Antonín Zápotocký

Infobox_President
name=Antonín Zápotocký


imagesize = 105px
order = 6^th
office= President of Czechoslovakia
term_start=21 March, 1953
term_end= 13 November, 1957
predecessor=Klement Gottwald
successor= Viliam Široký "(acting)"

order2 = 16^th
office2= Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
term_start2=15 June, 1948
term_end2= 14 March, 1953
predecessor2=Klement Gottwald
successor2= Viliam Široký

birth_date=birth date|1884|12|19
birth_place=Zákolany (near Kladno), Austria Hungary
death_date=death date and age|1957|11|13|1884|12|19
death_place=Prague, Czechoslovakia
party=Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
spouse=Marie Zápotocká|

Antonín Zápotocký (December 19, 1884 – November 13, 1957) was Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953 and President of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957.

He was born in Zákolany, near Kladno, Bohemia (then in Austria-Hungary, now in the Czech Republic). His father was Ladislav Zápotocký, one of the founders of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), together with Josef Boleslav Pecka-Strahovský and Josef Hybeš.

He was a delegate of the Left Wing of the ČSSD to the Second Comintern Congress, held in Petrograd, July 19 – August 7, 1920. Together with Bohumír Šmeral, he co-founded the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) when it broke away from the ČSSD in 1921. He was General Secretary of the KSČ from 1922 to 1925. In 1940, he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, in which he became a Kapo. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/czech/domesticnews/story/2005/05/050504_cz_war_prisoners_pckg.shtml] He was released in 1945, but the Netherlands demanded his extradition for crimes against humanity.

Zápotocký became Prime Minister on June 15, 1948, replacing Klement Gottwald, who became President. On March 14, 1953, shortly after his return from Stalin's funeral, Gottwald died, and was succeeded as President by his Prime Minister. Zápotocký stayed in office till his death in Prague in 1957.

ee also

* List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia
* List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia

External links

* [http://www.hrad.cz/en/prezident_cr/zapotocky.shtml Biography]
* H. Gordon Skilling, "The Formation of a Communist Party in Czechoslovakia", American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Oct., 1955), pp. 346-358 doi|10.2307/3000944
* H. Gordon Skilling, "The Comintern and Czechoslovak Communism: 1921-1929", American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Apr., 1960), pp. 234-247 doi|10.2307/3004193