In the Shadow of the KGB: Legacy of Czechoslovak Intelligence (1948–1989)

Abstract

Although Czechoslovak foreign intelligence operated in dozens of countries throughout the world between 1948 and 1989, interfering significantly in their political development in some cases, it is still a neglected actor in the history of the secret services. The aim of this study is to clarify the nature of Czechoslovak foreign intelligence and to assess its activities and the types of intelligence work on which it focused. In addition to the organizational structure and its changing face during the various phases of the Cold War, this study also focuses on the most important intelligence operations run by Czechoslovak intelligence abroad, its links to the Soviet State Committee for Security, and its collaboration with other Eastern bloc intelligence services. The second part of this study focuses on the processes leading to the declassification of intelligence documents after the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and outlines how to critically interpret and evaluate these surviving archive materials in Cold War history research.