Jan Šejna (Honza Šejna), also Sejna in English, (12 May 1927 in Radhostice, Czechoslovakia – 23 August 1997 in New York City) was, in the time of communist Czechoslovakia, a Major General of the Czechoslovak Army. After losing political power and influence at the beginning of the Prague Spring, he sought refuge in the US consulate in Trieste and defected to the United States. He is the second highest-ranked officer to ever defect to the West from the Eastern Bloc, behind Lieutenant General Ion Mihai Pacepa of the Romanian Securitate. Significant motive for escape were his economic crimes. Among others, he illegally supplied collective farms with clover seed, hence he got nickname The Seed General (Semínkový generál). In 1974, he disclosed detailed Soviet plans of how to occupy Austria in case of an all-European war for speedy advances into Tito's Yugoslavia from the north west, across Italy's Friuli and the city of Trieste. The scenario, codenamed Polarka, foresaw a speedy occupation of Eastern Austria and Vienna much in the style of Czechoslovakia's occupation in August 1968, retaking Austria's post-war Soviet occupation zone from 1945 to 1955. Life Rise to power During the 1950s and 1960s, Šejna rose through the ranks of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) thanks to his political contacts and friends – like with Antonín Novotný Jr., the son of President Antonín Novotný and General Lomský at the Ministry of National Defence (Ministerstvo národní obrany, MNO) – built up a privileged position in the Czechoslovak People's Army (Československá lidová armáda, ČSLA). In 1956, he became Chief of the Secretariat of the MNO, in 1963 the Chief Secretary of the Main Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia at the MNO. In October 1967, he was promoted to the rank of General. He fully supported Stalinist practices of suppression and intimidation. Before the Prague Spring of 1968 began, the Czechoslovak Communist Party and affiliated members of the Soviet regime sought change through new leadership. Novotný's position as First Secretary (since 1953) and President (since 1957) weakened. There were soon speculations about Šejna's personal participation in the planned military action of the army to support Novotný in the first weeks of 1968. Expecting backlash from reformers, "… General Jan Šejna convinced the presidium of the Main Party Committee in the Ministry of Defense to send to the Central Committee a petition … insisting on Novotný's retention as first secretary."