Under A Cruel Star: A Life In Prague, 1941-1968

It is now the Cold War, and the Iron Curtain has cut off Czechoslovakia and much of the rest of Eastern Europe from its western counterparts. There is barely any news offered about Western Europe in radio broadcasts, and the only Western books translated at the time “gave a grim picture” of life there (94). Heda writes, “We believed that another world war was just around the corner and that police surveillance had become the rule all over the world–not only in our own country” (94). This lack of information, combined with a growing fear, results in an inability to criticize Czechoslovakia’s increasingly-brutal judicial system. Heda says that when the arrests “first started, it was generally assumed that the accused were all guilty of something” (94).

When people that Heda and Rudolf know get arrested, however, the couple begins to doubt the process. At first, they believe there must be a mistake, that all will be rectified. Later, however, they say nothing at all, with “[s]tunned, terrified silence” their only response (94). The country soon experiences shortages of basic goods, and people find themselves without enough money. A lack of trust begins to work its way through all facets of society.