Abstract
In Czechoslovakia the struggle for power between democratic and communist forces culminated in February 1948. Immediately after the coup the first round of imprisonment of non-Communist politicians or army officers followed.
The main bulk of political trials took place between 1949 and 1955. Book entitled In the name of the Republic! deals with eight individual cases, which were presented by the law students as the so called Theatre of Fact (Documentary Theatre) during the International festival against totalitarianism ""Mene Tekel"".
The festival cooperates closely with the Law faculty, Charles University in Prague. The first chapter deals with the above mentioned legal aspects of the political trials.
The cases dealt with the book are as follows: The case of Marie Švejdová, who opposed the collectivization, the case of professor of the Charles University Růžena Vacková as well as the case of her student from the University behind the bars Dagmar Šimková, the case of the RAF officer Josef Bryks, the case of the Czech writer and dissident Karel Pecka, the case of the university students sentenced as the anti-communist group Truth Prevails, the case of Jan and Olga Hlach as well as the case of the Catholic Priest František Stříteský and students from the local Czech town of Litomyšl.