Zdeněk Fierlinger
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Zdeněk Fierlinger (July 11, 1891, Olomouc - May 2, 1976, Prague) was Czech politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1944 to 1946, first in the London-based exiled government and later in liberated Czechoslovakia. His name is primarily associated with the sellout of the Democratic Party and its "merger" with the Czechoslovak Communist Party after the communist coup in 1948.
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[edit] Early career
Zdeněk Fierlinger came from an upper class family and graduated from business school. During the World War I he joined the Czechoslovak Legion. Among other things, he participated in the Battle 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 the Czech Social Democratic Party.
[edit] In the Soviet Union
Between 1937 and 1945 Fierlinger held the post of envoy (and later ambassador) to the USSR. It is commonly believed that earlier in the 1930s he had become and agent for the Soviet secret police NKVD. During his "Moscow period" Fierlinger was very close to the leadership of the Czechoslovak Communist Party led by Klement Gottwald. This is evident, for example, when in 1943 when the Communists in conjunction with Fierlinger "facilitated" the signing of the Soviet-Czech peace treaty in Moscow on December 12, 1943 by Joseph Stalin and Edvard Beneš.
[edit] 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 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 of the Social Democrats and the Communists - in reality it was more of a watering down of social democracy and a movement toward the positions of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. As his reward, he was made 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.
[edit] References
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