Our review of the documentary Prague 1952: The Soviet Inquisition in Action

Men in black and white stand up, accuse themselves of the worst evils, call themselves

,

,

,

- the Yugoslav Tito is an enemy for having broken with Moscow.

They barely blink as they experience this tragedy, which has dulled all their strength.

They feel that they will have no control over its outcome: death for eleven of them.

The remaining three will be sentenced to life imprisonment.

We are in Prague in 1952, four years after the takeover of the country by the reds, during the famous coup in Prague.

These images of the Slansky trial, one of the most cruel and effective of the Soviet inquisition, constitute the raw material of Ruth Zylberman's documentary.

Material quite new, since the reels were found, by chance, in an abandoned warehouse, in 2018.

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Stirring up anti-Semitism

On the dock, almost all of Jewish origin, the number two of the party Rudolf Slansky and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Clementis, as well as many deputy ministers.

Among them, the politician Artur London, who is known for having participated in the Spanish Civil War and the French Resistance.

What do we blame them for?

The democratic past of the country and, above all, what the system does not want to take into account: the economic bankruptcy linked to collectivization.

All the accusations, knitted in Moscow, are intended to bring the top communist leaders of all nations to heel.

The tortures in Ruzyne prison are unbearable.

Slansky has to walk ten to fifteen hours a day without stopping.

The families of the victims are ostracized from society which, everywhere,

By using methods already proven in her film

, released in 2017, Ruth Zylberman makes sensitive the drama experienced by these men embarked on an infernal machine, which they themselves had contributed to manufacture.

It gives voice to the children of Slansky, London, Margolius, septuagenarians who keep away from communism, but have not forgotten the pains - and the errors - of their fathers.

Their testimonies recall the reality of a political system that seems distant to us today.

However, a broader historical context would have been welcome.

It would have made it possible to better understand the springs of this trial, which voluntarily stirred up the anti-Semitism of the population to legitimize its violence and its lies.