Introduction

Milan Kundera, in his novel entitled The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, begins with the obliteration of all public traces of Clementis, a communist leader, who, after being purged from the party, was made to ‘vanish from history’ by the propaganda section. Once in his heyday, he had the privilege of standing beside Gottwald. At that time, Clementis, taking off his fur cap, had placed it on Gottwald&s;s bare head. On that occasion, the propaganda section took many copies of photos. Once Clementis was purged and hanged, all traces of him were forcefully erased from the photographs. Kundera&s;s comment needs to be cited: Ever since, Gottwald has been alone on the balcony. Where Clementis stood, there is only the bare palace wall. Nothing remains of Clementis but the fur hat on Gotwald&s;s head. 1