one of best located Prague hostels
Edvard Beneš , (born May 28, 1884, Kozlany, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now in Czech Republic]—died September 3, 1948, Sezimovo Ústí, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic]), statesman, foreign minister, and president, a founder of modern Czechoslovakia who forged its Western-oriented foreign policy between World Wars I
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Tovarășul Președinte Nicolae Ceaușescu | |
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Official photo of Ceaușescu from 1965 | |
General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party | |
In office 22 March 1965 – 22 December 1989 | |
Preceded by | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |
As a writer of Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays, and memoirs. His educational opportunities having been limited by his bourgeois background (when freedoms were limited by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic), Havel first rose to prominence as a playwright.
President of the Czech Republic
President of the Czech Republic Prezident České republiky | |
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Presidential Standard | |
Incumbent Miloš Zeman since 8 March 2013 | |
Style | His Excellency |
Residence | Prague Castle |
Edvard Beneš | |
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Beneš , c. 1942 | |
2nd & 4th President of Czechoslovakia | |
In office 2 April 1945 – 7 June 1948 | |
Prime Minister | Zdeněk Fierlinger Klement Gottwald |
Klement Gottwald (23 November 1896 – 14 March 1953) was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953–titled as General Secretary until 1945 and as Chairman from 1945 to 1953.
From the Communist coup d’état in February 1948 to the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Czechoslovakia was ruled by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech : Komunistická strana Československa, KSČ). The country belonged to the Eastern Bloc and was a member of the Warsaw Pact and of Comecon.
Tensions began to mount between Benes and Stalin over two issues. Stalin demanded that the province of Ruthenia be ceded to the USSR. Also, in the collapse of the quisling state body, the local “people’s committees” that replaced them became dominated by Communists .
Václav (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf]) is a Czech male first name of Slavic origin, sometimes translated into English as Wenceslaus or Wenceslas. These forms are derived from the old Slavic/Czech form of this name: Venceslav.
Nevertheless, the reformers were forced to accede to Soviet demands, signing the Moscow Protocol (which only František Kriegel refused to sign ) and ending Dubček’s Prague Spring.
The Prague Spring ended with a Soviet invasion, the removal of Alexander Dubček as party leader and an end to reform within Czechoslovakia. The first signs that all was not well in Czechoslovakia occurred in May 1966 when there were complaints that the Soviet Union was exploiting the people.
Antonin Novotny, the Stalinist ruler of Czechoslovakia, is succeeded as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, a Slovak who supports liberal reforms. Dubcek’s effort to establish “communism with a human face” was celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom became known as the Prague Spring .