Štefan Osuský

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Osuský in 1939

Štefan Osuský (born March 31, 1889 in Brezová pod Bradlom , Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia ); † September 27, 1973 in Herndon (Virginia) ) was a Slovak lawyer, diplomat , politician and university professor who was instrumental in the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic was involved.

Life

Osuský attended the Lyceum in Pressburg from 1902 . In 1905 he was expelled from school as a Slovak nationalist and was not allowed to attend a school in the country by direct order of the Minister for Religion and Education of the Kingdom of Hungary. During a school inspection, the Minister Albert Apponyi asked Osuský whether he was ready to be a “good Hungarian”. Apponyi rated Osuský's silence as "no".

In 1906 Osuský therefore went to the United States. He studied theology, science and law in Springfield and Chicago and received his doctorate in law in 1916. Shortly after his arrival in the USA, he began to get involved in organizations of Czech-Slovak immigrants, first in the Czech National Association , then later in the Slovak League in the US . In 1915 he founded the newspapers Slovenské slovo ("Slovak word") and Slovenský týždenník ("Slovak week"). In 1916 Osuský became vice president of the Slovak League, which sent him to Europe to negotiate cooperation with the Czech-Slovak resistance movement. He worked intensively for the implementation of the Cleveland Agreement , which provided for a Czechoslovak state with an autonomous Slovakia.

In Paris he began a collaboration with the Czech National Council, whose goals were the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of a new state for Czechs and Slovaks. In 1917/18 Osuský was the head of the Czech-Slovak press agency in Geneva. In April 1918 he and Milan Rastislav Štefánik represented the Slovaks at the “Congress of the Oppressed Peoples” in Rome . In 1918 he helped organize and set up the Czechoslovak legions in Italy .

After the establishment of Czechoslovakia , he worked for the new state as a diplomat. From October 1918 he was the country's official representative in Great Britain. As Secretary General of the Czechoslovak delegation, he took part in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919/20 . On June 4, 1920, he signed the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary in the Grand Trianon as extraordinary and authorized representative of Czechoslovakia .

He campaigned intensively for the newly founded League of Nations . Between 1921 and 1932 he worked in the Commission for Compensation Issues and, in addition to Czechoslovakia, also represented Poland , the Kingdom of Yugoslavia , Romania and Greece . From 1922 to 1936 he was chairman of the control committee. He was also involved in the Border Issues Commission, which was responsible for national border disputes in Europe.

From 1921 Osuský was Czechoslovakian ambassador to France and tried to establish a close partnership between the two countries. After the German Wehrmacht invaded Czechoslovakia, Osuský refused to close the embassy and began to organize the Czechoslovak resistance. On October 2, 1939 Osuský signed an agreement with the French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier , which provided for the restoration of the Czechoslovak army in France. But his activities met with resistance , especially from Eduard Beneš . Although Osuský became a member of the Czechoslovak National Committee of Beneš in November 1939 and Minister of the Czechoslovak government- in- exile in London in July 1940 , relations with Beneš deteriorated. Differences of opinion existed mainly in questions of foreign policy, the organization of the resistance , the future structure of the Czechoslovak Republic and the solution of the Slovak question. In March 1942, Beneš dismissed him from all positions because Osuský openly refused to accept a reference to the Soviet Union.

Osuský then worked as a lecturer in the history of diplomacy and international relations. In the spring of 1945 he was appointed professor at Colgate University . After the communist seizure of power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, he became involved in the Council for a Free Czechoslovakia. He also conducted research in political science and journalism. His research focus was on the Czechoslovak policy of international relations.

Honors

Posthumously in 1992 Osuský received the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 1st class from the post-communist Czechoslovak government . In 2001 he was also honored with the Order of the White Double Cross 2nd Class. His hometown honored him with a monument.

literature

  • František Vnuk: Stephen Osuský and March 1939 . In: Slovakia 9 (1959) 5, pp. 65-75
  • Manfred Alexander : Osuský, Štefan . In: Mathias Bernath, Felix von Schroeder (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 3. Oldenbourg, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-486-48991-7 , p. 370 f.

Web links

Commons : Štefan Osuský  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e M. Alexander: Osuský, Štefan . In: Mathias Bernath, Felix von Schroeder (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 3. Oldenbourg, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-486-48991-7 , p. 370 f.
  2. ^ Joseph M. Kirschbaum: Slovakia in the 19th & 20th Centuries. Slovak World Congress, Toronto 1973, p. 9
  3. ↑ a b Slavomír Michálek: Diplomat Štefan Osuský ( Slovak ). Veda, Bratislava 1999, ISBN 80-224-0565-5 .
  4. ↑ Biography of Štefan Osuský , Hoover Institution, Stanford University
  5. ^ Slavomír Michálek: Hodža a Osuský, názory a pozície v rokoch 1939-1940 . In: Milan Hodža - štátnik a politik. Zborník ( Slovak ). Veda, Ústav politických vied SAV, Bratislava 2002, pp. 301–318.
personal data
SURNAME Osuský, Štefan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Osuský, Štephan; Štefan Osusky, Stefan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovak lawyer, diplomat, politician and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Brezová pod Bradlom
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1973
Place of death Herndon, Virginia