- Zdeněk Fierlinger
Zdeněk Fierlinger (
July 11 ,1891 ,Olomouc -May 2 ,1976 ,Prague ) was Czechpolitician . He served as thePrime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1944 to 1946, first in the London-based exiled government and later in liberated Czechoslovakia. His name is often associated with the merger of his Social Democratic Party with theCzechoslovak Communist Party after the communistcoup in 1948.Early career
Zdeněk Fierlinger came from an upper class family and graduated from business school. During the
World War I he joined theCzechoslovak Legion . Among other things, he participated in theBattle of Zborov .After the war, Fierlinger returned to Czechoslovakia and joined the diplomatic service. He was successively ambassador to the Netherlands, Romania, the United States, Switzerland and Austria. During this period he was a close friend and collaborator of
Edvard Beneš . In 1924 he joined theCzech Social Democratic Party .In the Soviet Union
Between 1937 and 1945 Fierlinger held the post of
envoy (and laterambassador ) to the USSR. During his period in Moscow Fierlinger was very close to the leadership of the Czechoslovak Communist Party led byKlement Gottwald . This is evident, for example, when in 1943 when the Communists in conjunction with Fierlinger facilitated the signing of theSoviet-Czech peace treaty in Moscow onDecember 12 ,1943 byJoseph Stalin andEdvard Beneš .The end of war and arrival of the communists
Just before the end of
World War II in April 1945 Fierlinger became the exile chairman of the Czechoslovak government and remained such until the 1946 elections. He became a leading figure in the "left-wing" social democracy movement which sought the closest possible ties with the Czechoslovak Communist Party.Between 1946 and 1948 Fierlinger was chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party. After the communist coup in February 1948, Fierlinger acted as the chief proponent of the "unification" of the Social Democrats and the Communists. Through the unification of the party, he became a member of the
Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1948.Zdeněk Fierlinger subsequently served as Deputy Prime minister from 1948 to 1953, Minister of the State Office for religious affairs from 1951 to 1953, President of the National Assembly from 1953 to 1964 and Minister in charge of the State. He remained a member of the Central Committee until 1966. In 1968, among other things, as one of his last public acts was to lead a delegation in protest outside the Soviet Embassy.
References
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