| Doshell Propivo | 2005-07-26 16:20:00 |
 Posts: 3830 Topics participated: 988 Topics started: 43 First post: 2004-03-07 00:42:00 Last post: 2008-09-16 20:22:00 |
So I found this place online that had a 1949 World Hockey Championship program for sale. It was the year that Czechoslovakia won the Worlds and the program is 33 pages, mint condition and written all in Czech. I ordered it for my dad for Christmas (he was 10 in '49) and just got it in the mail today. It is stunning. He's going to pee on himself. Very little known, yet very tragic, fact about that team. I dug this up. Read it: Then comes the 11th of March 1950, the day of departure for the championships. The players are kept waiting for hours at the Prague airport. Their plane, prepared for take off, sits quietly on the runway. Finally, the players are told that the British Embassy has rejected a visa to one of the journalists and the team, out of `solidarity` against this political provocation, will stay home. When the players meet later, in their favorite downtown pub, they are already under police surveillance. Bitterness and disappointment take over. They blame the communist ministers for using their sport as propaganda. A brawl ensues between two provocateurs and the players. Police vans suddenly appear. The Champions are arrested and taken away. The few players missing from the pub are apprehended later. Great silence surrounds the incident. The young idols effectively vanish. Without formal charges, they are kept under guard for several months. Separated from each other, tortured and brutally beaten, they are forced to confess that they planned to ask political asylum in England. While being held in Prague`s Pankrac prison, near 'deaths row', they witness the execution of their country's leading opposition leader, Miss Jarmila Horakova. Ultimately, they are charged with treason and subversive activity. The defense is given only three weeks to prepare their case. The prosecution accuses the players of illegal intent to emigrate and undermine the State`s authority. The 'trump card' for the prosecution is a police report from the team's leader, which admits to a secret 1948 meeting during the Davos tournament, where the players discussed an offer of emigration...but rejected it. The trial is held behind the closed doors. Not even family members are allowed in the court room. The brisk proceedings conclude with a verdict of 'Guilty'. Their combined sentence totals 77 years. All their personal property is confiscated and they are given exorbitant financial penalties. In addition, they are sentenced to a loss of basic citizens' rights for 10 years. Without a chance to say good-bye to their families, the incredulous young men are quickly dispatched to labor camps where they will work in deadly uranium mines. Czechoslovakian ice-hockey all but ceases to exist. It will take this country another twenty two years to reclaim the title of World Champions. |
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1949 World Championships
| beezer | 2005-07-26 17:32:00 |
 Posts: 3438 Topics participated: 1515 Topics started: 48 First post: 2004-03-07 09:20:00 Last post: 2008-12-27 11:39:00 |
I wont ever understand the concept of communist nations like this. What country would believe it can thrive by basically keeping its citizens prisoner within it. Walls were built, people were put in prison as was the case with the team mentioned, it did last for a long time, but how long did the leaders of these countries really believe they could keep a strong and happy populous under these circumstances. People as a rule tend to like to come and go from places as they please, when you are forced to stay anywhere, that is like being in prison already. |
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