Vratislav Herold
Vratislav Herold was born in 1927 in Rakovník. As a student, at the trade academy during the occupation, he was sent by the Nazi authorities to do forced labour in the ceramic factory in Rakovník. Influenced by idealistic dreams he wished to join the resistance movement. However, following the advice of his sister, at seventeen he eventually went to work on trenches with the League Against Bolshevism. After the war he applied to join the Communist Party. A party official wanted to improve his personal file however and wrote his entry date as May 5, 1945, even though Herold submitted his application several days after the liberation. In 1948 he graduated from the trade academy and, after completing his military service with the border guard, he began working in the distribution department of the Rudé Právo publishing house. He also devoted time to his life-long interest in literature and theatre. He applied for a position as a cultural referent in the publishing company, but he wasn't successful, and thus submitted his application to the National Security Corps instead. Since he disliked uniforms, as he claimed, in 1952 he applied to join their civilian section, unaware that he was actually applying for a position in the State Security, (Secret Police, StB). At first he was sent for a trial period to the town of Jáchymov among the guards from the labour camp Bratrství. Then in 1953 he was assigned to work in the 1st section of the 2nd department of StB in Prague, which was the counterintelligence department specifically aimed against Austria. Herold, who was proficient in several languages, handled Czechoslovak spies in foreign assembly refugee camps. Later he was transferred to the anti-American department where his tasks included monitoring of Czech associations with close ties to American organizations, (e.g. YMCA). He was then transferred to a department where he was in charge of surveillance of American diplomats in Czechoslovakia. During his service for StB Vratislav Herold won the collaboration of over a hundred people who worked with StB, among others the well-known historian Toman Brod. He was involved in many successful operations, for example under the cover name ATOM. He succeeded in contacting the major-domos of the American ambassador, whom he planned to use to deliver tapping devices from the ambassador's study. After 1968 he was dismissed and in 1970 he didn't pass the clearance because he opposed the entry of the Warsaw Pact armies to Czechoslovakia. During the normalization he worked in a liquor store. Later he left Prague and worked as an accountant in a housing cooperative. Vratislav Herold's hobbies were modern history and literature. He passed away on 9th of December 2010.
