Prager Tagblatt
- Diplomatic Repercussions of the Espionage Affair
- Council of Ministers on the Tax Reform
- A Reminiscence
The Prager Tagblatt of 11 November 1926 led with the fallout of a Prague espionage case: police had traced an alert order for the Prague garrison to Dymow, an official registered with the consular department of the Soviet mission, whom they described as a G.P.U. observer sent to watch the mission itself. A short retrospective recalled the secret 1925 trial of Johann Vodička, accused under the Protection Act of spying for Soviet Russia with help from a Soviet consular official, which ended in acquittal on treason and three weeks' arrest for insulting ministers. On the domestic side, the cabinet approved Finance Minister Engliš's bill on direct taxes and the finances of local self-governing bodies, with the aim of passing it in the Chamber before Christmas.
Translation
Diplomatic Repercussions of the Espionage Affair
Prague, Nov. 10. The Prague espionage affair is stirring up a great deal of dust among the public. The principal document at issue is an alert order to the Prague garrison. The affair dates back about 14 days. The police, however, had long been following the trail that led to Dymow, an official of the Soviet consulate. Dymow, we are informed, was officially registered with the Prague police as a representative of the consular department of the Prague Soviet mission (Ziegenplatz). In the police register he was listed under the name Christowow Iwanowitsch Dymow, 35 years old, married. As the police have established, Dymow was sent to Prague from Russia about three-quarters of a year ago as a confidential agent of the Political Administration, formerly the Cheka, now the G.P.U., to serve here as a kind of observer. His task was to monitor the economic and political activity of the Prague Soviet mission on behalf of the G.P.U.
Council of Ministers on the Tax Reform
Prague, November 10. The bill on direct taxes and on the finances of the autonomous self-governing bodies was approved by the Council of Ministers and will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies tomorrow (Thursday). A whole series of objections and amendment proposals had been lodged against the original bill drawn up by the Finance Ministry. The enormous material was worked through in a short time by the officials of the Finance Ministry and by Finance Minister Dr. Engliš himself, and the bill was amended accordingly insofar as the Finance Minister accepted the amendment proposals. The intention is to take up both bills for constitutional deliberation immediately after the budget has been dealt with, and at such a pace that both drafts will be disposed of in the Chamber before Christmas, so that the Senate could deal with the laws after Christmas.
A Reminiscence
Reminiscence. On August 24, 1925, Johann Vodička had to answer before the criminal court here for the crime of military treason within the meaning of the Protection Act, committed in that, together with his co-defendant Josef Driak and with the help of the deputy head of the consular department of the Prague Soviet mission, Johann Christianowicz Bachmann, he had allegedly engaged in espionage on behalf of Soviet Russia. The other defendants were Joh. Sprinzei, Wenzel Koubek, Alois Ryd, Josef Teringel and Karl Wagstein, who had been charged with having allegedly founded a secret organization aimed at destroying the independence of the Republic and its democratic-republican form of state. After the mere reading of the operative part of the indictment, the proceedings were declared secret. On August 29 the verdict was handed down. Vodička was acquitted of the crime of military treason and sentenced to three weeks' arrest, unconditionally, for a contravention against the security of honor, committed by insulting members of the government. The other defendants were acquitted.
Context
Why Prague hosted a Soviet 'mission' rather than an embassy
The article places Dymow at the 'Prague Soviet mission' rather than at an embassy, and that wording reflects the unfinished state of Czechoslovak–Soviet relations. Tadayuki Hayashi's study of Edvard Beneš's Soviet policy shows that the two governments agreed in the summer of 1921 to exchange unofficial commercial missions. A subsequent provisional commercial treaty amounted to Czechoslovakia's de facto recognition of the Soviet government, but de jure recognition did not follow until 1934, because Beneš could not overcome opposition in the coalition cabinets and among the Little Entente partners. In November 1926, therefore, the Soviet presence in Prague was a trade and consular mission without full diplomatic standing. That explains why the paper speaks of 'diplomatic repercussions' while identifying Dymow by his police registration as a consular representative. The further statement that Dymow was a G.P.U. confidant sent to watch the mission itself is what the paper reports as police findings.
Spy fears in the army: the Gajda affair of 1926
The alert-order case broke at a time when Czechoslovak politics was already absorbed by accusations of Soviet espionage reaching into the army command. In 1926 General Radola Gajda, a right-wing officer, had been given the provisional appointment of chief of the army staff; on 2 July President Masaryk placed him on medical leave and ordered an investigation into his activities. In December 1926, only weeks after this issue, a military tribunal concluded that Gajda had passed secret French war plans to a Soviet agent six years earlier. Later scholarship has questioned that verdict, since Gajda was known as a virulent anti-Communist, and the Soviet Union had secretly fed the Czechoslovak government fabricated information that made him look like a Soviet agent. The article itself does not link Dymow to Gajda. The parallel shows how sensitive any report of Soviet agents and military secrets was in Prague that autumn, and why a case involving a garrison alert order stirred up so much public attention.
The Protection of the Republic Act and the closed Vodička trial
The 'Protection Act' cited in the reminiscence is Czechoslovakia's Protection of the Republic Act, introduced in 1923. Michal Pehr's study explains that the law was a response to problems in the young First Republic's democracy, expressed among other ways in the assassination of Finance Minister Alois Rašín, and that critics claimed it restricted democracy rather than strengthening it. The Vodička case as the paper recalls it shows both faces of the law. The charges, military treason through espionage for Soviet Russia and a secret organization aimed at destroying the Republic's independence and democratic-republican form, were precisely the dangers the act was meant to meet. Yet, according to the paper, the court declared the proceedings secret after merely reading the operative part of the indictment, so the public learned little more than the verdict. The outcome it reports was modest: acquittal of all defendants on the serious charges, and three weeks' arrest for Vodička for insulting members of the government. By recalling the case, the paper reminded readers that the consular department of the Soviet mission, then with Bachmann named as its deputy head, had figured in an espionage prosecution before.
Engliš, the new Švehla cabinet and the tax bill
The tax bill came from Karel Engliš, an economist who served as minister of finance in six governments between 1920 and 1931 and is credited with stabilizing the currency, streamlining the state budget and building a modern tax system. He had returned to the ministry in December 1925 as a member of Czechoslovakia's seventh government under Antonín Švehla, at a time when, as Antonie Doležalová writes, it was clear that the government wanted to make public administration more economical and carry out tax reform without delay. When this article appeared, the ninth Czechoslovak government, again under Švehla, had been in office for less than a month: it took office on 12 October 1926 as the first right-wing government in Czechoslovakia, and it excluded the socialist parties through cooperation with German right-wing parties. The article's timetable, taking up the tax bills right after the budget, fits the budget work of that autumn: in 1926 parliament for the first time adopted a state budget divided into four groups, the budget for 1927. The objections, the amendments Engliš accepted and the pre-Christmas schedule are the paper's own report of the cabinet's plans.
Original
Diplomatische Weiterungen der Spionage-Affäre
Prag, 10. Nov. Die Prager Spionage-Affäre wirbelt in der Oeffentlichkeit viel Staub auf. Das Hauptdokument, um das es sich handelt, ist ein Alarmbefehl an die Prager Garnison. Die Affäre liegt etwa 14 Tage zurück. Die Polizei verfolgte aber seit langem die Spuren, die zu dem Beamten des Sowjetkonsulats Dymow führten. Dymow war, wie uns mitgeteilt wird, bei der Prager Polizei offiziell als Vertreter der Konsularabteilung der Prager Sowjetmission (Ziegenplatz) gemeldet. Im Polizeiregister wurde er unter dem Namen Christowow Iwanowitsch Dymow, 35 Jahre alt, verheiratet, geführt. Dymow ist, wie polizeilich festgestellt wurde, vor etwa dreiviertel Jahren aus Rußland als Vertrauensmann der politischen Verwaltung, ehemals Tscheka, jetzt G. P. U. nach Prag gesendet worden, um hier gewissermaßen als Beobachter zu fungieren. Er hatte die Aufgabe, die wirtschaftliche und politische Tätigkeit der Prager Sowjetmission für die G. P. U. zu kontrollieren.
Ministerrat über die Steuerreform
Prag, 10. November. Der Gesetzentwurf über die direkten Steuern und über die Finanzwirtschaft der autonomen Selbstverwaltungsverbände wurde im Ministerrat genehmigt und wird morgen (Donnerstag) dem Abgeordnetenhaus vorgelegt werden. Zu dem ursprünglichen vom Finanzministerium ausgearbeiteten Gesetzentwurf ist eine ganze Reihe von Einwendungen und Abänderungsanträgen eingebracht worden. Das Riesenmaterial wurde von den Beamten des Finanzministeriums und vom Finanzminister Dr. Engliš selbst in kurzer Zeit ausgearbeitet und der Entwurf wurde, soweit die Abänderungsanträge vom Finanzminister akzeptiert wurden, in dieser Richtung abgeändert. Es besteht die Absicht, beide Vorlagen sofort nach der Erledigung des Budgets in verfassungsmäßige Behandlung zu nehmen, und zwar in einem solchen Tempo, daß beide Entwürfe in der Kammer noch vor Weihnachten erledigt sein werden, so daß sich nach Weihnachten der Senat mit den Gesetzen befassen könnte.
Eine Reminiszenz
Reminiszenz. Johann Vodička hatte sich am 24. August 1925 vor dem hiesigen Strafgerichte wegen des Verbrechens des Militärverrates im Sinne des Schutzgesetzes zu verantworten, und zwar bezangen dadurch, daß er gemeinsam mit dem mitangeklagten Josef Driak und mit Hilfe des steilvertretenden Chefs der Konsularabteilung der Prager Sowjetmission, Johann Christianowicz Bachmann, zugunsten Sowjetrußlands Spionage getrieben habe. Die übrigen Angeklagten waren Joh. Sprinzei, Wenzel Koubek, Alois Ryd, Josef Teringel und Karl Wagstein, denen zur Last gelezt worden war, daß sie eine geheime Organisation gegründet haben sollen, die die Vernichtung der Selbständigkeit der Republik und deren demokratisch-republikanische Staatsform bezweckte. Nach Verlesung des bloßen Enunziates wurde die Verhandlung für geheim erklärt. Am 29. August wurde das Urteil gefällt. Vodička wurde vom Verbrechen des Militärverrates freigesprochen. und wegen Uebertretung gegen die Sicherheit der Ehre, begangen durch Beleidigung von Regierungsmitgliedern, zu drei Wochen Arrest unbedingt verurteilt. Die übrigen Anzeklagten wurden freigesprochen.