Shvermova, Maria

Born in a Czech working class family ^[1] . Martin Schwab, Maria’s father, was a bricklayer and left - wing activist of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSDP). In a poor family, Mary was the eldest of six children. From the age of six, she was engaged in housekeeping, helped her parents, and took care of her brothers and sisters.

Since 1919, Maria Shvabova was a member of the ChSDP. During the schism of 1921, she — like Father Martin and brother Karel — chose the radical Marxist wing and joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC). She was fanatically committed to the ideology of communism , in which she saw the principles of social justice. Focused on the USSR , bowed to Stalin ^[2] .

She was married to Jan Schwerma , a prominent member of the HRC, a close associate of Clement Gottwald ^[1] . She had a daughter in marriage. In 1944, Jan Schwerma died in the Slovak National Uprising . Maria Shvermova spent the years of World War II in Moscow .

In 1945, Maria Shvermova returned to Czechoslovakia. It was co-opted to the party’s highest governing body - the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czechoslovak Republic. Supervised the organizational department of the Central Committee. In 1946 she was elected to the Constituent National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic , in 1948 - to the National Assembly . She remained a deputy until her arrest in 1951 .

Maria Shvermova adhered to the party of orthodox- Stalinist positions, fully supported the policy of Clement Gottwald, including the February 1948 coup . She organized a campaign for the death penalty of Milada Gorakova (with whom she was personally acquainted and discouraged from joining the HRC) ^[3] , in which she later expressed repentance. Karel Schwab , the younger brother of Maria Shvermova, headed the security department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, was a prominent functionary of the State Security Service , and an active participant in political repressions.

The personal life of Maria Shvermova was complicated and dramatically intertwined with political activity. She was in close relations with a member of the Central Committee of the HRC, Otto Schling . At the same time, an influential information minister, Vaclav Kopecki , the main ideologist of the Communist Party of the Communist Party, who was considered the “right hand” of Gottwald, persuaded her to marry. Shvermova’s refusal created her a powerful and dangerous personal enemy in the person of Kopecky ^[2] .

In 1950 , a new cycle of repression and party purges began in Czechoslovakia. Otto Schling was arrested, then Karel Schwab. The Central Committee organizational department was harshly criticized for "indulging in a conspiracy." In 1951, Maria Shvermova was arrested by the Ministry of National Security and accused of an anti-government conspiracy ^[4] . During the investigation, she was psychologically broken, signed all the testimony requested, including to Schling and Schwab.

Initially, it was assumed that Schling and his accomplices, including Shvermova and Schwab, would be convicted of preparing the overthrow of President Gottwald and Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czechoslovak Republic Rudolf Slansky . However, in November 1951, Slansky was also arrested. The scenario of the process was changed - Slansky was identified in the leaders of the conspiracy. Otto Schling and Karel Schwab were convicted under the Slansky trial and hanged.

Maria Shvermova appeared in court later. Kopecky showed particular fury in exposing Shvermova. The propaganda apparatus subordinate to him demanded the most severe punishment for the “state criminal”. At the same time, his motive for personal revenge for the woman was so obvious that Kopeckiy did not even try to hide: for example, he publicly painted "Shvermova’s dirty romance with Schling" ^[2] .

At the "process of regional secretaries" in January 1954, Maria Shvermova was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was saved from the death penalty only by the position of Soviet instructors of the Czechoslovak state security, who considered Shvermova not to be a large enough political figure ^[5] .

However, the situation in the country by that time had changed after the death of Stalin and Gottwald. In 1956, Maria Shvermova was released and rehabilitated.

The next decade, Maria Shvermova lived a private life, distancing herself from politics. She rethought a lot in her views, evolved from orthodox communism to democratic socialism . In 1968 , enthusiastically supported the Prague Spring . She was awarded the Order of the Republic .

After the suppression of the Prague Spring, Maria Shvermova sided with the dissident movement, although she did not show activity due to her advanced age. One of the first to sign Charter 77 ^[1] .

During the Velvet Revolution, Maria Shvermova was 87 years old. She died a little over two years later, having seen the fall of the communist regime ^[6] . The historian Jiri Pernes dedicated her chapter in his book Komunistky s fanatismem v srdci - Communists with fanaticism in the heart ^[7] .