 Although the border was guarded, in the year after the coup approximately 10,000 people -- including 50 prominent politicians -- escaped.In response to this, the Czechoslovak secret police, also known by the Czech acronym StB, set up parts of the country's border fortifications about 50 km away from the actual border with the American occupation zone in West Germany.The idea of using a false border to catch defecting refugees has been traced to Antonín Prchal, a colonel of the StB.