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PoliceThe Office of the Documentation and the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism (further ÚDV only) was established by decision of the Minister of the Interior on January 1, 1995 as a fusion of the Office for the Documentation and the Investigation of the Activity of the State Security (being a part of the Ministry of the Interior) and of the Resource Center of the Unlawful Conduct of the Communist Regime (working at first under the Attorney General and later under the Ministry of Justice). Starting January 1, 2002 according to the Act no. 283/1991 Sb. as amended (Police of the Czech republic Act) the ÚDV forms a part of the Service of the Criminal Investigation Police.
Investigation responsibilities enable the ÚDV to expose and to prosecute criminal acts from the period 1948-1989 where it couldn´t be decided by final judgment for political reasons. The ÚDV is located in Prague, it enjoys a full-state competence and in order to arrange the work a more efficient way another detached branch office was established in Brno.
In addition to the investigation there is as well its documentation activity which is equally important and consists especially in collecting, analysing and evaluating of materials, infor-mation and documents showing the criminality of the communist regime as well as of its repressive apparatus. The time competence for the documentation field is extended from 1999 by the period starting January 1, 1945 up to the assumption of power through com-munists in February 1948. On the one hand acquired materials and information are used for investigation activities of policemen, on the other hand they are opened to the public in a suitable fashion, ie mainly by publishing and distributing free of charge (as a matter of priority to public libraries and to the whole system of secondary schools and universities) of various publications (collections Securitas Imperii, monothematic Issues and editorial series Testimony), further by our cooperation with mass media and universities (lectures and seminars), as well as by the cooperation with a lot of important domestic and foreign institutions including the cooperation with institutions in post-Communist countries dealing with the same problems. Our exhibition presented not long ago „Not only walls had ears“ treating in the operative technology in services of the State Security was well received in our country as well as abroad (up to now in Slovakia and Germany). At present the ÚDV takes a share in preparation for the exhibition „Czech and Slovak exile of the 20th century“.
As a police body the ÚDV takes part in pursuance of security vettings according to the Act no. 148/1998 Sb. regulating the protection of classified information. The data output of the ÚDV represents important source materials for issues of certificates of the National Security Office. As well an important contribution of the ÚDV on the declassification of archives of the former central committee of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia at the turn of years 1999/2000 is worthy of mention.
Information about actual activities of the ÚDV are continuously presented on internet pages of the Office: www.mvcr.cz/udv.
As it was mentioned above the ÚDV deals with the documentation and the investigation of the communist regime. In the years of its totalitarian power this regime systematically and expediently violated human rights, principles of a democratic state, provisions of the International Law and even its own statutes. Communists denied to citizens a possibility to express freely their opinions and they suppressed mercilessly all differing political, religious and social groups. In order to strengthen their power communists didn´t hesitate to torture, to hold prisoner, to murder and to execute their own citizens, in many cases participants of the home and abroad resistance movement. The constitution guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms (such as the freedom of education, a free choice of a profession, the freedom of residence and movement, the protection of private property) turned into a scrap of paper. In 2002 on the occasion of the St Wenceslas Day the ÚDV was rewarded by the St Wenceslas medal for its important contribution to the re-establishemt of the democracy in the Czech republic.
A further task of the ÚDV is to research into records of the archival and file service relating to the execution of security checks on natural persons according to the Act N. 148/1998 Coll. about the protection of classified information and about amendments of some Acts as ammended.
Translation: Karel Kervitcer
E-mail: udv@mvcr.cz
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