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

On November 20, 1952, Heda is still in the hospital, and news of Rudolf’s trial is on the front page of the newspaper. The trial concerns the “conspiracy” of a man named Rudolf Slánský. Slánský, the general secretary of Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party, has been accused of high treason. He was arrested the year before, along with thirteen other government leaders, Rudolf among them. Eleven of the fourteen accused are of Jewish origin. Many of the nurses loudly exclaim that the men involved should be hung.

Heda finds out that many of the accused have admitted to their crimes and that their families have publicly requested harsh sentences. On the fifth day of the trial, Rudolf testifies. Heda convinces a nurse to let her listen to the trial’s broadcast that night, and Heda hears Rudolf’s voice for the first time in nearly a year.

Rudolf’s voice sounds unfamiliar, and he speaks words he has memorized in “an odd, tense, monotonous voice” (140). Rudolf falsely confesses to having accepted bribes and participated in a far-reaching imperialist conspiracy against the Republic.

The next day, Heda is discharged from the hospital against the doctor’s orders. She has no coat and no one to pick her up.