Josef Josten
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Josef Josten | |||
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Josef Josten was an exiled Czech journalist, publisher and campaigner. His early life in Czechoslovakia included two escapes, firstly from military occupation and secondly after a political coup. In his subsequent career in the UK, he used his professional skills to alert politicians to the dangers of authoritarian government, in particular in its Communist form. To this he brought persistence and a satirical flavour[1][2], causing annoyance[3] to the Czech Communist régime.
Josten was the first Western journalist to report on the Soviet atom bomb test[4], organised a major international exhibition of politcal cartoons and ran a campaign for the release of the imprisoned dissident Vaclav Havel. Later in life, he won a degree of public recognition in the UK[5], but he did not live to see the eventual change of régime in Prague for which he had worked.
Early life, 1913-1939
Josef was born an only child to Karel and Emilia Stein, in Bohemia, on 25th March 1913. His father died when he was about 5 years old, and his mother became an invalid when he was a teenager, so he had to leave grammar school and find a series of jobs to support her[6]. In his late teens he became interested in journalism, partly through following the cycling achievements of his cousin Antonín Honig. He wrote articles for several newspapers and journals using the pseudonym Josten (short for Josef Stein), eventually adopting this as his surname. In 1938 he joined the staff of the national daily Lidové Noviny (People's News).[4]
The two escapes, 1940-1948
When the German occupation of Czechoslovakia took place in 1939, Josten joined an underground organisation, helping young Czechs to escape from the occupation and join the Allied forces. When his activities became apparent to the Nazi occupiers, he had to escape, travelling first through hostile territory in Slovakia and Hungary and then to Yugoslavia. There he received help to join the French army in Lebanon, before being transported to France. As the Nazis advanced through France, he assisted with the evacuation of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its documents to Britain, finally boarding a British ship on 24th June 1940 and sailing for Liverpool.[7]
In England, Josten came under British army command and trained with other Czech and Polish escapees. In 1943 he married Patricia, daughter of a British army officer. In 1944, as a signals officer (with the rank of Lieutenant) in the Czech brigade, he was sent to France for active service[8].
After the end of the war in Europe, Josef and Patricia prepared to return to Prague. However, before that he was redeployed to the newly independent Czech army as a war correspondent, based in Luxembourg from 1945-1947. There he set up broadcasts of news and directions to large numbers of Czechs who had been deported to work in German factories. Patricia briefly became an announcer with Radio Luxembourg[7].
In 1947 they moved to a flat in Prague. Josef obtained a post in the Foreign Ministry as a press assistant to the Foreign Minister, Jan Masaryk[9], whom he had known in exile in Britain.[10]
When the February 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état took place, Josef was dismissed from his post, after transmitting the last uncensored message from President Beneš to his diplomats abroad. Patricia was able to leave immediately by plane but Josef had to walk, escaping through the Šumava forest with a group of friends to West Germany.[7]
Work in exile, 1948-1985
Arriving in Britain in May 1948, Josten set up a news agency, the Free Czechoslovak Information Service, to report on conditions behind the "Iron Curtain". The main focus was on Czechoslovakia, but in due course bulletins were produced about Poland, Latvia, Romania, Cuba, Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China|Tibet and other countries under Communist control, including Russia. His first major scoop was breaking the story of the Soviet atomic bomb project|Soviet atom bomb test in 1949[4][2]. He published weekly bulletins in both Czech ("Čechoslovák") and English ("FCI")[1], and ran many campaigns to discredit the Czech Communist régime[1]. Josten vehemently opposed any form of accommodation with Communist régimes and was sometimes criticised, even by friends, for being too rigid in his views.
In 1958, Josten organised an international exhibition of political cartoons, The Great Challenge, in London, and published a Pat Oliphant|book by the same name. The exhibition was offcially opened by Clement Attlee. It subsequently went on tour to other countries, including the USA. In 1961, Josten came across a copy of a confidential handbook by a Czech Communist party adviser on how to take over a democratic state. He published it in Britain as "Without a Shot being Fired", with an introduction by Lord Herbert Morrison|Morrison of Lambeth (Director of FCI from 1961-65). This caused significant concern among Western governments[6] and it ran to 34 editions in at least 14 languages.
During the 60s and 70s, Josten provided assistance to a number of asylum seekers[11] from Central and Eastern Europe, for which he gained the reputation of "The Czech Scarlet Pimpernel".[12][13] A measure of his unpopularity with the Prague régime was the account by a defecting Czech intelligence agent, Josef Frolik. According to Frolik, Josten had more than once been put down for assassination - once at the personal request of President Antonín Novotný|Novotný.[14][15][16]
Throughout his work as an exile, Josten made efforts to bring together exiled representatives of other Iron Curtain Countries and present a united front against their Communist régimes. This included long-running collaborations with the Czech priest Father Jan Lang and the Romanian exile Ion Rațiu. He was only partly successful, but in 1977 he was presented with the Order of "Order of Polonia Restituta|Polonia Restituta" (Poland Restored)[17] by Kazimierz Sabbat, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile|Polish Government in Exile (officially recognised at that time by HM Government).
In the late 70s, Josten handed over publication of the FCI bulletins to Geoffrey Stewart-Smith and turned his attention to the situation of political prisoners in Czechoslovakia, including the journalist and broadcaster Vladimir Skutina[9] and the playwright Václav Havel|Vaclav Havel. With the help of various British politicians (notably Bernard Braine), he publicised their plight, latterly under the banner of "CDUP" (Campaign for the Defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted").[18][19]
In March 1985, Josten was granted an 1985 New Year Honours#Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)|MBE[5] for "services to journalism and publishing". On 29th November 1985, still working long hours for his cause, he died of a heart attack. He was survived by his widow Patricia (who died in 2007) and one son, Martin. Copies of the FCI bulletin, which were donated to libraries in the US, UK and Czechia (see External Links below), constitute an independent weekly record of Iron Curtain events over the period 1948-1979.
In 1995, Patricia Josten was invited to Prague Castle to receive the Czech Medal of Merit (Czech Republic)|Medal of Merit, 1st class, from President Havel, in posthumous recognition of Josef's work for freedom[20]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Levin, Bernard (1970-02-18). "Bernard Levin's Column". The Daily Mail.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "London Day By Day: True Patriot". The Daily Telegraph. 1985-12-11.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Frolik, Josef (1975). The Frolik Detection. London: Leo Cooper. p. 66. ISBN 0-85052-179-3.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 J.B. (1952-02-22). "Profile: Joseph Josten". World's Press News.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 "New Year's Honours List 1985". The London Gazette.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Polišenská, Milada (2009). Zapomenuty "Nepřitel" (Forgotten Enemy) - Josef Josten. Prague: Libri. p. 414. ISBN 978-80-7277-432-6.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Bardens, Dennis (1948-07-03), John Bull magazine, p.5
- ↑ Editorial (1951-03-09). "Curtain-Raiser". Time Magazine.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Obituary: Veteran journalist, broadcaster". UK Press Gazette. 1985-12-09.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Dickinson, Jean (2003-04-01). "The University of Nebraska's Josef Josten Papers". Kosmas: Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, ISSN 1056-005X. 16 (2): 99–109.
- ↑ "Czech couple to seek asylum". The Times. 1963-10-21.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Lewis, Julian (1985-12-01). "A Life to Remember". Deter, Winter 1985/86 edition.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ R.M. (1985-01-01). "Obituary, Josef Josten". The Journalist. 69 (1).
- ↑ Sweeney, Christopher (1974-01-25). "Defector reveals MPs' part in spy ring". The Times.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ McWhirter, Norris (1976). Ross. London: Churchill Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN 902782 24-X.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link) - ↑ Hastings, Stephen, MP (1977-12-14). "Adjournment Debate". Hansard, House of Commons: Column 510.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Przyjaźń polsko-czechoslowacka (Polish-Czechoslovak friendship)". Dziennik Polski (Polish Daily). 1977-04-04.
- ↑ "Obituary: Josef Josten". The Times. 1985-12-03.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Day, Barbara; Polisenska, Milada (2010). "The Democratic Exile Movement from the Soviet Bloc Countries in GB". Studies on Emigration History, Centre for Exile Studies, Palacky University in Olomouc, Czechia, ISBN 9-788024-426341. 6: 9–25, 27.
- ↑ "Editorial". Freedom, the Journal of the Freedom Association. 1995-12-01.
External links
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