Misplaced Pages

#351648

30-507: Antonín Josef Novotný ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈnovotniː] ; 10 December 1904 – 28 January 1975) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968, and as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968. An ardent hardliner, Novotný was forced to yield the reins of power to Alexander Dubček during

60-538: A book by the same name (see Publications below; this was followed by a further exhibition and book 40 years later). The 1958 exhibition was officially opened by Clement Attlee . It subsequently went on tour to other countries, including the USA. In 1961, Josten came across a copy of a confidential handbook by a Czech Communist party historian, Jan Kozák, on how to take over a democratic state. He published it in Britain as "Without

90-514: A Shot being Fired", with an introduction by Lord Morrison of Lambeth (Director of FCI from 1961 to 1965). This caused significant concern among Western governments and it ran to 34 editions in at least 14 languages. A further edition was published in the US after Josten's death, under the title of And not a shot is fired . During the 60s and 70s, Josten provided assistance to a number of asylum seekers from Central and Eastern Europe, for which he gained

120-610: A degree of public recognition in the UK, but he did not live to see the eventual change of regime in Prague for which he had worked. Josef Stein was born on 25 March 1913 to Karel and Emilia Stein in Prague , then in the Kingdom of Bohemia of Austria-Hungary . His father died when he was about five years old, and his mother became an invalid when he was a teenager, so he had to leave grammar school and find

150-619: A flat in Prague. Josten obtained a post in the Foreign Ministry as a press assistant to the Foreign Minister, Jan Masaryk , whom he had known in exile in Britain. When the February 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état took place, Josten was dismissed from his post, after transmitting the last uncensored message from President Beneš to his diplomats abroad. Patricia was able to leave immediately by plane but Josten had to walk, escaping through

180-463: A series of jobs to support her. In his late teens he became interested in journalism, partly through following the cycling achievements of his cousin Antonín Honig . He wrote articles for several newspapers and journals using the pseudonym "Josten" (short for Josef Stein), eventually adopting this as his surname. In 1938, he joined the staff of the national daily Lidové Noviny (People's News). When

210-461: A specially made box. When this scheme proved impracticable, he proposed assassination, as recorded by the defecting intelligence agent, Josef Frolik. While Novotný was forced to adopt some reforms due to popular pressure in the 1960s, these efforts were half-hearted at best. Growing public dissatisfaction caused Novotný to lose his grip on power. He was forced to resign as party leader in January 1968 and

240-512: The Czechoslovak film miracle . Following the death of Zápotocký in 1957, Novotný was named as President of the republic, further consolidating his grip on power. Three years later, he replaced the superficially democratic Ninth-of-May Constitution with a new constitution that was a fully Communist document. The new constitution declared that "socialism has won" in Czechoslovakia and declared

270-743: The German occupation of Czechoslovakia took place in 1939, Josten joined an underground organisation, helping young Czechs to escape from the occupation and join the Allied forces. When his activities became apparent to the Nazi occupiers, he had to escape, travelling first through hostile territory in Slovakia and Hungary and then to Yugoslavia. There he received help to join the French army in Lebanon, before being transported to France. As

300-725: The Šumava forest with a group of friends to West Germany. Arriving in Britain in May 1948, in consultation with exiled politicians and the Council of Free Czechoslovakia based in the US, Josten set up a news agency, the Free Czechoslovak Information Service (FCI). The object was to report on conditions behind the "Iron Curtain". The main focus was on Czechoslovakia, but in due course bulletins were produced about Poland, Latvia, Romania, Cuba, Tibet and other countries under Communist control, including Russia. His first major scoop

330-739: The Communist Party. He was elected a member of the governing Central Committee of the CPC in 1946. He was promoted to the Secretariat of the Central Committee in September 1951, and became one of the party's top leaders on the CPC's Politburo following the arrest of Rudolf Slánský for alleged "Titoism" in November of the same year. Novotný was formally appointed as Deputy Prime Minister in February 1953. After

SECTION 10

#1733086230352

360-724: The European Liaison Group ) with the Czech priest Father Jan Lang and the Romanian exile Ion Rațiu . He was only partly successful, but in 1977 he was presented with the Order of " Polonia Restituta" (Poland Restored) by Kazimierz Sabbat , Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile (officially recognised at that time by HM Government). In the late 70s, Josten handed over publication of

390-499: The FCI bulletins to Geoffrey Stewart-Smith and turned his attention to the situation of political prisoners in Czechoslovakia, including the controversial journalist and broadcaster Vladimir Skutina and the playwright Václav Havel. With the help of various British politicians (notably Bernard Braine ), he publicised their plight, latterly under the banner of "CDUP" ("Campaign for the Defence of

420-512: The KSČ was de facto the most powerful person in the country during this period. Title: Chairman (1948–1953) and first secretary (1953–1971). Josef Josten Josten was the first Western journalist to report on the Soviet atom bomb test, organised a major international exhibition of political cartoons and ran a campaign for the release of the imprisoned dissident Vaclav Havel . Later in life, he won

450-455: The Nazis advanced through France, he assisted with the evacuation of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its documents to Britain, finally boarding a British ship on 24 June 1940 and sailing for Liverpool. In England, Josten came under British army command and trained with other Czech and Polish escapees. In 1943, he married Patricia, the daughter of a British army officer. That same year, he

480-503: The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Josten appeared on news media and in the daily press to provide commentaries on the event. Throughout his work as an exile, Josten made efforts to bring together exiled representatives of other Iron Curtain Countries and present a united front against their Communist régimes. This included long-running collaborations (such as the formation of

510-563: The Unjustly Prosecuted"). In March 1985, Josten was granted an MBE for "services to journalism and publishing". On 29 November 1985, still working long hours for his cause, he died of a heart attack in London. He was survived by his widow Patricia (who died in 2007) and one son, Martin. Copies of the FCI bulletin, which were donated to libraries in the US, UK and Czechia, constitute an independent weekly record of Iron Curtain events over

540-523: The country a socialist state under the leadership of the KSČ, thus codifying the actual state of affairs that had prevailed since the Communist takeover in 1948. In the 1960s, Novotny's attention was turned to the activities of Czech exiles in Western Europe who were seeking to discredit his Party's regime. One example of this was his suggestion to kidnap the exiled journalist, Josef Josten , from London in

570-450: The death of party leader Klement Gottwald in March 1953, Novotný became a leading candidate in the succession struggle, ultimately winning out in September 1953 when he was named First Secretary of the party, effectively making him the leader of Czechoslovakia. While President Antonín Zápotocký and Prime Minister Viliam Široký wanted a less repressive way of governing, the hardliner Novotný

600-559: The leaders of the CPC in the underground movement in Prague. Novotný was finally arrested by the German secret police, the Gestapo , in September 1941 and was immediately deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp . He managed to survive his concentration camp experience and was liberated by the U.S. Army on 5 May 1945. After the war, Novotný returned to Czechoslovakia and resumed his activity in

630-417: The reputation of "The Czech Scarlet Pimpernel". A measure of his unpopularity with the Prague régime was the account by a defecting Czech intelligence agent, Josef Frolik . According to Frolik, Josten had more than once been put down for assassination - once at the personal request of President Novotný . This was later corroborated by information from another defecting agent, Franti š ek August. Following

SECTION 20

#1733086230352

660-498: The short-lived reform movement of 1968 . Antonín Novotný was born in Letňany , Bohemia , Austria-Hungary (now part of Prague , Czech Republic ). The Novotný family was working class in social origin, and he worked from an early age as a blacksmith . Novotný was a charter member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) at its founding in 1921, and became a professional Communist Party functionary in 1929. In 1935, Novotný

690-413: The subsequent de-Stalinization programmes of 1956. His quasi-authoritarian practices led to mounting calls for a new form of socialism over the unsatisfactory pace of change that would include the accountability, proper elections, and responsibility of leaders to society. Novotný's administration, however, still remained centralized for 10 years. During these years society evolved, seen through events such as

720-523: Was able to outflank them with the backing of the Soviet Union . At a meeting in Moscow in late 1953, Zápotocký and Široký were told to adhere to the principles of "collective leadership" — in other words, abandon power to Novotný. In the Czechoslovakia of Novotný, people continued to face strict government regulations in the arts and media, although they had loosened dramatically since Stalin's death in 1953 and

750-580: Was breaking the story of the Soviet atom bomb test in 1949. He published weekly bulletins in both Czech ("Čechoslovák") and English ("FCI"), and ran many campaigns to discredit the Czech Communist régime. Josten vehemently opposed any form of accommodation with Communist régimes and was sometimes criticised for being too rigid in his views. In 1958, Josten organised an international exhibition of political cartoons, The Great Challenge, in London, and published

780-611: Was replaced by a reformer, Alexander Dubček. In March 1968, he was ousted as president and in May he resigned from the Central Committee of the CPC. In 1971, during the period of normalization , he was reelected to the Central Committee. However, his political influence was minimal and he was too ill to be a strong force in the Gustáv Husák administration. He died on 28 January 1975 in Prague. President of Czechoslovakia The president of Czechoslovakia ( Czech : prezident Československa , Slovak : prezident Česko-Slovenska )

810-821: Was seconded to the BBC to broadcast to Czech anti-Nazi partisans on behalf of the Czech government in exile. In 1944, as a signals officer (with the rank of Lieutenant) in the Czech brigade, he was sent to France for active service. After the end of the war in Europe, the couple prepared to return to Prague. However, before that he was redeployed to the newly independent Czech army as a war correspondent, based in Luxembourg from 1945 to 1947. There he set up broadcasts of news, advice and directions to large numbers of Czechs who had been deported to work in German factories. Patricia briefly became an announcer with Radio Luxembourg. In 1947 they moved to

840-527: Was selected as a delegate to the 7th World Congress of the Comintern . He was made a regional party secretary in Prague in 1937 and made secretary and editor of the CPC's newspaper in the South Moravian Region in 1938. With the coming of World War II and the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1939, the CPC was outlawed and forced into an underground existence. Novotný served as one of

870-539: Was the head of state of Czechoslovakia , from the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 until the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic on 1 January 1993. In periods when the presidency was vacant, most presidential duties were assumed by the prime minister . The second section lists the leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) from 1948 to 1989. The post

900-407: Was titled as chairman from 1948 to 1953, first secretary from 1953 to 1971, and general secretary from 1971 to 1989. After the 1948 coup d'état , the KSČ's leader was the country's de facto chief executive. However, three party leaders ( Klement Gottwald , Antonín Novotný and Gustáv Husák ) also served as president at some point in their tenures. Except for the final office-holder, the leader of

#351648