The Suffering of Judge Vaš

The documentary follows the life of Karel Vaš, a judge, military prosecutor and counterintelligence officer who sentenced approximately 200 political prisoners during the Stalinist era in Czechoslovakia, twelve of whom were executed. In 1952, the Jewish lawyer of Ukrainian-Hungarian descent received a life sentence for his role in the Slánský trial. The documentary follows his dramatic story from his teenage years when he joined the Communist Party, through his escape to the Soviet Union where he entered the NKVD to become one of the most brutal communist interrogators and judges in Central Europe. The film is based on a personal testimony by Karel Vaš.