Osobnost Osvalda Závodského (1910–1954) s důrazem na jeho účast v občanské válce ve Španělsku

• Authors: Majtenyi David

Title variants

EN

Osvald Závodský (1910–1954), his personality and his engagement in the Spanish Civil War

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The present study focuses on the personage of Osvald Závodský, an important representative of the security apparatus of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and later also an employee of the Ministry of the Interior. Závodský took active part in the communist assumption of power in February 1948, and continued his engagement in the fight against so called internal enemy afterwards. The peak of the political power he attained when he was appointed the Director of the State Security in 1950. However, several months later, he experienced a great downfall as a victim of political processes which started to take place in Czechoslovakia at that time. He was condemned to death and executed in March 1954. In this context, the study asks whether Závodský was one of the initial instigators of the political trials of the 1950s, or merely a victim of one of them. Yet, almost unknown chapters of his life represented his previous participation in the Spanish Civil War in the years 1936–1939, and subsequently in the resistance movement during the Second World War. Therefore, this study also focuses on the organizational background of our volunteers’ departures to Spain, and, on the basis of archival research, it offers a fresh perspective on this interesting, yet ambiguous figure of the newly emerging communist power in Czechoslovakia at that time.

Keywords

EN

History; 20th century; Czechoslovakia; Spanish civil war 1936–1939; international brigades; State security

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Moderní dějiny: sborník k dějinám 19. a 20. století (Modern History: Studies into 19th and 20th century history)
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 183-220

Contributors

author

Majtenyi David

• Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy Praha, Czech Republic