13/10/2026
The only known photograph of Operation KAMEN in action; one of the most insidious plots of the entire Cold War.
Just weeks after the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948, State Security agent Evžen Abrahamovič came up with a plan to root out anti-communists. The StB set up a fake border crossing station near the real West German border. The post was manned by an English-speaking agent named Amon Tomasoff in the uniform of the US Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. The office was decorated with an American flag, portraits of Roosevelt and Truman, and cartons of Camel ci******es.
Typically, a provocateur would approach a citizen with suspect ideology and tell them the StB was closing in, but they could help them escape to West Germany. Another StB agent named Stanislav Liska posed as a smuggler and would lead them through the woods at night to the border. He would then tell them they had crossed an unguarded section of the border and drop them near the fake border station. The unsuspecting citizens were debriefed by the fake US agent and often provided written statements on their desire for political asylum in the US, as well as names of friends, family, and associates who may want to flee the country. The information was a gold mine for the StB.
After the debriefing, the families would either continue down the road and immediately captured by Czech border guards, or the agent would reject their asylum plea and turn them back, thereby discouraging others from attempting to flee the country. Cash and jewelry carried by the asylum-seekers would be confiscated, and most of it went into the pockets of the agents on the operation.
Jan and Jirina Prosvic were the first targets. The StB visited them three times and made threatening calls to their home before they agreed to flee. They were subsequently arrested and interrogated, and their two homes were confiscated for use by StB officials.
KAMEN ran for three years until US diplomatic protests became too strong to ignore. It was later revealed US intelligence learned about the operation from the smuggler Liska, who had been on their payroll all along.
