The Trials reveals that the Jews of Czechoslovakia were victims not only of the tragedy of the Holocaust but also of the subsequent communist tyranny. The initial Soviet strategy following the Second World War was to attract the newly-created state of Israel under its wings which was demonstrated, among other activities, by a steady stream of military equipment provided by Czechoslovakia. However, it soon became apparent that Israel would not join the communist camp and the Bolsheviks responded with a new wave of anti-Semitism. Few could feel assured of their fate in an era of hysteria and power-driven purges that left some of the highest-ranking party members dead. Explore the Docs and Salute series focused on Jewish themes at the Library of Congress.

Petr Bok is a Czech screenwriter, producer, and documentary director born in 1972 in Prague. Already as a high school student, Bok became interested in filmmaking and took part in director Radovan Urban’s film Hot Porridge.  After graduating from the Czech Film and Television Academy (FAMU) in 1998, Bok established his own production company – VERAfilm and devoted his energy and imagination to documentaries. Together with Martin Šmok, Bok focuses on mechanisms of power, the intelligence community, and the Holocaust.

Bok’s partner Martin Šmok was born in Switzerland in 1971. After several year’s at FAMU, Šmok worked as a Senior Research Advisor for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles. As part of his job, Šmok was responsible for locating and subsequently interviewing Holocaust survivors in Central and Eastern Europe. Šmok says that his interest in the Holocaust sparks from the fact that despite the vast amount of scholarship that has been assembled over more than six decades, there are still questions to be asked and cases to be studied. Perhaps, as Šmok believes, this is the last chance to do so.