Bohuslav Chňoupek

Bohuslav Chňoupek (August 10 1925, Petržalka (now part of Bratislava) - June 28 2004, Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the most visible representatives of the Communist regime after the defeat of the Prague Spring (Normalization period, i.e. 1969 - 1988).

In 1945 Chňoupek became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Since 1948 he worked as journalist. After defeat of the Prague Spring, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and obtained important government positions: 1969-70 directory of the state radio, 1970-71 ambassador in the Soviet Union, 1971-1988 minister of foreign affairs. Chňoupek always supported politics of the Soviet Union, including the perestroika campaign in late 1980s. After the fall of socialism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, he was investigated by police for misuse of powers and spent half a year in prison.

As a writer, he published several reportage novels and collections of short articles. He covered the Slovak National Uprising, wrote about how the rule of the Communist Party in Slovakia had been established, about the flight of Yuri Gagarin, and he also wrote an essay about Andy Warhol. While his books always supported ideals of socialism he described the chaos, incompetence and brutality that occurred in Slovakia when these ideals were put in practice.

External links

* [http://www.mzv.cz/wwwo/mzv/default.asp?id=23277&ido=7970&idj=1&amb=1 Biography at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic]
* [http://referaty.atlas.sk/prakticke_pomocky/zivotopisy/238/?print=0 Short Biography (in Slovak)]