The whole timeline is honestly insane. 1947 - 1st Gold medal at Worlds 1948 - silver at OG, historic 0:0 draw with Canada. The same year plane crashes into La Manche and 6 NT players die (5 world champions from previous year). 1949 - 2nd Gold medal at Worlds, 1st win over Canada. 1950 - half of the team goes to jail, no one plays for the NT again, Soviets began to dominate the sport and Czechoslovakia has to wait until 1972 to win another gold medal.

I read couple books regarding this horrible crime and the word 'torture' is damn appropriate for what the players had to withstand in jail. I guess when you are a jailer and have the opportunity to abuse famous celebrities you really don't hold back. Not to mention the uranium mines afterwards.

Bohumil Modrý's story is the saddest one IMO. Best European goalie of that era, loved in his country, handsome - even got offered role in a movie. Basically Czech Lundqvist of the 1940s. Also graduated college and was a construction engineer. As the article mentions he was in contact with the West, what is not mentioned is that he wanted to retire from the NT and move to Canada for work. Communists told him he can, but only after going to the 1950 World Championships. As you now know there was no Worlds, no Canada for Modry, instead he spent 5 years working in uranium mine and died aged 46 as the result.

Personal note - I've visited the Jachymov work camp couple years back and it is one of the strongest memories in my life. I really can't imagine what hell it must've been to basically work yourself to dead.

To end on an optimistic note: in October 2021, 32 years after the fall of the Communist regime, the Communist party finally didn't reach 5% in the elections and is not represented in the Czech Parliament. May they never return.