PRISONERS OF PRAGUE: MORDECHAI OREN AND SHIMON ORENSTEIN’S IMPRISONMENTS AS A BREAKING MOMENT IN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND ISRAEL IN THE 1950S

The mutual relations between Czechoslovakia and Israel in the 20th century encountered many remarkable changes. While for quite a short period in the late 1940s the diplomatic relations between these two states was very cooperative and friendly, in the early 1950s the situation was totally reversed. Antisemitism was an integral part of the show trials with Rudolf Slánský, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and his co-workers in 1951 – 1952. The essential part of these political processes was the trials with two Israeli citizens Mordechai Oren and Shimon Orenstein. The arrests of both men implicated a political scandal in Israel and also had a very negative impact on the contemporary diplomatic relations of Czechoslovakia and Israel. This article aims to describe in detail this story and to analyze the impacts of the imprisonments of the two men (sometimes known as Prisoners of Prague) on mutual relations between Czechoslovakia and Israel in 1950s.