confiscated, while the families of those Czech leaders who escaped abroad
were brutally persecuted. It is impossible for us to give a detailed
description of all the persecutions committed by Austria on the
Czecho-Slovaks, but the following is a brief summary of them:--

_(a) Czech Deputies and Leaders imprisoned and sentenced to Death_

The most important perhaps was _the case of Dr. Kramar,_ one of the most
moderate of the Czech leaders. Dr. Kramar was arrested on May 21, 1915, on
a charge of high treason as the leader of the Young Czechs; together with
him were also arrested his colleague, deputy Dr. Rasin, Mr. Cervinka, an
editor of the _Narodni Listy_, and Zamazal, an accountant. On June 3, 1916,
all four of them were sentenced to death, although no substantial proofs
were produced against them. Subsequently, however, the sentence was
commuted to long terms of imprisonment, but after the general amnesty of
July, 1917, they were released. Among the reasons for which they were
imprisoned and sentenced to death were the following, as given in the
official announcement, published in the Austrian press on January 4, 1917:

Dr. Kramar before the war was "the leader of Pan-Slav propaganda and of the
Russophil movement in Bohemia." He was also alleged to have kept up a
connection with the pro-Ally propaganda conducted by the Czecho-Slovaks and
their friends abroad during the war, and the Czech military action against
Austria on the side of the Entente. Dr. Kramar was further blamed for the
"treasonable" behaviour of Czech regiments who voluntarily surrendered to
Russia and Serbia, and for the anti-German sentiments cherished by the
Czecho-Slovaks for centuries past. Obviously in striking Dr. Kramar Austria
meant to strike at the Czech nation. The "proofs" for the high treasonable
activity of Dr. Kramar before and during the war were the following:[1]