Lorenz, Alois

Born in the family of a Slovak tailor ^[1] . Early childhood fell on the years of World War II and the Nazi occupation. After high school he entered the military school of Poprad . Then he graduated from the artillery school in Prague , Kosice and Martin ^[2] .

Since 1960, Alois Lorenz served in the Czechoslovak People's Army . He commanded a platoon of anti-aircraft artillery. He graduated from the courses of radar officers.

In 1963, Lieutenant Lorenz was sent to study at the Higher Artillery Technical School, then - at the Antonin Zapototsky Military Academy ( Brno ). Notable for success, was recommended for scientific research.

Since 1962, Lorenz was a member of the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (HRC). He was the secretary of the party organization of the Department of Electrical and Radio Engineering.

Special Administration and the Slovak Region

In 1970, Alois Lorenz, with the rank of captain, transferred to the State Security Service (StB) of Czechoslovakia . Initially, he served in the Special Department of StB, was engaged in cryptography and encryption techniques, improving technical equipment. In 1975 - 1977, Major Lorenz was a first-class cryptologist, head of the research department of the Special Directorate. The cryptographic machine model developed under the guidance of Lorenz was highly appreciated by the KGB of the USSR . For this success, Lorenz was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel ^[3] .

In 1977 - 1981, Colonel Lorenz - and. about. Head of Special Office StB. He was the youngest head of the Czechoslovak state security department. He was characterized by his superiors as an excellent professional, a "universal expert." The “healthy ambitions” of Lorentz, his ability for informal leadership and “dominance in the team” were noted. At the same time, the description spoke of his discipline, politeness and personal charm. It is significant that the official salary of Lorentz in StB reached 13 thousand crowns , which was six times higher than the average salary in Czechoslovakia at that time ^[4] .

In January 1981, Alois Lorenz was appointed deputy head, in May of that year - head of the territorial administration of StB in Bratislava and the Western Slovak Region. Subsequently, Lorentz was charged with arrests of almost three hundred people.

In March 1983 he was promoted to Major General. The next month, Lorenz spent in Moscow, where he attended monthly courses for senior officials of the KGB Higher School ^[2] .

Deputy Minister and Head of StB

On November 1, 1985, General Lorenz was appointed First Deputy Minister of the Interior of Czechoslovakia. Lorentz was in charge of StB - the state security of Czechoslovakia structurally belonged to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1985 - 1988 , under the Minister Vratislava Vainar (party diplomat), Lorenz actually headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 1988 - 1989 , under the Minister Frantisek Kinzl (personnel functionary of state security) he was his right hand. In April 1989, Lorenz was awarded the rank of lieutenant general (lieutenant general).

Lorentz paid particular attention to political investigation, economic intelligence and technical services. A new Main Directorate of Counterintelligence was created, concentrating all types of "struggle against the internal enemy." Under the leadership of Lorenz, StB tightened police control over society as much as possible, expanded its outreach network, and introduced new agents in dissident circles, in the intellectual and student circles.

Politically, Alois Lorenz adhered to communist views, was a staunch supporter of the CPC regime. In 1968, he supported the suppression of the Prague Spring by the Warsaw Pact - because "what was happening threatened the leading role of the party" (he, however, did not take part in this, since he was on vacation in Romania). At the same time, Lorenz did not deny the need for some reforms that would increase the efficiency of public administration in Czechoslovakia ^[3] .

In the late 1980s, Alois Lorenz adjoined a group of leaders of the CPC, who were guided by the Gorbachev Perestroika . The leaders of this group were Lubomir Strougal and Ladislav Adamets ^[5] . Without foreseeing further developments, they believed that the removal of the conservative leadership ( Milos Jakes , Gustav Gusak , Alois Indra , William Shalgovic , Miroslav Shtepan ), limited transformations and the use of perestroika rhetoric would strengthen the power of the Communist Party ^[6] . The revolutionary processes of 1989 in other countries of Eastern Europe - the Polish Roundtable and the victory of Solidarity , the Hungarian transit of power , the fall of the Berlin Wall , and the resignation of Todor Zhivkov - prompted them to be proactive.

Alois Lorenz as head of state security played an important role in the November events of 1989. Subsequently, the General Secretary of the CPC Jakesh accused Lorentz of intentionally misinforming the party leadership ^[7] . On November 17, 1989, Lorenz organized an operational provocation: on his orders, StB officer Ludwik Zifchak infiltrated a student demonstration and pretended to be killed in a clash with the police ^[8] . This provoked a powerful surge of mass protests. In the following days, Lorenz ordered the state security forces not to intervene in the events. Thus, the communist state security of Czechoslovakia actively contributed to the anti-communist Velvet Revolution - although it only planned to replace some of the leading cadres.

These “involuntary services to the revolution” were not credited to Lorenz. On December 21, 1989, he was removed from his post as First Deputy Minister and Head of StB. Shortly before that, he managed to order the destruction of state security archives ^[9] .

In 1990, the new CSFR authorities brought Alois Lorenz to justice. Interrogated by a member of the parliamentary commission, Vaclav Bartushka , one of the leaders of the November student movement. He described Lorentz as an “intelligent, powerful, and dangerous enemy.” ^[10] About a year Lorenz spent in pretrial detention.

In 1993, Alois Lorenz was sentenced to 4 years in prison for abuse of power - arbitrary arrests of dissidents ^[11] . However, by that time, the CSFR was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia . Alois Lorenz took Slovak citizenship and settled in Bratislava. Only in 2002, a Slovak court sentenced Lorenz to 1 year and 3 months probation ^[12] (formally, the sentence was justified by the “impossibility of obtaining indictment from the Czech Republic”) ^[13] . Such indulgence towards the organizer of the repressions provoked public outrage, but informed experts explained it by the connections of large Slovak politicians with the former StB ^[4] .

In independent Slovakia, Alois Lorenz went into business in the field of security. He founded the security companies RISC Consulting and Alfa VS. In 1998 , the major financial company Penta Investments turned to Alfa VS. The Lorenz structure oversees information security and internal functioning in the company. Observers note the special position of Lorentz in Penta: he not only has a corporate car and a reserved parking space (which is not accepted by the company), but he can also consider papers and computer files of any employee. Communicates at work in a strict command style (“hands on the keyboard!”, Etc.) ^[14] .

The co-owner of the company, Slavomir Gashchak, characterizes Lorenz as “an experienced and authoritative person in his field” - and therefore financiers are not indifferent to “whether he served in the KGB or the CIA, whether he was a dissident or a member of the Central Committee” ^[15] .

In February 2019, Alois Lorenz was spotted in the Bratislava shopping center, where former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico , according to journalists, met with an Italian business partner accused of having connections with the mafia. This situation was perceived as the surveillance of Lorentz for Fico ^[16] .

Commentators note that the head of the communist state security completely fits into the capitalist system and in the new conditions “does not make the impression of a failure” ^[1] .

Alois Lorenz is married, has a son. Vladimir Lorenz, Jr. lives in the UK. In Slovakia, he is known as an entrepreneur-financier, connected by a business partnership with large figures from the circle of Robert Fico. Miroslav Lorenz, brother of Alois Lorenz is a professional military man. In 1970 he was expelled from the CPC "for political passivity."

In 1992, Alois Lorenz published the memoir “Ministry of Fear?” ^[17] about Czechoslovakian state security, written in conclusion. In 2000, together with the writer Pavol Yanik, Lorenz published the book “The Decrypted World” ^[18] on foreign intelligence and geopolitics. In 2018, together with the premonstration monk and writer Karol Lovas, Lorenz published the book This is a coup d'etat, I will not come home on the weekend ^[19] about the internal struggle in the 1980s CPC.

Alois Lorenz lives in the fashionable quarter of Bratislava. He prefers to conduct business meetings in expensive hotels and restaurants. He is not inclined to publicity, but does not refuse to communicate with the press. In an interview, Lorenz recalls his order not to use violence against the Velvet Revolution, claims that he deliberately sought dialogue with the opposition, explains the destruction of the StB archives by the need to exclude the manipulation and blackmail of these documents for the future ^[20] .

On February 11, 2014, Alois Lorenz was seen at the funeral of Vasil Biljak , along with Milos Jakes and the Russian ambassador to Slovakia ^[21] .

• Antonin Prohal
• Jindrich Vesely
• Jerzy Karpacz