An inside story of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic through an intriguing account by the last Chief of the Intelligence Service in the country. The role of secret services during the uprising of Prague Spring in 1968 and during the so-called Velvet Revolution.
Forty years after the Prague Spring and nearly two decades after the so -called Velvet Revolution, the last chief of the Czechoslovak secret services, General Alojz Lorenc, tells the tale of the empire of 100,000 agents he ruled in socialism’s defense.
It is a unique insider’s look at:
1. The role of the secret services, yesterday, today, and tomorrow; their organization and operation, aims, and means. The penetration of every public and private space, the secret plans for placing politician Alexander Dubček and Czech writer Václav Havel and other “enemies of socialism” under surveillance, censorship, and the suppression of human rights.
2. How the Prague Spring began and ended and the lost opportunities it represented.
3. The reasons for the collapse of “existing socialism” as described by the man who knew the disillusionment of the masses but also the fact that the strongest opposition was within the ranks of the power.
A revealing book that meets the Lives of others through an unexpected route.
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