also paid to the intelligence technology used by the StB Surveillance Administration. The classified locations from where the secret police personnel monitored selected objects are described. The publication is based on a plenary exhibition prepared jointly by the Museum of Memory of the XXth Century and Museum Kampa in cooperation with the Security Forces Archive and Prague City Tourism.
Annotation of the publication
The present Czech-English publication publication focuses on the State Security (StB) Surveillance Administration and photographs of notable personalities, important events and places taken by its employees during the Communist regime. For example, the surveillance operations of the State Security against Vaclav Havel, Pavel Kohout, Jan Patočka, Cardinal František Tomašek, František Kriegel, Jan Werich and Western diplomats are presented here. The structures of the Surveillance Administration, its staff, commanders and collaborators are also described, and the service career of Antonin Kavan, who headed the StB Surveillance Administration for several decades, is presented. Further to this, attention is paid to the intelligence technologies used by the StB Surveillance Administration. Last but not least, the secret locations ('footholds') from which the secret police monitored selected people and events are described here. The publication is based on the open-air exhibition organised jointly by the Twentieth Century Memorial Museum and Museum Kampa in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, the Security Forces Archive and Prague City Tourism.