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80-527: The first festival was held in 1946 under the patronage of Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš , and its organizing committee was made up of important figures in Czech musical life. In that year, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and was therefore granted to appear in all of the orchestral concerts. The project was initiated by Rafael Kubelík , chief conductor of

160-471: A peasant family in 1884 in the town of Kožlany , Bohemia in what was then Austria-Hungary . He was the youngest son and tenth child overall of Matěj Beneš (1843–1910) and Anna Petronila (née Beneš; 1840–1909). One of his siblings was the future Czechoslovak politician Vojta Beneš . His nephew through his brother Václav was Bohuš Beneš , a diplomat and author. Bohuš was the father of Emilie Benes Brzezinski , an American sculptor, and Václav E. Beneš ,

240-761: A world revolution , which they will trigger at an opportune moment when others are exhausted by war". Maisky would be proven right on 1 September, when Germany invaded Poland , and the British and French both declared war on Germany two days later. In October 1939, Beneš organised the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee, which immediately declared itself the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia . Britain and France withheld full recognition, though unofficial contacts were permitted. A major issue in wartime Anglo-Czechoslovak relations

320-759: A Czech-American mathematician. Beneš spent much of his youth in the Vinohrady district of Prague , where he attended a grammar school from 1896 to 1904. His landlord's family was acquainted with his future wife Anna Vlčková (1885–1974, later Hana Benešová) ( cs ). The two would study French, history, and literature together at the Sorbonne . Edvard and Anna got engaged in May 1906, and married in November 1909. Some time after their engagement, Anna changed her name to Hana. Edvard had always preferred to call her Hana, because he had just ended

400-560: A business college, and after his 1912 habilitation in philosophy, Beneš became a lecturer of sociology at Charles University . He was also involved in scouting . In 1907, Beneš published over 200 articles in the Czech social democratic newspaper Právo lidu  [ cs ] containing his impressions of life in Western Europe . Beneš wrote he found Germany to be repulsive and an "empire of force and power" after visiting Berlin . In London , he wrote that "the situation here

480-634: A nation and Slovakia would not be a full member of the federation caused much tension between himself and Slovak members of the government-in-exile. However, after Operation Barbarossa brought the Soviet Union into the war in June 1941, Beneš started to lose interest in the project, though a detailed agreement for the proposed federation was worked out and signed in January 1942. The Russophile Beneš always felt more comfortable with dealing with Russians rather than

560-557: A position where he had to endorse the Czech offers as reasonable, and to condemn the obstinacy of the Sudetens, not of Beneš. An appalling consequence [for Britain] loomed ever nearer; if Beneš did all that Runciman asked of him, and more, Great Britain would be saddled with the moral obligation to support Czechoslovakia in the ensuing crisis. To avert this consequence, Runciman, far from urging Beneš on, had to preach delay. Beneš did not allow him to escape". On 4 September 1938, Beneš presented

640-558: A puppet state , declared the rest of the nation to be the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , and gave back Transcarpathia to Hungary, thereby completing the German occupation of Czechoslovakia which would last until 1945. On 22 October 1938, Beneš went into exile in Putney , London . Czechoslovakia's intelligence service headed by František Moravec was still loyal to Beneš, which gave him

720-756: A relationship with another woman named Anna. Around the same time, Edvard Beneš also changed his name, going from the original spelling "Eduard" to "Edvard". He played football as an amateur for Slavia Prague . After studying philosophy at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, Beneš left for Paris and continued his studies at the Sorbonne and at the Independent School of Political and Social Studies . He completed his first degree in Dijon , where he received his doctorate of law in 1908. Beneš then taught for three years at

800-533: A spectacular act of resistance that would prove to the world that the Czechs were still resisting. In 1941, Beneš and František Moravec planned Operation Anthropoid to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich , a high-ranking German official who was responsible for suppressing Czech culture , and for deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance. Beneš felt his dealings with the Allies, especially his campaign to persuade

880-464: A surprisingly positive outcome for Czechoslovakia. They argue that, if war had broken out in 1938, Czechoslovakia would have faced a similar destruction to that suffered by Poland the following year . As Poland was attacked in 1939, France launched its unsuccessful Saar Offensive in western Germany. One can only assume France's attack would have been equally futile in 1938, had a Czech-German war been sparked. Kennan wrote in his memoirs: The benefit of

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960-508: A typical National Assembly saw as many as ten parties represented. No party even approached the 151 seats needed for a majority; indeed, no party ever won more than 25 percent of the vote. As mentioned above, there were ten cabinets during Masaryk's presidency. The Czech historian Igor Lukes ( cs ) wrote about the power of the Hrad under Beneš: "By the spring of 1938, the Czechoslovak parliament ,

1040-547: A valuable bargaining chip in his dealings with the British as Paul Thümmel , a high ranking officer of the Abwehr , Germany's military intelligence , was still selling information to Moravec's group. In July 1939, Beneš realising that " information is power ", started to share with the British some of the intelligence provided by "Agent A-54" as Thümmel was code-named. As the British lacked any spies in Germany comparable to Agent A-54,

1120-504: A war with Germany as his only hope of restoring Czechoslovakia. At the same time, Beneš started to have regular lunches with Winston Churchill , at the time only a backbench Conservative MP, and Harold Nicolson , a backbencher National Labour MP who was likewise opposed to the Munich Agreement . Besides his new British friends like Churchill and Nicolson, Beneš also resumed contact with old British friends from World War I such as

1200-488: Is held each year in various instrumental sections. The list of past winners of competition includes Mstislav Rostropovich , Saša Večtomov , Natalia Gutman , James Galway and Maurice Bourgue . The age limit for candidates is 30 years. 50°05′24″N 14°24′58″E  /  50.090°N 14.416°E  / 50.090; 14.416 Edvard Bene%C5%A1 Edvard Beneš ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈɛdvard ˈbɛnɛʃ] ; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948)

1280-579: Is terrible and so is life". During World War II, when Beneš was living in exile in London, the German Propaganda Ministry gleefully republished his articles from 1907 expressing mostly negative sentiments about life in Britain. However, Beneš loved Paris , the " city of light ". He wrote that he found it to be "almost miraculously ... a magnificent synthesis of modern civilization, of which France

1360-454: Is that the Soviets want war, they have prepared for it conscientiously and they maintain that the war will take place – and that they have reserved some freedom of action for themselves ... [The pact was] a rather rough tactic to drive Hitler into war ... the Soviets are convinced that the time has come for a final struggle between capitalism , fascism and Nazism and that there will be

1440-511: Is the Rudolfinum concert hall, a neo-renaissance building situated on the bank of the Vltava River. It is complemented by Prague's ornate Municipal House ( Obecní dům ), which has a larger seating capacity. The Prague Spring has a particular focus on supporting younger performers. The Prague Spring International Music Competition was established just one year after the festival itself and

1520-514: Is the bearer". For the rest of his life, Beneš was a passionate Francophile and he always stated that Paris was his favorite city. During World War I , Beneš was one of the leading organizers of an independent Czechoslovakia from abroad. He organized a pro-independence and anti-Austrian secret resistance movement, Maffia . In September 1915, he went into exile in Paris, where he made intricate diplomatic efforts to gain recognition from France and

1600-738: The Czechoslovak border fortifications made the Czechoslovak-German boundary the best-fortified in Europe, as it was built on the French model of the Maginot Line defense system. But despite this, Germany's occupation of Austria earlier that year meant Czechoslovakia could equally have been attacked from the south. If Czechoslovakia had fought, it might have assisted Britain, France and the Soviet Union, but it may not have benefitted Czechoslovakia itself. There were various predictions of how long it would take

1680-661: The National Assembly from 1920 to 1925 and again from 1929 to 1935, representing the Czechoslovak National Social Party (called the Czechoslovak Social Party until 1925). He briefly returned to the academic world as a professor , in 1921. After Jan Černý 's first stint as prime minister , Beneš formed a government ( cs ) for a little over a year from 1921 to 1922. In the early 1920s, Beneš and his mentor President Masaryk viewed Kramář as

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1760-607: The Old Manor House in the neighbouring village of Wingrave , and his military intelligence staff, headed by František Moravec, was stationed in the nearby village of Addington . Beneš's relations with the Polish government-in-exile headed by General Władysław Sikorski were difficult due to the Teschen dispute , as General Sikorski insisted on claiming the region for Poland, while Beneš argued that it should return to Czechoslovakia when

1840-526: The Protectorate praised Hitler in a statement for launching the "crusade against Bolshevism " and urged Czech workers to work even harder for a German victory , observing that much of the material used by the Wehrmacht was manufactured in the Protectorate. Through Moravec , Beneš sent word to both General Eliáš and Hacha that they should resign rather than give comfort to the enemy, stating his belief that

1920-526: The Soviet Union than one with Poland , he torpedoed plans for a Polish–Czechoslovak confederation and in 1943, he signed an entente with the Soviets. During his visit to Moscow to sign the alliance, Beneš complained about the " feudal " systems existing in Poland and Hungary, charging that unlike Czechoslovakia, which after World War I had broken up the estates owned mostly by ethnic Germans and Hungarians,

2000-847: The United Kingdom for Czechoslovak independence. From 1916 to 1918, he was a Secretary of the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris and Minister of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Czechoslovak government . In May 1917, Beneš, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Milan Rastislav Štefánik were reported to be organizing a " Czechoslovak Legion " to fight for the Western Allies in France and Italy, recruited from among Czechs and Slovaks who were able to get to

2080-523: The United Kingdom signed the Munich Agreement , which allowed for the annexation and military occupation of the Sudetenland by Germany. Czechoslovakia was not consulted. Beneš agreed, despite opposition from within his country, after France and the United Kingdom warned that they would remain neutral in a war between Germany and Czechoslovakia, despite their previous guarantees to the contrary. Beneš

2160-571: The United States (which was neutral ) very tentatively regarded the government-in-exile as only a "provisional" government and rather vaguely stated the borders of Czechoslovakia were to be determined after the war, implying the Sudetenland might remain part of Germany. During the summer and fall of 1941, Beneš came under increasing pressure from the Allies to have the Czechs play a greater role in resistance work . The Narkomindel informed Beneš that

2240-605: The prime minister , and the cabinet had been pushed aside by Beneš. During the dramatic summer months he was – for better or worse – the sole decision-maker in the country". Edvard Beneš opposed Nazi Germany 's claim to the German-speaking Sudetenland in 1938. The crisis began on 24 April 1938 when Konrad Henlein at the party congress of the Sudeten German Party in Karlsbad (modern Karlovy Vary ) announced

2320-556: The "Fourth Plan", which, had it happened, would essentially have turned Czechoslovakia into a federation , and would have given the Sudetenland widespread autonomy. Henlein rejected the Fourth Plan and instead launched a revolt in the Sudetenland , which soon failed. On 12 September 1938, in his keynote speech at the Nuremberg rally , Adolf Hitler demanded the Sudetenland join Germany. On 30 September 1938, Germany , Italy , France and

2400-459: The 8-point "Karlsbad programme" demanding autonomy for the Sudetenland. Beneš rejected the Karlsbad programme, but in May 1938 offered the "Third Plan" which would have created 20 cantons in the Sudetenland with substantial autonomy, which in turn was rejected by Henlein. Beneš was keen to go to war with Germany provided that one or more of the Great Powers fought alongside Czechoslovakia, but

2480-655: The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attached much hope to the idea that anti-Nazi conservatives in Germany would persuade the Wehrmacht to overthrow Hitler, and as the anti-Nazi conservatives were adamant that the Sudetenland remain part of Germany, Chamberlain made it clear that Britain was not at war to undo the Munich Agreement. On 22 February 1940 during a secret meeting in Switzerland between Ulrich von Hassell representing

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2560-551: The British he would share more intelligence from Agent A-54 in return for concessions to his government-in-exile. As part of his efforts to improve his bargaining position, Beneš often exaggerated to the British the efficiency of Moravec 's group, the Czechoslovak army in exile and the underground UVOD resistance group . Besides Agent A-54, the Prime Minister of the Czech government under the Protectorate , General Alois Eliáš ,

2640-404: The British to nullify the Munich Agreement , was being weakened by the lack of any visible resistance in the Protectorate. Beneš decided that assassinating Heydrich was the best way to improve his bargaining position, and it was largely he who pressed for Operation Anthropoid. Upon learning of the nature of the mission, resistance leaders begged the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to call off

2720-505: The British were intensely interested in the intelligence provided by him, which Beneš used to bargain with in dealings with the British. By July 1939, the Danzig crisis had pushed Britain to the brink of war with Germany, and British decision-makers were keenly interested in any high-level intelligence about Germany. In the summer of 1939, Beneš hoped that the Danzig crisis would end in war, seeing

2800-606: The Czechs should be the dominant people in Czechoslovakia, denounced Masaryk and Beneš for their belief that the Sudeten Germans should be equal to the Czechs, and made clear his opposition to having German as one of the official languages of Czechoslovakia, views that made him abhorrent to Beneš. In 1927 Beneš was initiated in freemasonry at the Ian Amos Komensky Lodge No. 1. Between 1923 and 1927, Beneš

2880-649: The German army to defeat the Czechs, but seldom did a prediction contemplate a Czech victory. Speculating the length of a hypothesised Czech-German war, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk predicted two months, Winston Churchill wagered three months and according to Lavrentiy Beria 's son, his father envisioned at least six months. Six months of modern warfare in a small country like Czechoslovakia would likely have left it devastated. Regardless, in March 1939, German troops marched into what remained of Czechoslovakia. They detached Slovakia as

2960-533: The German conservatives and James Lonsdale-Bryans representing Great Britain, the former told the latter there was no possibility of a post-Nazi Germany ever agreeing to return the Sudetenland. In 1939 and 1940, Chamberlain repeatedly made public statements that Britain was willing to make an " honorable peace " with a post-Nazi Germany, which meant the Sudetenland would remain within the Reich . Beneš with his insistence on restoring Czechoslovakia to its pre-Munich borders

3040-400: The Munich Agreement was that it has preserved for the exacting task of the future a magnificent younger generation disciplined, industrious and physically fit that would have undoubtedly been sacrificed if the solution had been the romantic one of hopeless resistance rather than the humiliating but true heroic one of realism. It is the opinion of several Czech, Slovak and German historians that

3120-558: The Poles, whose behavior in September 1938 was a source of much resentment to Beneš. The promise from the Narkomindel that the Soviet Union supported returning Teschen to Czechoslovakia negated the whole purpose of the proposed federation for Beneš. On 22 June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union. President Emil Hacha of the puppet government serving under

3200-521: The Soviet Union meant the Soviet system would be more " western " after the war. Beneš hoped and believed that the wartime alliance of the " Big Three " of the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom , and the United States would continue after the war, with the "Big Three" co-operating in an international system that would hold Germany in check. Though Beneš did not attend the Tehran Conference himself,

3280-410: The Soviet Union would inevitably defeat Germany and thus would have a decisive role in the affairs of Eastern Europe after the war. Moreover, Beneš charged that if most of the resistance work in the Protectorate were done by the Czech communists that would give them "a pretext to take over power on the basis of the justified reproach that we helped Hitler". During the war Beneš told Ilya Ehrenburg ,

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3360-492: The Soviet Union. Furthermore, Maisky's diary had Beneš saying that if Czechoslovakia were restored, he would cede Ruthenia , whose people Beneš noted were mostly Ukrainian , to the Soviet Union to bring about a common frontier. On the same day, Beneš learned of the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact . When he confronted Maisky, he was told that war would break out "in two weeks' time", causing Beneš to write: "My overall impression

3440-461: The Soviet writer: "The only salvation lies in a close alliance with your country. The Czechs may have different political opinions, but on one point we can be sure. The Soviet Union will not only liberate us from the Germans. It will also allow us to live without constant fear of the future." On 18 July 1941, the Soviet Union and UK recognized Beneš's government-in-exile , promised non-interference in

3520-500: The Soviets were disappointed that there was so little sabotage going on in the factories of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , which were such an important source of arms and other material for the Wehrmacht. Likewise, the British started to demand that the Czechs do more resistance work. Moravec after meeting the MI6 's Director, Stewart Menzies , told Beneš that the British viewpoint

3600-485: The Sudetenland crisis as a domestic Czechoslovak crisis with international ramifications whereas Beneš saw the crisis as a matter between Czechoslovakia vs. Germany. In July 1938, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax offered the services of a British mediator Lord Runciman , to resolve the crisis, with the promise that Britain would support Czechoslovakia if Beneš was willing to accept

3680-533: The United Kingdom recognised the National Liberation Committee as being the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, with Jan Šrámek as prime minister and Beneš as president. In reclaiming the presidency, Beneš took the line that his 1938 resignation was void since it had been under duress . The intelligence provided by Agent A-54 was greatly valued by MI6 , the British intelligence service , and Beneš used it to improve his bargaining position, telling

3760-472: The United Kingdom. The second came about with the 1948 Communist coup , which created a Communist regime in Czechoslovakia . Before his time as president, Beneš was also the first foreign affairs minister (1918–1935) and the fourth prime minister (1921–1922) of Czechoslovakia. The de facto leader of the Czech National Social Party , he was known as a skilled diplomat . Beneš was born into

3840-447: The anniversary of the death of Bedřich Smetana , with his cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast ( My Country ), and it used to close (until 2003) with Ludwig van Beethoven 's Symphony No. 9 . The festival commemorates important musical anniversaries by including works by the composers concerned on its programmes, and presents Czech as well as world premieres of compositions by contemporary authors. Artists and orchestras who performed at

3920-472: The attack, saying that "An attempt against Heydrich's life ... would be of no use to the Allies and its consequences for our people would be immeasurable." Beneš personally broadcast a message insisting that the attack go forwards, although he denied any involvement after the war. Historian Vojtěch Mastný argues that he "clung to the scheme as the last resort to dramatize Czech resistance." The 1942 assassination resulted in brutal German reprisals such as

4000-529: The codes for communicating with London. At the same time, the Gestapo also learned of the existence of Agent A-54 and after an investigation arrested Thümmel , depriving Beneš of one of his most valuable bargaining chips. Faced with this situation when the Allies were demanding more Czech resistance at the same time that Heydrich had launching a crackdown that was weakening the resistance, Beneš decided in October 1941 on

4080-543: The compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1922–23 was his model for solving the problem of the Sudetenland, though unlike the Greek-Turkish population exchange, he proposed financial compensation to be paid to the Sudeten Germans expelled into Germany. Although not a Communist, Beneš was also on friendly terms with Joseph Stalin . Believing that Czechoslovakia had more to gain from an alliance with

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4160-467: The conclusions of Runciman's findings. Seeing a chance to enlist British support, Beneš accepted the Runciman Mission . The British historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote: "Beneš, whatever his other defects, was an incomparable negotiator; and the talents which had been a match for Lloyd George in 1919, soon took Runciman's measure in 1938 ... Instead, Runciman found that he was being maneuvered into

4240-543: The disputes of Eastern Europe. After talking to Beneš for four hours on 4 January 1944 about Poland's post-war borders, Churchill cabled to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt : "Beneš may be most useful in trying to make the Poles see reason and in reconciling them to the Russians, whose confidence he has long possessed". President of Czechoslovakia The president of Czechoslovakia ( Czech : prezident Československa , Slovak : prezident Česko-Slovenska )

4320-497: The east rather than the west for ideas. Kramář very much resented the way in which Masaryk openly groomed Beneš as his successor, noting that Masaryk put articles into the Constitution that set 45 as the age limit for senators, but 35 as the age limit for the presidency, which conveniently made Beneš eligible for the presidency. The charge of Czech chauvinism against Kramář had some substance as he openly proclaimed his belief that

4400-536: The execution of thousands of Czechs and the eradication of two villages: Lidice and Ležáky . Arnold J. Toynbee , a prominent historian at the time, vehemently made the argument that the Czech regime was largely comparable to the situations in Germany, Poland and with the Magyars. In 1942, Beneš finally persuaded the Foreign Office to issue a statement saying Britain had revoked the Munich Agreement and supported

4480-592: The festival include Sviatoslav Richter , Lorin Maazel , Herbert von Karajan , Mstislav Rostropovich , Julian Lloyd Webber , Boris Pergamenschikow , Lucia Popp , Kim Borg , Sir Colin Davis , Maurice André , Dmitry Sitkovetsky , Leonid Kogan , Paul Klecki , Gustav Leonhardt , Anne-Sophie Mutter , Giovanni Bellucci , Alfred Brendel , Heinrich Schiff , Leopold Stokowski , Arthur Honegger , Arthur Rubinstein and Gennady Rozhdestvensky . Prague Spring's traditional venue

4560-547: The front and also from the large emigrant populations in the United States , which was said to number more than 1,500,000. The force grew into one of tens of thousands and took part in several battles, including the Battles of Zborov and Bakhmach in Russia . From 1918 to 1935, Beneš was the first and longest-serving Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia . On 31 October 1918, Karel Kramář reported from Geneva to Prague : "If you saw our Dr. Beneš and his mastery of global questions ... you would take off your hat and say it

4640-405: The historian Robert Seton-Watson and the journalist Henry Wickham Steed , who wrote articles urging the restoration of Czechoslovakia to its pre-Munich Agreement borders. On 23 August 1939, Beneš met Ivan Maisky , the Soviet ambassador to the Court of St. James , to ask for Soviet support. According to Maisky's diary , Beneš told him that he wanted a common frontier between Czechoslovakia and

4720-414: The internal affairs of Czechoslovakia, allowed the government-in-exile to raise an army to fight alongside the Red Army on the Eastern Front ; and recognized the borders of Czechoslovakia as those before the Munich Agreement . The last was the most important to Beneš, as the British government still maintained that the Munich Agreement was in effect and regarded the Sudetenland as part of Germany. Even

4800-453: The majority of the land in Poland and Hungary was still owned by the nobility, which he claimed was the source of political and economic backwardness in both nations. Beneš believed in the ideal of "convergence" between the Soviet Union and the western nations, arguing that based on what he was seeing in wartime Britain that the western nations would become more socialist after the war while at same time that wartime liberalising reforms in

4880-485: The news of the mood of harmony that prevailed among the American, Soviet and British delegations at Tehran certainly gave him hope that the Big Three alliance would continue after the war. Beneš saw the role of Czechoslovakia and his own role as being that of a mediator between the Big Three. The fact that his old friend Churchill took him into his confidence concerning the post-war borders of Poland boosted Beneš's own perception of himself as an important diplomat, settling

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4960-402: The orchestra at the time. Such musicians as Karel Ančerl , Leonard Bernstein , Sir Adrian Boult , Rudolf Firkušný , Jaroslav Krombholc , Rafael Kubelík , Moura Lympany , Yevgeny Mravinsky , Charles Münch , Ginette Neveu , Jarmila Novotná , Lev Oborin , David Oistrakh , Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and Jan Panenka have appeared at the festival. Since 1952, the festival has opened on 12 May,

5040-402: The presidency ) had been built up into a major extra-constitutional institution enjoying considerably more informal power than the plain language of the Constitution indicated. The framers of the Constitution had intended to create a parliamentary system in which the Prime Minister would be the country's leading political figure. However, due to a complex system of proportional representation,

5120-427: The principal threat to Czechoslovak democracy , seeing him as a " reactionary " Czech chauvinist who was opposed to their plans for Czechoslovakia as a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic state. Masaryk and Beneš were openly doubtful of Kramář's commitment to "Western values" that they were committed to such as democracy , enlightenment , rationality and tolerance , seeing him as a romantic Pan-Slavist who looked towards

5200-433: The return of the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia. Beneš saw the statement by the Foreign Secretary , Anthony Eden , to the House of Commons on 5 August 1942 revoking the Munich Agreement as a diplomatic triumph for himself. Beneš had been greatly embittered by the behavior of the ethnic Germans of the Sudetenland in 1938, which he viewed as treasonous , and during his exile in London had decided that when Czechoslovakia

5280-598: The same time, Moravec's group began to work with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to plan resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia , though the distance between Britain and the Protectorate made it difficult for the SOE to parachute in agents. In November 1940, in the wake of the London Blitz , Beneš, his wife, their nieces and his household staff moved to The Abbey at Aston Abbotts , near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire . The staff of his private office, including his secretary , Eduard Táborský ( cs ), and his chief of staff , Jaromír Smutný ( cs ), moved to

5360-407: The war was over. However, Beneš felt a Polish-Czechoslovak alliance was needed to counter Germany in the post-war world, and came around to the idea of a Polish-Czechoslovak federation as the best way of squaring the circle caused by the Teschen dispute. In November 1940, Beneš and Sikorski signed an agreement in principle calling for federation, though Beneš's insistence that the Slovaks were not

5440-497: Was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during World War II . As president, Beneš faced two major crises, which both resulted in his resignation. His first resignation came after the Munich Agreement and subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, which resulted in his government's exile in

5520-410: Was a member of the League of Nations Council, serving as president of its committee from 1927 to 1928. He was a renowned and influential figure at international conferences, such as those at Genoa in 1922, Locarno in 1925, The Hague in 1930 and Lausanne in 1932. When President Tomáš Masaryk retired in 1935, Beneš succeeded him. Under Masaryk, the Hrad (" the castle ", as the Czechs called

5600-400: Was forced to resign on 5 October 1938, under German pressure, and was replaced by Emil Hácha . On Hácha's watch, Czechoslovakia lost more land to Hungary in the First Vienna Award the following month. Although many Czechs view the Munich Agreement as part of a " Western betrayal ", some scholars such as George F. Kennan and John Holroyd-Doveton suggest that the Agreement may have been

5680-444: Was in contact with Moravec's agents. Beneš's efforts paid off as he was invited to lunch, first at 10 Downing Street by Churchill (who was now Prime Minister), and then by King George VI at Buckingham Palace . In September 1940, MI6 set up a communications center in Surrey for Czechoslovak intelligence and in October 1940 a Victorian mansion at Leamington Spa was given to the Czechoslovak brigade under General Miroslav. At

5760-546: Was proclaimed in the Protectorate; thousands were arrested and executed including two prominent leaders of the UVOD resistance group , Josef Bílý ( cs ) and Hugo Vojta ( cs ) who were arrested and shot without trial . On 5 October 1941, the lines of communication between the UVOD group and London were severed when the Gestapo , during the course of its raids , seized various radios and

5840-608: Was reestablished, he was going to expel all of the Sudeten Germans into Germany. At the Munich Debate in the House of Commons, Anthony Eden acknowledged that there had been "discrimination, even severe discrimination" against the Sudeten Germans. During his exile, Beneš had come to obsessively brood over the behavior of the Sudetenlanders and had reached the conclusion that they were all collectively guilty of treason. In 1942, he stated

5920-602: Was seen by Chamberlain as an obstacle that was standing in the way of his hope that the Wehrmacht would depose Hitler. After the Dunkirk evacuation , Britain was faced with a German invasion while the British Army had lost most of its equipment, which it had to abandon at Dunkirk . At the same time, 500 Czechoslovak airmen had arrived in Britain together with half of a division , which Beneš called his "last and most impressive argument" for diplomatic recognition. On 21 July 1940,

6000-426: Was that when the United Kingdom was fighting for its life that "placing violets at the grave of the unknown soldier was simply not good enough". Making matters worse for Beneš was in late September 1941 that Reinhard Heydrich , who effectively taken over the Protectorate, launched a major crackdown on resistance. The Prime Minister, General Eliáš, was arrested on 27 September 1941 on Heydrich's orders; martial law

6080-505: Was the Munich Agreement , which the British still stood by, and which Beneš wanted the British to abrogate. The issue was important because as long the British continued to view the Munich Agreement as being in effect, they recognized the Sudetenland as part of Germany, a British war aim that Beneš naturally objected to. A problem for Beneš during the Phoney War in the winter of 1939–40 was

6160-596: 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

6240-452: 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

6320-649: Was truly marvelous!" His international stature was such that he held the post through 10 successive governments, one of which he headed himself from 1921 to 1922. In 1919, his decision to pull demoralized Czechoslovak Legions out of the Russian Civil War was denounced by Kramář as a betrayal. He represented Czechoslovakia at the 1919 peace conference in Paris , which led to the Versailles Treaty . A committed Czechoslovakist , Beneš did not consider Czechs and Slovaks to be separate ethnicities . He served in

6400-528: Was unwilling to fight Germany alone. Sergei Aleksandrovsky , the Soviet minister in Prague, reported to Moscow after talking to Beneš that he was hoping to fight a "war against the whole world" provided the Soviet Union was willing to come in. In London in May 1938, Beneš came under diplomatic pressure from the British government to accede to the Karlsbad programme, which he initially refused. The British viewed

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