Love and Freedom by Rosemary Kavan

Author:Rosemary Kavan [Rosemary Kavan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571310609
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2014-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

As far as the eye could see there were stationary trams.

‘All out and slog it!’ called the conductress with odious cheer.

I ran most of the way and arrived at the office panting and well overdue. ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ I gasped. ‘There was no electric current on our line.’

‘Yes er — quite so.’ Mr Němec gave me a peculiar look. ‘I think you’d better have a look at this.’

He handed me a newspaper. It was Rudé Právo of 27 May 1953. I scanned the page — the usual stuff: Soviet Red Cross delegation in Prague, young miners pledging 2,500 extra tons of coal in honour of the coming Youth Festival in Budapest, etcetera. Then my eye was caught by a short paragraph in the middle of the page.

*

Trial of Accomplices of the Anti-State Conspiratorial Centre from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Eduard Goldstücker, Pavel Kavan, Karel Dufek and Richard Slánský were tried before a Tribunal of the Supreme Court on 25 and 26 May. The charges were treason and, with the exception of Karel Dufek, espionage.

As accomplices of the anti-State conspiracy led by Rudolf Slánský, the defendants conducted large-scale subversion in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on instructions issued by Geminder and Clementis.

Witnesses and documents testified against the defendants who confessed to the crimes in the indictment. They were found guilty and sentenced: Eduard Goldstücker and Richard Slánský to life imprisonment, Pavel Kavan and Karel Dufek1 to twenty-five years. All four defendants were sentenced to forfeiture of property and loss of civil rights.

*

I slumped against the filing cupboard. Gripping its sides for support, I found myself whispering, ‘But he hasn’t done anything.’ I clenched my teeth to hold back further words. With a supreme effort of will I straightened up and handed Mr Němec his paper. With a murmured thanks, I turned to leave the room. Mr Němec suggested I take the day off. I replied that I had a lot to get through before our deadline and that sitting at home alone would be worse than occupying myself with work. I was thinking: Twenty-five years for putting three sealed letters into the diplomatic bag. Did ever a postman’s job cost a man so dear? Was this the end of our dream? For Pavel twenty-five years in prison, for me twenty-five years’ loyalty to a dead love? Twenty-five years was only five years short of my whole life — an eternity. I could not conceive of eternity.

Concentrating hard on not breaking down, I went into my own office. An uneasy silence prevailed. For once there was no leg-pulling. I started the last job of the month. My brain functioned independently: it was still plugged into a power source; the rest of me was a tangle of disconnected wires.

At lunch in the canteen Mirek talked shop as the safest noise to make. We returned to the office. Again a hush descended, like a sudden fall of snow. My eye fell on my pile of finished drawings. I goggled: thick black tongues like an oil slick had spread over them.

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