Rudolf Beran
OfficePrime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Term start16 March 1939
Term end27 April 1939
Term start 11 December 1938
Term end 115 March 1939
PredecessorPosition established
PresidentEmil Hácha
SuccessorAlois Eliáš
Office 1Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
Predecessor 1Jan Syrový
President 1Emil Hácha
Successor 1Jan Šrámek (in exile)
Birth date28 December 1887
Birth placePracejovice, Austria-Hungary
Death date23 April 1954 (aged 66)
Death placeLeopoldov Prison, Czechoslovakia
PartyAgrarian Party
Party of National Unity
National Partnership
SpouseMarie Pilařová

Rudolf Beran (28 December 1887 – 23 April 1954) was a Czech politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Czechoslovak Republic and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 1938 to 1939. After World War II he was convicted for collaborating with Nazi Germany and died in prison.

Early life

Rudolf Beran was born in Pracejovice, Austria-Hungary, on 28 December 1887.[1]

Career

Beran was the leader of the Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants.[2]

President Emil Hácha appointed Beran as prime minister on 30 November 1938, and he formed his cabinet on 1 December. Beran dismissed his entire cabinet, except for two members, on 9 March 1939.[3]

On 14 December 1938, Beran stated that he would "solve the Jewish problem".[4] He proposed creating labor camps for Romani people and other groups on 6 February 1939, and the first labor camps were approved by his cabinet on 2 March.[5]

The country was occupied by Nazi Germany, which created the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.[6] Alois Eliáš succeeded Beran as prime minister on 28 April.[7] Beran was arrested in May 1941 by the Germans and spent years in various concentration camps. While he was in custody of the Gestapo in Prague, he had to answer several written questions submitted to him by K. H. Frank, Hitler's Staatsminister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.[8]

Death and legacy

Beran was convicted for his collaboration with the Nazis[9] and sentenced to twenty years in prison.[10] He died at the Leopoldov Prison on 24 April 1954.[11][9] In 2022, the High Court in Prague reopened the case against Beran and Jan Syrový for review.[10]

References

  1. ^ Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.
  2. ^ Rich 1974, p. 34.
  3. ^ Kerner 1949, p. 472.
  4. ^ Czechoslovakia Aims to Solve Jewish Problem, “premier Beran States 1938.
  5. ^ Asiedu 2007.
  6. ^ Kerner 1949, pp. 472–473.
  7. ^ Lincoln Journal Star 1939.
  8. ^ Lukes, Igor (1993). "Stalin and Beneš at the End of September 1938: New Evidence from the Prague Archives". Slavic Review. 52 (1): 28–48. doi:10.2307/2499583. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 2499583. S2CID 163953051
  9. ^ Time 1954.
  10. ^ McEnchroe 2022.
  11. ^ Montreal Star 1954.

Works cited

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