Štefan Osuský

Infobox Person
name = Štefan Osuský


caption =
birth_date = 31 March 1889
birth_place = Brezová pod Bradlom, Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia)
death_date = 27 September 1973
death_place = Herndon, Virginia, United States
other_names = Stephen Osusky, Stefan Osusky, Štěpán Osuský
known_for =
occupation = politician, diplomat
nationality = Austro-Hungarian

JUDr. Štefan Osuský (31 March 1889, Brezová pod Bradlom – 27 September 1973, Herndon, Virginia, United States) was an Austro-Hungarian born Slovak politician and diplomat.

Life

In 1902 he began his studies in the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava. However, in 1905 he was expelled on a direct order of count Apponyi. Therefore, in 1906, he left for the United States. In Springfield and Chicago Osuský pursued his studies of theology, natural sciences and law, receiving a JD degree in 1916.

Immediately after his arrival in the United States he began working actively in expatriate organizations, at first in the Czech National Association, later in the Slovak League in the US. In 1915 he established the newspapers "Slovenské slovo" ("Slovak Word") and "Slovenský týždenník" ("Slovak Weekly"). In 1916 Osuský became the vice-president of the Slovak League, which in turn sent him to Europe to negotiate cooperation with Czecho-Slovak foreign resistance. His task was to ensure the acceptance of the Cleveland Agreement principles.

In Paris he started to cooperate with the Czechoslovak National Council, whose objective was the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a new state for Czechs and Slovaks. Between 1917 and 1918 Osuský worked as the director of a Czecho-Slovak press agency in Geneva. Between 8 April-10 April 1918 in Rome he was a representative, together with Milan Rastislav Štefánik, of Slovaks at the Congress of Opressed Nations. In 1918 he helped organize the Czecho-Slovak legions in Italy, established in spite of international treaties prohibiting the creation of military units out of captured enemies [The treatment of prisoners of war, Chapter II of the Annex to the 1907 Hague Convention] .

After the creation of Czechoslovakia he began working in the diplomatic services of the new republic. From October 1918 he held the post of the country's diplomatic representative in the United Kingdom. As secretary general of a Czechoslovak delegation in 1919-1920 he participated in the Paris Peace Conference. On 4 June 1920 in Grand Trianon as the extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy of Czechoslovakia he signed the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary.

He significantly contributed to the functioning of the newly-formed League of Nations; between 1921 and 1932 he worked with the Reparations Commission, representing not only Czechoslovakia but also Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece. From 1922 he was the chairman of the Supervisory Commission - a function he held for fourteen years. He was also active in the Delimitation Commission, tasked with setting new borders in Europe.

From 1921 Osuský worked as the Czechoslovak ambassador in France, contributing significantly to the development of Czechoslovak-French relations, a cornerstone of ČSR's international security. He remained at this post until the Second World War. After the breakup of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he refused to relinquish the embassy and kept the office functioning. He began to organize Czechoslovak foreign resistance. 2 October 1939 Osuský signed an Agreement on the Reestablishment of the Czechoslovak Army in France with French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier. His activity, however, met with resistance, especially with Eduard Beneš. Although in November 1939 he became a member of the Czechoslovak National Committee founded by Beneš, and in July 1940 Osuský was designated a minister of the Czechoslovak government in exile in London, his relations with Beneš were deteriorating. The differences with Beneš lay especially in the areas of foreign policy, the organization of Czechoslovak foreign resistance, the post-war restructuring of the republic and the solution of the Slovak issue. In March 1942 Beneš removed him from all functions and Osuský retired from the active scene.

He began lecturing on the history of diplomacy and international relations at Oxford. Ini the spring of 1945 Osuský left for the United States, becoming a professor at the Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. After the Communist takeover in February 1948 he was active in the Council of Free Czechoslovakia. He also worked as a journalist­-political scientist. In his work he especially paid attention to the history and presence of Czechoslovak politics in international relations. He died in Herndon, Virginia (outside Washington, D.C.) on [27 September 1973.

In 1992 the post-Communist Czechoslovak government posthumously awarded him the Order of T. G. Masaryk I-class. In 2001 Osuský received the Order of White Double-Cross II-class in memoriam.

References

* Slavomír Michálek: "Diplomat Štefan Osuský" (Bratislava, 1999). ISBN 8022405655.