Karel Kaplan (28 August 1928 – 12 March 2023) was a Czech historian. He specialized in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and post-World War II periods in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He wrote books about Czech political trials during the 1950s, the situation of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in Central Europe during World War II, and the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia.

Biography

Kaplan was born in

Horní Jelení Horní Jelení is a town in Pardubice District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. Administrative division Horní Jelení consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 c ...

in 1928. During the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

in 1968, he worked for the Committee of Rehabilitation where he was able to access classified documents of the

Czechoslovak Communist Party The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comi ...

. After the end of

, Kaplan fell into disfavor. He worked in a factory from 1972 to 1976, and in 1976 asked for political asylum in Munich. After his exile he published documents on secret Soviet activities, which were serialised in the Italian magazine ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

''.'Stalin ‘decided on third world war’', ''The Times'' (6 May 1977), p. 1. Kaplan claimed he had discovered files that described a secret meeting in the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

in January 1951, where

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

announced his plan for a war with the United States within three or four years, with the aim of driving the Americans out of Europe. In 1990, Kaplan returned to Czechoslovakia and continued his academic research in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Kaplan died on 12 March 2023, at age 94.

Awards

* Medal of Merit

Selected translated works

* ''Dans les Archives du Comité Central: Trente ans de secrets du bloc soviétique'', 1978, . * ''The Short March: The Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia 1945-1948'', 1987, . * ''Report on the Murder of the General Secretary'', April 1990 ** ''Zpráva o zavraždění generálního tajemníka'', 1992 (in Czech)

References

External links

Memory of nations: Karel Kaplan

Karel Kaplan: Přibližovat se k pravdě
at

Czech Radio Czech Radio (, ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating continuously since 1923. It is the oldest national radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second-oldest in Europe after the BBC. Czech Radio was esta ...

Kronikář komunistického Československa. Karel Kaplan a studium soudobých dějin (A Chronicler of Communist Czechoslovakia: Karel Kaplan and Contemporary History), Contemporary History (02/2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Karel 1928 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Czech historians 21st-century Czech historians Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czechoslovak defectors People from Pardubice District Historians of communism Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Czechoslovak expatriates in West Germany