Czechoslovakia as a Bridge Between East and West?
The Prague Uprising and the liberation of the city
Prague (population 2024: 1,397,880) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is located in the center of the urban area on the Vltava River. The first Prague Castle was probably built in the 9th century. In the 10th/11th century, immigrant Jews lived alongside the local population in what were initially two neighboring castle settlements. At the beginning of the 1230s, Prague was granted city rights, followed by Malá Strana in 1257, Hradčany as a castle town in 1320 and the New Town of Prague (Nové Město) in 1348. From the very beginning, Prague was the residence of the Bohemian rulers, at the latest from the 12th century within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. As the seat of the emperor in the 14th century, Prague developed into one of the most important centers of the entire empire, and the first university in Central Europe was founded here in 1348. In 1784, the four cities were formally united. Gradually, especially in 1920 and after the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, further towns were incorporated. Between 1938 and 1945, Prague became the capital of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which was dependent on the German Reich. After the Allies broke up the Reich in 1945, Prague was once again the capital of - now socialist - Czechoslovakia until 1992. After the collapse of Czechoslovakia, Prague remained the capital of the Czech Republic and one of the most culturally, economically and politically important cities in Central Europe.
The Soviet troops marched into a largely liberated city. Four days earlier, on May 5, 1945, the Prague Uprising against the German occupiers had already begun.
12.00 noon: commotion in the streets. Tanks and armored vehicles of the glorious Red Army drive through. The boys are dusty. Great enthusiasm in the streets. There are shouts of “Glory on high!” and hundreds of hands raised and waving.1
Karlovy Vary is a spa town in the west of the Czech Republic and the administrative seat of the Karlovy Vary region. The city had more than 49,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2024 and is located in the Tepla Valley.
The city is internationally renowned for its healing thermal springs, which have been used since the 14th century. From the 18th century onwards, Karlovy Vary developed into one of the most important spa towns in Europe and attracted many celebrities, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725). Today, spa and health tourism characterize the economic profile of the city, complemented by glass and porcelain production. Karlovy Vary is characterized by its well-preserved spa architecture, promenades and representative historic hotel buildings. Since 2021, the city has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage “Great Spa Towns of Europe” together with other European spa towns.
Pilsen is a large city in the west of the Czech Republic and the administrative seat of the region of the same name. With around 185,600 inhabitants at the beginning of 2024, it is one of the largest cities in the country. Geographically, Pilsen lies at the confluence of four rivers in the so-called Pilsen Basin. The city already played an important role in the Habsburg monarchy and in the Czech national movement. In addition to its industrial importance - especially in mechanical engineering and food production - Pilsen is also an important center of education to this day, including the University of West Bohemia (Západočeská univerzita v Plzni). Pilsen is also internationally renowned as the birthplace of Pilsner beer, which was first brewed here in 1842. The art of brewing continues to shape the city's economic and cultural profile to this day.
České Budějovice is a university town in South Bohemia (97,377 inhabitants as of January 1, 2024). Originally a village at the confluence of the Vltava and Malše rivers, the town was purposefully expanded and fortified into a Bohemian royal city at the end of the High Middle Ages. Strategically located on important trade routes, the town immediately developed into the economic and political center of South Bohemia. To this day, it is known for its historic old town and is an important regional center for politics, business, education and culture. České Budějovice is also known beyond the region for its brewing tradition and 'Budweiser beer'.
The Soviet Union (SU or USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe, Central and Northern Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It emerged from the so-called Soviet Russia, the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Russian Soviet Republic formed the core of the union and at the same time its largest part, with further constituent republics added. Their number varied over time and was related to the occupation of other countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Soviet republics that existed only for a short time (Karelo-Finlandia) or the division or merger of Soviet republics. In addition, there were numerous autonomous republics or other territorial units with an autonomy status that was essentially limited to linguistic autonomy for minorities.
Before its formal dissolution, the USSR consisted of 15 Soviet republics with a population of approximately 290 million people. At around 22.4 million km², it was the largest territorial state in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was a socialist soviet republic with a one-party system and an absence of separation of powers.
The “Third Republic”
In the period immediately following the war, there were promising signs that Czechoslovakia would head in the direction of liberal development. In March 1945, the Czechoslovak government in exile in London, led by President Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (1884–1948) was a Czechoslovak politician and statesman, and a close ally of the nation's founding father, Tomáš G. Masaryk. He first served as Foreign Minister from 1918 to 1935, and later held the office of President of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again after the Second World War until 1948. During the war, Beneš lived as president in exile in London, from where he led the resistance against the Nazi regime and worked tirelessly for the restoration of Czechoslovakia. Following the end of the war, he returned to his homeland. , agreed with the Czechoslovak communists in exile in Moscow on a coalition government, the “Government of the National Front of Czechs and Slovaks”. It included representatives of six political parties – including four democratic ones.
In the months following liberation, fundamental social, political and economic changes took place. The negative experiences of the Great Depression in the 1930s had led large sections of the population to speak out against liberal capitalism, in favor of the nationalization of large companies and key industries, land reform, and a comprehensive state social policy.
The President and the abolition of the Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement of fall 1938 had not only meant the cession of the predominantly German-speaking territories to the German Reich. The fact that the agreement had called into question the state's previous foreign and security policy concept also had a traumatic effect on the Czechs and Beneš. They felt they had been betrayed by their Western allies France and Great Britain to Nazi Germany. After the end of the war, a close alliance with the Soviet Union was to provide a new level of security and protection from Germany.
However, Beneš overestimated the future threat posed by Germany on the one hand and failed to recognize the hegemonic threat posed by the Soviet Union on the other. Beneš had already concluded an alliance treaty with the Soviet Union in December 1943. He was open to socio-political changes and the simplification of the political party system. He also assumed that the cooperation of the anti-Hitler coalition between the Soviet Union and the Western democracies would continue after the war and that the two social systems would continue to converge – but the opposite happened. He ascribed Czechoslovakia the role of a bridge between East and West.6
Negotiations in Moscow in March 1945
The Communists were the only ones to present a draft government program and the composition of a future government, which the other participants largely accepted. Only one of the fourteen points of the program caused major controversy, namely the one dealing with the position of
Slovakia is a country in Central Europe, which is lived in by about 5.5 million people. The capital of the country is Bratislava (Pressburg). Slovakia has been independent since 1993.
An agreement was also reached on a largely equal distribution formula for the ministries. The Communists were privileged in that they were represented in the government both as the KSČ and as the Communist Party of Slovakia. They were given key ministries, including the Ministry of the Interior, which was responsible for the police and security services, and the newly created Ministry of Information, which they were able to use skillfully to expand their power. They also took over the management of the Ministry of Agriculture, which played an important role in the allocation of the land of the expropriated and expelled Germans to Czechs. In the areas formerly populated by Germans, the so-called borderland, the Communists achieved particularly good election results in the May 1946 elections, partly due to this fact: in the
Ústí nad Labem ist eine Stadt im äußersten Nordwesten Tschechiens mit (Anfang 2023) fast 92.000 Einwohnern. Die Universitätsstadt liegt am Oberlauf der Elbe zwischen Erzgebirge und Böhmischem Mittelgebirge und ist ein wichtiges Industriezentrum.
Democracy without opposition: the government of the National Front
Cooperation between the parties of the “National Front” initially worked relatively well. The idea that democrats and communists always opposed each other in discussions is wrong. Often – especially on social and economic issues – they engaged in healthy debate with a shared aim to reach decisions.8
The Košice government program
Košice (population 2023: 225,044) is a large city in eastern Slovakia. It originated from a Slavic settlement and another one founded by German colonists on an important trade route from Hungary to Poland, which grew together before 1230. The locality was granted city rights after 1241. Košice (as Kassa) soon became the largest and most important town in Upper Hungary. It lost its importance in the 18th century. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918/19, Košice was the capital of the short-lived Eastern Slovak Republic and, some time later, of the Slovak Soviet Republic which were dependent on Hungary, before it finally became part of the newly founded Czechoslovak Republic. The city was annexed by Hungary between 1938 and 1945. During the Second World War, Košice was the most important transfer station for Jews deported from Hungary to concentration camps. After the entry of the Red Army on January 19, 1945, Košice was the provisional capital of Czechoslovakia until May 8, 1945. After the pro-Soviet forces took power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the city underwent massive industrialization. Since 1993, Košice has been the second largest city in the newly established Slovak Republic.
In domestic policy, the equality of Slovaks and Czechs was proclaimed. In reality, however, the Czech parties were to subordinate the Slovak National Council and the Slovak regional bodies to the central government in Prague just one year later.10 The administration was reorganized in so-called national committees in the municipalities, districts and counties. Banks, insurance companies, mines and key industries were nationalized. War criminals and “traitors” were to be swiftly brought to justice and punished in national courts.
As a reaction to the experience of the Munich Agreement and the humiliating National Socialist occupation policy in the “ Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a territory occupied by the Nazi regime that existed between March 1939 and May 1945. Comprised of the territory within Czechoslovakia that remained after the forced cession of the predominantly Sudeten German border areas within the western part of Czechoslovakia in the fall of 1938 (Munich Agreement) and after the secession of Slovakia in March 1939, it was mainly inhabited by Czechs. ”, the Germans were met with general hatred, which was primarily directed against the Sudeten Germans. At the end of the 1930s, the Sudeten German Party Sudeten German Party The Sudeten German Party was initially founded in October 1933 as the Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront (Sudeten German Home Front) by Konrad Henlein (1898–1945), it was renamed the Sudeten German Party in 1935. The party saw itself as a collective movement of all Germans in Czechoslovakia. It was characterized by two anti-democratic currents. In the early years, supporters of the “Kameradschaftsbund” (Comradeship League) dominated, who were inspired by Othmar Spann (1878-1950) and his ideas of an authoritative corporative state. The second current, which asserted itself after 1935, identified with the National Socialists. The party thus underwent a process of (self-)Nazification. By November 1937, Henlein was acting on Hitler's instructions. had actively participated in the destruction of democratic Czechoslovakia and openly declared its support for National Socialism. In 1945, all Czechoslovak parties spoke out in favor of a nation state without a German and Hungarian minority. With a few exceptions, members of the German and Hungarian minorities were stripped of their citizenship.11 A land reform provided for the redistribution of their confiscated property. Within two years – between 1945 and 1946 – the majority of the approximately three million Sudeten Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia.
The elections in May 1946
The road to dictatorship: the government crisis of February 1948
After the Communist Minister of the Interior failed to reverse the unilateral appointments of KSČ party members to positions in the security organs under his authority despite requests that he do so, twelve of a total of 26 ministers from the democratic parties submitted their resignations on February 20, 1948, in the hope of new elections.13
On February 25, 1948, President Beneš, who was in poor health, gave in to communist pressure and appointed a new government under Gottwald. The KSČ thus took over sole power in the state relatively easily.14 The Communists had already recruited followers in the other parties. At the same time, they mobilized their supporters and made a show of their strength through large demonstrations. They cleverly used their control of the security forces and the influential trade unions by threatening to stage a general strike. While the Communists were very active and mobilized the masses, the parties of the resigned ministers remained passive.
In February, the Communists reorganized the National Front system in such a way that they no longer had to take the other democratic parties into consideration. This was followed within a very short space of time by a wave of arrests and persecution of political opponents. The media was brought into line, elections used single lists of candidates, and a new constitution was adopted.15 Beneš's hopes for Czechoslovakia as a “bridge between East and West” had proved to be an illusion.
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