Ivana Trump: The Czech side of the story

Ivana did not surprise me. I grew up in the same culture, same country, and same era. Czech women are special.

Women are like tea bags. You'll never know how strong they are until you throw them into hot water.

Eleanor Roosevelt

(The following text is a part of my first book, The Industry Of Lies, published 2017 in Czech publishing house Triton).

My mother's generation, born in the forties and fifties, was brought up in a narrative that is not very flattering for our country. At home, my Czech mother was told that men are simple creatures with three basic needs - sex, food, and ego. When you want something from a man, you have to manipulate one of these screws.

In the Czech worldview, the real master of the house is a woman. She toils like a domestic slave, never showing anger or her own opinion, and is never considered equal to a man in society. However, she knows how to play better the game that he is the smarter and more powerful of the two. Woman can achieve absolutely anything if she goes unnoticed. When I try to talk to Czech men about this topic - which was culturally taboo until recently - they admit that they know about this female narrative but they kind of like it. They will openly tell you that they want to be deceived this way. The truth of our grandmothers, that a man wants to be served and deceived, has become their way of life.

In the Zlín region, where Ivana Trump comes from, you can often hear mothers of brides say, "I raised her well to please her husband." And then they add that a woman must be the neck that turns the head. Men usually laugh approvingly but with a glimpse of guilt. I have experienced several weddings in that region, and these opinions are still very common.

Ivana was born in the Zlín region of former Czechoslovakia. Her mother was from Austria but moved to Czechoslovakia after the communist coup. Ivana´s father was an architect and had a major influence on her upbringing. He taught her to ski, train hard, and not give up. He even managed to help her win local ski races. After graduation, Ivana went to study at a university in Prague. Her mother taught her to be what women in the Czech Republic are proud of to this day - a psychologically creative manipulator. A woman who acts politely and submissively but learns to manipulate men as a form of art from an early age. This art is considered a virtue here. Women often say, "A woman has to endure everything, because men are not reasonable creatures."

We do not know much about Ivana's father, and it is interesting that, unlike Ivana's mother, he never appeared in the media. Only two photographs survived, one from the wedding and one with his grandchildren. In the wedding photo, we see the face of a self-confident Mr. Handsome. Next to his daughter, he looks like Roger Moore, the Bond actor. We know absolutely nothing about him except for the preserved protocols of the Communist state security.

After graduating from her local high school, Ivana began dating a well-connected songwriter in Prague, Jiří Štaidl, who had ties not only with the communist regime but also with the Czech State Security agency, StB. With him, Ivana gained access to parties attended by filmmakers and members of the communist elite in Prague during the relatively relaxed atmosphere of the 1960s before the Soviet invasion. As a result, she was able to rub shoulders with prominent individuals in the arts, music, and film industries, which had always been her dream.

She even landed a small role in a Czech film. However, someone had other plans for Ivana and decided that she should live "in the West." Therefore, a fictitious marriage was arranged with Austrian businessman Alfred Winkelmayer in 1971, which lasted only two years and existed only on paper. The purpose of the marriage was to enable Ivana to leave communist Czechoslovakia legally so that she could return often. If she had left as an emigrant, she would have been banned from returning.

It is unclear why Winkelmayer agreed to the arrangement. Nonetheless, Ivana fought fiercely to keep the truth of the marriage hidden from the public eye. Even her divorce lawyer, Michael Kennedy, threatened legal action against anyone who published news of the fictitious marriage as late as 1990.

At the time Ivana left Czechoslovakia, fleeing the country as a refugee was considered a crime. In the seventies, illegal escape resulted in a lifetime ban on return. Later on, as emigrants brought in much-needed dollars to the devastated economy, the regime relaxed its restrictions and eventually resigned. However, Czech citizens' contacts with the West were strictly monitored by intelligence and counter-intelligence services. Every meeting and phone call made by Ivana abroad was closely watched by the communist secret police.

Although Ivana was expected to head to Austria, she surprisingly chose Canada instead. She worked in a ski shop of her new Czech boyfriend (who by the way looks like the clone of Don Junior, but it´s probably just my wild imagination), and completed her training at the Audrey Morris modeling agency in Montreal before being sent to New York in 1976. It was here, at Maxwell Plum's, that she "accidentally" caught the attention of Donald Trump, according to Vanity Fair. The flamboyant restaurant was known for attracting single flight attendants who seduced bankers. A date and marriage followed in 1977, but only her father was able to attend the wedding. The State Security reportedly prohibited both parents from traveling at once.

The Czech secret communist police did not leave its beautiful girls married to influential and rich foreigners unattended. Hence, they established files to track their contacts and movements. Ivana's father was also registered as a confidant with the StB, providing valuable information to counterintelligence. After Ivana's wedding to Donald, her file was transferred to the Non Official Cover department of the illegal intelligence, which was hidden from the public's attention. Only a select few intelligence officials and Russians had access to these files.

It was common for the StB's intelligence service to monitor all emigrants abroad, especially those who were exceptional in some way. Marriage to a billionaire was no ordinary event. This was ten years after the Russian military invasion of Czechoslovakia, and all the activities of the security forces were supervised and directed by the Soviets. Omitting this marriage from their records would have been considered a negligence of duty. From the author's perspective, the transfer of Ivana's file to section 23 indicates one of two possible explanations: either Ivana started working for the Russian intelligence service, or there was another Czech or Russian spy in Trump's surroundings.

What the Zlín StB didn't know was that Ivana started keeping in touch with her former friends from golden Prague parties just two years after her wedding in 1979. Saxophonist Felix Slováček – today a regular visitor to the Russian embassy in Prague, Jiří Janoušek, son-in-law of probably the most powerful communist prime minister of all time, Štrougal: Ivana began to cultivate her network, this time as the wife of an American tycoon. She knew she would need powerful people in Prague later.

 According to Blesk, Czech tabloid magazine that studied the reports collected by the StB in Zlín, Donald allegedly talked to Ivana's father in 1979, revealing how he became rich. The StB recorded this conversation in a file kept on Ivana's father, Miloš Zelníček. Blesk presents an extract from the surveillance file: "According to Zelníček's account, his son-in-law is very well off in the USA. He is the owner of some profitable company in which he has invested his financial resources. The company has secured its boom by working on government contracts. As another advantage gained from a personal relationship with the American president himself, he is exempt from any taxes for a period of 30 years..."  

The protocol is stored in the file called MILOŠ, which was kept by the StB on Father Zelníček in parallel with his file of the StB's Confidant. Father Zelnicek died in 1990. Ivana came to his funeral with Donald and the children, despite both being stuck in a protracted divorce. The protocol was stored in the MILOŠ file, along with his StB's confidant file. He passed away in 1990, and Ivana attended his funeral with Donald and their children, despite their ongoing divorce proceedings.

Despite her initially submissive public persona, it's clear that Ivana was a shrewd and tough businesswoman who was able to earn Donald's trust and respect. She not only played a key role in the interior design of the Trump Organization's projects but also managed a casino and was promoted to executive vice president.

In the meantime, she did everything that the Czech upbringing taught a good wife should do. She remained submissive, praising her husband publicly even though he had been condescending or rude to her in society. She gave birth to three children, whom she took every holiday to her parents in Zlín. Her Czech grandparents took care of their entertainment and upbringing for two months a year. Don Jr. even learned Czech during these visits.

Immediately after Trump began to recover from his financial troubles, he changed the prenuptial agreement at the insistence of his family friend and fixer, Roy Cohn. He multiplied the amount of divorce pay. Ivana modestly said that this was not necessary, but it can be assumed that the alliance between Ivana and Roy began to work. Roy would never do such a thing just for her blue eyes.

Two years after marrying Ivana, Trump embarked on a major project: the renovation of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Donald put Ivana in charge of furnishing the interior of the rebuilt building. She had a specific eastern pompous taste, which his clients liked.

"Donald's new wife has proven to be a tough business partner," Vanity Fair wrote. "Since then, Trump has consulted her in detail on every construction project. Ivana became executive vice president of the growing Trump Organization and was responsible for interior design for all of Trump's projects."

How did this submissive wife turn into the second business engine of the Trump Organization? As a Czech, however, I cannot help but think about the proverbial three screws. Donald entrusted her with the business management of a new casino in Atlantic City in 1984 because he trusted her toughness, discipline, and business talent. Ivana recalls that those were years of hard work, flying a daily helicopter to Atlantic City and not seeing her children all day. When Donald began bringing his new sidekick, Marla Maples, to Atlantic City, she tried to be as discreet as possible and denied her husband's affair in public for a long time. But then her patience ran out because it was obvious that Donald wasn't going to keep the secrets about the new relationship.

Her mother, Marie Zelníčková, whom Ivana often took to visit, describes how the children bore their father's infidelity heavily, especially Donald Jr. She also explains how, as a grandmother, she explained to them, at Donald's request, that they had to treat him with respect, obey him, and love him, after all.

Donald offered Ivana a choice between moving to New York with the children and maintaining her traditional role as a wife or staying on as the manager of the Atlantic City Casino but getting a divorce. She chose the latter and her beloved casino, which was already laundering organized crime money on a large scale at that time.

In addition to not leaving empty-handed and becoming the darling of tabloid media, she became closer to all of Trump's friends and many of his enemies, purposefully building her own network. She kept the children disciplined and made sure they didn't have any free time, basically applying the way she had been raised. She took the most care of Donald's dearest child, Ivanka, trying to pass on everything she had learned in life, including career recommendations in modeling. Unlike her mother, Ivanka was not dazzlingly beautiful, but she inherited her long legs and strong will. Today, Ivanka's mother, in her book "Raising Trump," prophesies the future of America's next female president. At one time, Ivanka was talked about as a possible candidate to head the International Monetary Fund. Ivana's network people knew who the real master of the house was.

Ivana can be sure that she raised her daughter to be self-disciplined and tough, just like the way her own mother, Marie, raised her. Donald Trump always handled Grandma Marie with respect at the White House and even allowed her to fly Airforce One. The grandmother bragged in the Czech tabloids that Donald consulted her about whether he should run, adding that she, the mother of the family, knows him like no one else.

In the USA, the ex-mother-in-law, Marie, resides five months a year in New York on 5th Avenue, but she also visits often the Bedford estate. Such an average Czech grandma, right? Who wouldn't love her?

Needless to say, Ivana Trump, was one of the most important supporters of the candidacy of the pro-russian candidate Zeman in the presidential election. Zeman even proposed her for the position of ambassador of the United States of America to the Czech Republic. Ivana lobbied Donald for the post in American diplomacy just one week after his election. Her wishes were not heeded by American diplomacy, and Ivana's ambitious plan was quietly abandoned.

What's next? Czech girl will not get lost. Unless Ivana's daughter, Ivanka , is indicted in one of her father's existing money laundering cases, I wouldn't rule out her running for the White House sometime within 20 years. Do you think that's crazy? And you considered her father's candidacy likely? Let's not forget that she visited the Kremlin in 2006, accompanied by Felix Sater, and reportedly even sat in Putin's chair as part of a private tour, according to Seth Abramson. Beware of Czech women.

Remarks:

Czech StB researcher Radek Schovánek states, "The file with the code name Ivana was established under the registration number 29834 by the State Security in the category of Person under Verification. A year later, on April 27, 1979, the file was handed over to the intelligence service. According to the record in the registration protocol and a document published in the Respekt magazine, the file was transferred to Department 23, i.e. the illegal intelligence service. Respekt no longer lists his new number, 11239/354. "

*https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6328753/Czechoslovakia-ramped-spying-Trump-late-Eighties.html

* Karel and Hana Koecher were Czechoslovak spies. Karel worked for the CIA from 1971 to 1984, during which time he was transferred directly under the control of the KGB. They were called The Swingers, after the wild sex parties they threw for American celebrities.

* https://www.blesk.cz/clanek/celebrity-ceske-celebrity/572210/extchyne-americkeho-prezidenta-marie-zelnickova-92-ze-zlina-trump-mi-rika-babrle.html

about

Alex Alvarova is Czech-Canadian author, who lives in Boston, MA. A recognized authority in political marketing and public relations, a sought-after seminar leader, facilitator, podcaster and public speaker. In 2017 she wrote The Industry of Lies, a non-fiction work that introduces, outlines and fully supports a core concept: Russia used the 2013 presidential election in the Czech Republic as a trial run to perfect its hybrid-warfare aggression for altering the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential elections. In 2021, she published Feeding The Demons: The conquerors of America, a political thriller on bannonist behavioural BigTech propaganda. The story features the events of the American election 2016 and how the propaganda machine was established to destroy America. She wrote numerous expert articles on political marketing and algorithmic propaganda.​​ Together with her co-host, expert on social media algorithms, Josef Holy, she hosts a czech podcast called Canaries In The Net, on algorithmic propaganda and AI.