Alexander Dubček

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Alexander Dubček as General Secretary of KSČ , 1968
Signature of Alexander Dubček

Alexander Dubček (born November 27, 1921 in Uhrovec , Czechoslovakia , †  November 7, 1992 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak and Slovak politician . As General Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communists , he was the most powerful politician in Czechoslovakia from 1968 to 1969 and became the leading figure of the Prague Spring . Before that, Dubček had already held the position of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Slovakia (1963–1968).

After the crackdown on the Prague Spring, he had to leave politics. In 1989, however, he joined the anti-communist opposition and became, together with the Czech Václav Havel, one of the main figures of the Velvet Revolution , as a result of which Dubček was elected chairman of the Czechoslovak federal parliament (1989-1991). In 1992 he was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Slovakia .

Dubček died in 1992 as a result of a car accident. Previously, he was seen as a promising candidate for the post of future Slovak President.

Life

Dubček lived with his parents from 1925 to 1938 in the Soviet Union , from 1925 to 1933 they lived in the city of Bishkek (from 1926 Frunze) in Soviet Kyrgyzstan, from 1933 to 1938 in central Russia. During this time he learned the trade of machine fitter . In 1939 he became a member of the Communist Party of Slovakia (KPS) and in 1944 he took part in the Slovak National Uprising . From 1949 he held various party offices: in 1949 he became party functionary, in 1953 party secretary in Banská Bystrica . In 1955 Dubček went to study at the Moscow Party School of the CPSU , in 1958 he came back to Czechoslovakia. In Moscow he saw for the first time how openly Stalin's policy was discussed. Up until now he was not used to being openly talked about these things, as Stalinism was still firmly carried on in his country.

In Bratislava he became party secretary and he was also elected to the Central Committee of the KPS. Dubček disagreed with the constitutional reform of 1958 by Antonín Novotný , the then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPČ :

  1. His opinion was that changing the name from ČSR to ČSSR - the addition "socialist" - was not justified.
  2. The reform was intended to ensure that the party was firmly anchored in the state, which would contradict the 1948 constitution.
  3. Slovakia's rights within the ČSR / ČSSR would also be curtailed and the achievements of 1944/45 would be eliminated. The Slovak national government and other Slovak institutions would be abolished.

In 1959 Dubček was appointed secretary for industrial questions at the Central Committee of the KPČ , where he was responsible for metallurgy, the tool and machine industry, the chemical industry and the construction industry.

Bust of Dubček in Bratislava

When the rehabilitation of party comrades was carried out in the USSR, Dubček raised the question of the rehabilitation of Slovak resistance fighters who had been executed from 1951 to 1953 for discussion. There were internal party disputes between Dubček and Novotný. Subsequently, Dubček was defeated, who was demoted to secretary of a Slovak Kraj . At the 12th Party Congress, however, he returned to the Central Committee and was able to cause a commission (Kolder Commission) to deal with the former cleansing and rehabilitation. In 1963 the commission's report was ready and Dubček called for the rehabilitation of Husák and Clementis . He also managed to become First Secretary of the Central Committee of the KPS and thereby also became a full member of the Central Committee of the KPČ. Under Dubček, there was a slight opening to freedom of expression in Slovakia, while in the Czech part of the ČSSR everything remained the same. A confrontation between Dubček and Novotný began within the party. Dubček called for self-criticism in the party at a two-day plenary session of the Central Committee. One should not only criticize the district and regional levels, but start at the very top. This divided both of them even more. But Novotný could not prevent Dubček from winning.

On January 5, 1968 Dubček Novotný replaced as First Secretary of the KPČ. Through his commitment to socialism with a human face , Dubček became a representative of a reform communist course in Czechoslovakia, which was known as the Prague Spring . After the reform movement had been crushed, Dubček had to resign as party leader of the KPČ on April 17, 1969 and took over the chairmanship of the national assembly, the parliament of the ČSSR, until September 1969. He was then ambassador to Turkey for a short time . In June 1970 he was expelled from the party and from then on had to earn his living as a procurement inspector in the forestry administration of Bratislava.

Alexander Dubček on December 29, 1989 in Prague

On November 13, 1988 Dubček received an honorary doctorate in political science from the University of Bologna as part of its 900th anniversary celebration . It was awarded to him because he had campaigned for human rights for many years in countries where "serious violations of democratic principles are common". The award was also made at the urging of the General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party, Alessandro Natta . In his acceptance speech Dubček refrained from harsh criticism of the politics in the ČSSR ; However, his speech had already been published in full by the press the day before. After Dubček had only been approved by the Prague authorities at the last minute to leave for Italy, he feared that he would face difficulties on his return if he was too open about the political situation in his homeland in the West. In his speech, however, Dubček did address the events of 1968: The Prague reform movement would certainly have been successful without the violent intervention of the Soviet Union; its goals were similar to those of Mikhail Gorbachev's reform policy. But people who thought like him are still persecuted in the Czechoslovakia.

It was Dubček's first public appearance in a western state.

In the course of the reform policy from 1989 Dubček was rehabilitated and on December 28, 1989 elected President of the Czechoslovak Parliament.

Death and remembrance

Dubček's grave in Bratislava

Alexander Dubček died of the consequences of a car accident that occurred on September 1, 1992 near Humpolec in the Czech Republic. He was buried in a grave of honor in the Slávičie údolie cemetery in the Slovak capital, Bratislava .

After his death, voices were raised that doubted the official version of a simple car accident and instead believed in a targeted attack on Dubček's life. At the end of 1999, at the insistence of the Czech Social Democratic Party ( ČSSD ), the Ministry of Interior initiated a new investigation into Dubček's death. However, like earlier investigations, this came to the conclusion that the accident was due to aquaplaning due to excessive speed; There were no indications of an attack.

The square in front of the Slovak Parliament, southwest of the castle in Bratislava , on which there is a monument with his bust in honor of the famous Slovak is called Alexander Dubček Square ( Námestie Alexandra Dubčeka ).

Offices and functions

  • 1951–1955, 1960–1968 and 1969–1970: Member / 1969 Chairman of the Federal Parliament (National Assembly, since 1969 called Federal Assembly)
  • 1964–1970: Member of the Slovak Parliament
  • 1955–1968: Member / since 1962 member of the Presidium / since 1963 First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovakia
  • 1958–1969: Member / 1960–1962 secretary / since 1962 member of the presidium / since 1968 first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
  • 1969–1970: Ambassador to Turkey
  • 1970: excluded from the Communist Party
  • 1989–1992: Member of the Verejnosť proti násiliu party (Public Against Violence (VPN))
  • 1990–1992: Chairman of the Federal Parliament (Federal Assembly)
  • 1992: Chairman and member of the Slovak Social Democratic Party (SSDS); after the 1992 elections, member of the federal parliament for the SSDS

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander Dubček  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Alexander Dubček: Life for Freedom . Bertelsmann, 1993.
  2. ↑ Who does not steal . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1975, p. 121 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Katrin Bock: 10th anniversary of the death of Alexander Dubcek . Radio Prague. November 9, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
  4. ↑ Eva Pokornä: A hero in Hotel Roma . ( Memento from August 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Die Zeit , No. 48/1988
  5. ↑ ARD Tagesschau from November 13, 1988 / 8:15 p.m.
  6. ^ Antonis Hilbers: When everyone was called Dubcek . netzeitung.de. November 27, 2001. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved on May 29, 2010.
  7. ^ Website of the Sakharov Prize
  8. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Dubček, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovak politician and leading figure of the so-called Prague Spring (1968)
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Uhrovec , Slovakia
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1992
Place of death Prague , Czech Republic