Stalinism in Prague: The Loebl Story book jacket
Eugen Löbl was Czechoslovakia’s First Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade who survived an antisemitic show trial in 1952 against fourteen members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, known as the Slánský trial. All defendants were found guilty. Eleven were executed and the remaining three, including Loebl, were sentenced to life in prison. Loebl served eleven years in prison, including five years in solitary confinement. In 1963 he was officially rehabilitated and appointed director of the Czechoslovak State Bank before eventually emigrating to the USA in 1968 after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Loebl recounted his experiences in a book that was translated and published in the US by Grove Press in 1969 with this cover. The design is credited to Kuhlman Associates, the business name used by prolific book jacket designer Roy Kuhlman. The portrait photo of Loebl is by Thom Lafferty.
The bold typography on the cover features a rare use of Photo-Lettering Inc’s Hefty, set tightly in all caps on the front, with supporting text on the back set in Trade Gothic.
