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41-471: The prison was built in 1885–1889 in order to replace the obsolete St Wenceslas Prison ( Svatováclavská trestnice ), which used to stand between Charles Square and the Vltava River . At the time of its construction, the site for the new prison was out of city limits, amidst fields above Nusle suburb. Nevertheless, the expanding Prague encompassed the prison within several decades. At the time of its opening,

82-454: A Roman Catholic church, an Evangelical chapel, and a Jewish house of prayer. The bedroom section of the prison hospital had 22 rooms for patients from among the prisoners. A large building of Regional court was added to the facility in 1926 and since then it served as the largest of 37 Regional Court prisons for detainees and prisoners serving up to 1-year imprisonment terms. The court and the prison are connected by underground corridor. In 1926,

123-451: A blindfold and his last words to his executioners were "Shoot, you German dogs!" Between 5 April 1943 and 26 April 1945 a total of 1,079 people (including 175 women) were beheaded by guillotine in Pankrác by Nazi executioners; the number of people hanged in this period is unknown. The chief Nazi executioner was Alois Weiss . The three rooms used for this purpose (colloquially referred to as

164-411: A limited time (the average is approximately 100 days) before being either released or moved after the verdict. The prisoners held on remand spend up to 23 hours a day locked in their prison cells, where there is no access to warm water and often also not to electricity (apart from lights switched on and off by the guards from outside). In 2012, the inmates were allowed to take warm water shower only twice

205-542: A small part of detainees. The convicts work in the framework of internal workplaces, e.g., such as KOVO, Printing office, Laundry, Maintenance, Automobile repair shops. The total of 25 workplaces have been established for the convicts in the prison where working activities take place. Also, some convicts work at workplaces out of the prison. In the prison, 9 educational, 22 special-interest (club-or hobby-oriented), and 14 special formative activities are organized for convicted inmates (not to those held on remand, though). Based on

246-463: A week, with each shower being limited to five minutes. Phone calls are allowed only once every two weeks. According to Mindii Kašibadze, who spent two years in Pankrác on remand before the Czech courts eventually dismissed his Georgian international arrest warrant, the prison is infested with rats and has only "five cells of European standard which are a show case for outside visitors". The tunnel between

287-503: Is a city square in the New Town of Prague , Czech Republic . At roughly 80,550 m² it is one of the largest squares in the world and was the largest town square of the medieval Europe . Founded in 1348 as the main square of the New Town by Charles IV , it was known as Dobytčí trh (Cattle Market) from the 15th century and finally named after its founder in 1848. The central portion of

328-837: The Sudetenland in October 1938, Slánský, along with much of the rest of the Czechoslovak communist leadership, fled to the Soviet Union . In Moscow , Slánský worked on broadcasts to Czechoslovakia over Radio Moscow . He lived through the defense of Moscow against the Germans during the winter of 1941–42. His experience in Moscow brought him into contact with Soviet Communists and the often brutal methods they favored for maintaining party discipline. In 1943 in Moscow, Slánský's infant daughter, Naďa (Nadia),

369-692: The United Nations standard minimum rules for prisons. This meant introduction of specialists, e.g. psychologists and pedagogues. In the last decades before the abolition of capital punishment in Czechoslovakia , the vast majority of hanging were carried out at the prison, the last in 1989. With view to the fact that the number of people executed by hanging by Nazi Germans is unknown, altogether at least 1,580 people were executed in Pankrác Prison between 1930 and 1989. The Czech dissident Pavel Wonka , who

410-580: The sekyrárna , or "axe room" in Czech) have been preserved, and serve as memorial that is occasionally accessible to schools and public. After the war, many executions of Nazi officials and collaborators took place in the prison, including the hanging of Karl Hermann Frank , as well as Kurt Daluege , the SS chief responsible for the Lidice and Ležáky massacres. Initially, the executions of Nazis were public, but this practice

451-608: The 14 national leaders began on 20 November 1952, in the Senate of the State Court, with the prosecutor being Josef Urválek . It lasted eight days. As in the Moscow show trials of the late 1930s, the defendants admitted guilt in court and requested a death sentence. Slánský was found guilty of " Trotskyite - Titoist - Zionist activities in the service of American imperialism." He was publicly hanged at Pankrác Prison on 3 December 1952. His body

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492-404: The 1948 coup. Slánský began consolidating his power within the party secretariat and placing more of his party supporters in governmental positions, encroaching on Gottwald's position as president after the resignation of Beneš. Stalin backed Gottwald because he was believed to have a better chance of building up the Czechoslovak economy into a position where it could start producing useful goods for

533-738: The Commercial Academy. After the end of World War I , he went to Prague , the capital, where he discovered a leftist intellectual scene in institutions such as the Marxist Club. In 1921, Slánský joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia when it broke away from the Social Democratic Party . He rose within the party and became a senior lieutenant of its leader, Klement Gottwald . At the Fifth Party Congress in 1929, Slánský

574-531: The Czech Prison Service, the prison held on average 361 people on remand (incl. 27 women) and 690 convicts (incl. 26 women) in 2011; most convicts were held under B and C security level, with only 53 under A (lightest) and 20 under D (maximum security). During the week, convicted prisoners are involved in 40 to 50 activities whose purpose is to reduce tension and uncertainties which accumulate due to being imprisoned. Working opportunities are only available to

615-468: The Nazi murders of Czech communists Jan Šverma and Julius Fučík during World War II. Some historians say that Stalin desired complete obedience from leaders of the so-called "People's Democracies" (that is, Eastern bloc countries), as well as at home. He threatened to conduct "purges" of the "nationalistic communists". Other historians, though, say that the rivalry between Slánský and Gottwald escalated after

656-622: The New Town Hall. This event is called "the First Defenestration of Prague ". In the 17th century the Jesuits started to build their New Town residence on Charles Square. They also founded a new church dedicated to their patron saint and founder of the Jesuit Order, St. Ignatius of Loyola . This church was designed by Carlo Lurago and built in 1655-1677 in the early Baroque style. On

697-659: The Pankrác Memorial, containing an exhibition on the Prison Service. While the Czech prison system is facing much general criticism mainly due to overcrowding and under-financing, its shortcomings are even more felt in the remand prisons, including the Pankrác Prison. Although the principle of "not guilty until proven otherwise" applies, in reality the inmates held on remand face worse regime than those convicted, as they cannot take part in educational, sport or working activities, mostly because they are expected to be held only for

738-788: The Pankrác Prison and the High Court in Prague allows safe passage of detainees from the prison to the courthouse. Therefore, some high security risk cases, such as the 2010 Russian mafia bosses' trial, take place at the High Court's building. In such cases, the responsible judges from other districts come to conduct trial in the High Court's building, rather than detainees being transported to their courthouses. Anti- Nazi Resistance : Other political victims of German Nazi persecutions: Perpetrators of war crimes and Nazi collaborators : Victims of Communism : Notorious criminals: Other: Charles Square Charles Square ( Czech : Karlovo náměstí )

779-743: The Soviet Union, Slánský also organized Czechoslovak army units. He returned with them to Czechoslovakia in 1944 to participate in the Slovak National Uprising . In 1945, after World War II , Slánský and other Czechoslovak leaders returned from exile in London and Moscow, holding meetings to organize the new National Front government under Edvard Beneš . At the 8th Party Congress of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party in March 1946, Slánský

820-429: The Soviet Union. Slánský was thought to be weakened by his image as a " cosmopolitan " figure. Gottwald and his ally Antonín Zápotocký , both populists, tarred Slánský with charges of belonging to the bourgeoisie . Slánský and his allies were also opposed by old-time party members, the government, and the party's Political Bureau. In prison after his arrest, Slánský was tortured and he attempted suicide . The trial of

861-676: The country's border areas. During Nazi German occupation in 1939–1945, the German Gestapo investigation unit and court were established at the prison. The Czech prison guards were replaced by Waffen SS members. Thousands of Czech people, from members of the resistance to alleged black marketeers , were detained here before being sent to execution sites, especially the Kobylisy Shooting Range , to other prisons within Nazi Germany , or to concentration camps . The prison capacity

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902-409: The country, effectively preventing it from happening. The Pankrác Prison serves as a house of detention for charged persons, and partly as a prison for sentenced persons. While the official capacity in 2006 was 858 inmates (with 586 staff), it was 1,075 persons by year 2012 (incl. 111 capacity of the prison hospital). Since 2008, also women are incarcerated here. According to an official report of

943-654: The creators and organizers of the 1948 coup was killed here as well. Since 1954, the prison was the only place in the Czech lands where capital punishments were carried out (with few executions taking place between 1968 and 1989 in Bratislava, as regards the Slovak part of the then federation). In the 1960s, Czechoslovakia became the only country to the East of the Iron Curtain which accepted

984-538: The newly founded town. These squares were connected with one street (today streets Vodičkova and Jindřišská). Charles Square was supposed to be the most important square of the New Town of Prague and probably of the whole of Prague, therefore the Town Hall of the New Town was built there. Despite these plans the most important square later became Wenceslas Square . In the late 14th century the Corpus Christi Chapel

1025-493: 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. After the split between Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin , the latter instigated a wave of "purges" of the respective Communist Party leaderships, to prevent more splits between the Soviet Union and its Central European " satellite " countries. In Czechoslovakia, Slánský

1066-457: The prison was a fairly modern institution with hot air central heating; solitary confinement cells had hot water heating. The prison had gas lighting and its own gasworks. It opened in 1889 under name "The Imperial-Royal prison for men in Prague" ( C.k. mužská zemská trestnice v Praze ). The prison included bathrooms, classrooms (prisoners were obliged to become involved in education), a lecture hall, gymnasium, 22 workshop rooms, 6 exercise yards,

1107-471: The prison was approved for conducting capital punishment (by hanging ). The first execution was on 6 December 1930, when František Lukšík was hanged for committing a murder and robbery. In total, the prison was the location for 5 executions between 1930 and 1938, when the democratic First Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist following the Munich Agreement and German, Hungarian and Polish occupation of

1148-444: The result of diagnostic examination, a treatment program is designed for each convict. The goal of such program is the development of personality, enhancement of creativeness in purposeful uses of free time, and improvement in the involvement in civilian life of the convicts. Sporting activities are also available to the convicts during outings or in the form of exercises and games in the prison’s gymnasium. The premises contain also has

1189-520: The south side of the square there is a gate to the Church of St. John of Nepomuk "on the Rock" which was built in the high Baroque style in 1730s by Kilian Ignac Dientzenhofer . 50°04′34″N 14°25′16″E  /  50.076°N 14.421°E  / 50.076; 14.421 Rudolf Sl%C3%A1nsk%C3%BD Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician . Holding

1230-444: The square was turned into a park in the 1860s. The square is now one of the main transport hubs of the city centre with Karlovo náměstí metro station and numerous tram lines and busy roads crossing it in all directions. Charles Square originated as a part of the New Town of Prague founded in 1348 by emperor Charles IV. With Wenceslas Square (Horse Market) and Senovážné náměstí (Hay Market) it became one of three main squares of

1271-777: Was also awarded the Order of Socialism, a top decoration, on 30 July 1951. Publication was planned for a book of his speeches in support of socialism, to be titled Towards the Victory of Socialism . In 1951, after Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia broke with him, Stalin decided to "purge" the Communist parties of the satellite countries of the Soviet Union in order to deter any further revolts against his rule. Most historians think that, fearing arrest and death, President Gottwald of Czechoslovakia decided to sacrifice his best friend, Rudolf Slánský, in order to save himself. On November 24, 1951, at 1 a.m. Slánský

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1312-512: Was arrested and imprisoned. During the following year he was tortured into confessing his "crimes". Bedřich Geminder and Jarmila Taussigová were also arrested the same day. Official USSR rhetoric had turned against Zionism . Stalin was intent on keeping power in the Eastern bloc countries. Party rhetoric asserted that Slánský was spying as part of an international western capitalist conspiracy to undermine socialism and that punishing him would avenge

1353-584: Was boosted to 2,200, and it became the largest prison in the occupied country. In spring 1943, the Nazis started carrying out executions directly inside the facility itself, where three cells had been adapted for this purpose. General Josef Bílý , who at the beginning of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia led the anti-Nazi resistance group Obrana Národa ("National Defense"), was imprisoned at Pankrác Prison before being executed by shooting elsewhere in 1941. Bílý refused

1394-568: Was built in the middle of the square. It was closed in 1784 and demolished a few years later. This chapel was a very important place of pilgrimage in the late 14th and early 15th century, because the holy relics and crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire were shown there to thousands of pilgrims . On 30 July 1419 the Hussite Wars broke out in this square, when Hussites led by priest Jan Želivský threw some Catholic councilors from windows of

1435-571: Was chosen as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He was the number two man in the party behind party chairman Gottwald, who became leader of a coalition government after elections held that year. In 1948, after the Communist Party seized power in the February coup , Slánský became the second most powerful man in the country after Gottwald. At that point Slánský was blamed for economic and industrial troubles, costing him popular support. But he

1476-566: Was cremated, and the ashes were scattered on an icy road outside of Prague. Reflecting changes in Czechoslovakia, in April 1963 Slánský and other victims of the purge trials were cleared under the penal code. They were fully rehabilitated and exonerated in May 1968. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the new president Václav Havel , appointed Slánský's son, also named Rudolf, as the Czech ambassador to

1517-483: Was forcibly abducted from her baby carriage by a woman. The infant was in the company of her eight-year-old brother, Rudolf, who put up resistance. The woman revealed details about their mother, Mrs. Slánská, including her job with Radio Moscow. Neither Nadia nor the perpetrators were ever found. In her 1969 memoir, Josefa Slánská, Slánský's widow, recounted that written inquiries were made to the police and to Stalin himself, all of which went unanswered. While in exile in

1558-624: Was named a member of the party Presidium and the Politburo, and Gottwald became General Secretary. From 1929 to 1935, Slánský lived in hiding due to the illegal status of the Communist Party. In 1935, after the party was allowed to participate in politics, both he and Gottwald were elected to the National Assembly. Their gains were halted, however, when Czechoslovakia was carved up at the Munich Conference in 1938. After Nazi Germany occupied

1599-574: Was one of 14 leaders arrested in 1951, tortured into confessing their "crimes", and put on show trial en masse in November 1952, charged with high treason. After eight days, 11 of the 14 were convicted and sentenced to death. Slánský was executed five days later. Born at Nezvěstice , now in Plzeň-City District . Slánský's family was Jewish and conservative. He attended secondary school in Plzeň at

1640-399: Was soon abandoned. Following the 1948 communist coup d'état , Pankrác Prison became the place of execution of most of the 234 political prisoners that were executed in Czechoslovakia, including the former Member of Parliament and anti-communist dissident Milada Horáková . Following a power struggle within the party, Rudolf Slánský , former head of the Czechoslovak communist party and one of

1681-541: Was the last political prisoner to die under the communist regime, was imprisoned at Pankrác, although ultimately he died at a prison in Hradec Králové in 1988. In 2011, prisoners began secret preparations for a riot. After discovering a large stockpile of stabbing and slashing weapons in Pankrác Prison's workshops, the Prison Service and the Czech Police uncovered plans for a coordinated riot in 5 different prisons around

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