Alois Rašín

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Alois Rašín

Alois Rašín (born October 18, 1867 in Nechanice , † February 18, 1923 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovakian lawyer, politician, economist and finance minister . Rašín was one of the radical opponents of the Austrian monarchy - he was convicted in the trial against the secret society Omladina and belonged to the Maffie resistance group . Rašín stood up for the independence of Czechoslovakia - in 1918 he was one of the founders of the new state and made a significant contribution to the creation of a new currency. Rašín died as a result of an assassination attempt.

Life

Rašín, who came from a family of eleven of a farmer and baker, attended various grammar schools in Nový Bydžov (then Neu Bydžow), Broumov (then Braunau) and Hradec Králové (then Königgrätz), where he graduated from high school in 1886. Then applied to study medicine at the Karl Ferdinand University in Prague, but quickly switched to law, which he finished in 1891. At that time he was already one of the leaders of the Czech radical student movement, one of his brochures ( České státní právo , German: Czech State Law, 1891) was "indexed" by the authorities. Rašín married Karla Janská from a patriotic family in Prague in 1899, sister of the discoverer of the four blood groups Jan Janský ; they had three children.

After 1900 he worked briefly but successfully as a lawyer in the corporate sector. His clients included the commercial bank in Prague.

On January 5, 1923, the anarcho communist Josef Šoupal carried out an assassination attempt on Rašín. He shot Rašín in the back because, as he is later said to have said, he wanted to hit banking and capitalism. The then 19-year-old, who according to some sources also had brief contacts with the Communist Party, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Rašín died as a result of the assassination attempt on February 18, 1923.

Political career

Because of his strongly anti-Austrian attitude and activities, Rašín was arrested and sentenced to two years ' imprisonment (pardoned one year later) in a notable trial against the anarchist secret society Omladina , which had its roots in the labor movement . He was briefly active in the Národní strana svobodomyslná party, then in 1899 he co-founded the radical, anti-Habsburg party Česká strana státoprávní ; he then came close to the Young Czech party , which he joined in 1907 and, among other things, headed their newspaper Národní listy (from 1910). In 1911 Rašín was elected to the Vienna Imperial Council.

After the outbreak of the First World War , Rašín became involved in the secret resistance group Maffie , in whose presidium he was elected. In the same year he was arrested and sentenced to death together with Karel Kramář and Vincenc Červinka , which was shortly thereafter commuted to ten years imprisonment, finally he was also pardoned by Emperor Charles I in 1917 . In February 1918 he participated in the establishment of the party Česká státoprávní demokracie , an amalgamation of several parties. He represented this party in 1918 in the Národní výbor československý . In October, he belonged to the so-called " men of the 28th October " ( "muži 28. října"), which established a National Committee in Prague, the independent Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918 proclaimed . Alois Rašín immediately wrote and signed the first law of the new state on its establishment (the so-called Reception Act ).

After the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia, Rašín was again represented in the National Assembly from November 14, 1918 to April 15, 1920 because of his work in the National Committee in 1918, he received a seat for the Česká státoprávní demokracie (or Československá národní demokracie ) party. in the so-called Revolutionary National Assembly , in April 1920 he was elected to the regular National Assembly and remained a member until his death in 1923.

Activity as finance minister

When looking for cabinet members for the new (first) government after the founding of the state, Alois Rašín was first acted as Minister of the Interior, but he refused because he preferred the Ministry of Justice. Rašín served as Minister of Justice in the Karel Kramář government (November 14, 1918 - July 8, 1919) and then in the Antonín Švehla I government (from October 7, 1922 until his death on February 18, 1923). In both cases he was also chairman of the banking committee at the Ministry of Finance.

Reverse side of the 20-kroner banknote from 1926 with Rašín's portrait

Rašín's name stands for the creator of a stable new currency, for someone who stabilized the state finances, which were under attack after the war, through a currency reform by consistently separating the new Czechoslovak currency from the highly inflationary Austrian currency. Due to special powers, which resulted from the law 24/1919 Sb., He left from 26 February 1919 to the 9 March 1919 include the state border and the previously valid and circulating in Czechoslovakia Austrian crown banknotes stamped, which thus to new currency and were then exchanged for the new Czechoslovak crown . Further measures concerned loans, coins and gold, accounts, securities, in particular a list of all real estate and property, etc. These measures prevented hyperinflation in the territory of the new state.

On October 7, 1922, Rašín became Minister of Finance in the Svehla I cabinet . In the midst of an economic crisis, he pursued a deflationary policy (in 1922 prices fell an average of 42% and wages by 32%) in favor of a strong currency. For this he was sharply criticized, especially from the political left. On January 5, 1923, Rašín was shot in Prague by a young anarchist named Josef Šoupal (1903–59). Rašín died on February 18, 1923 after a long suffering.

Works (selection)

  • České státní právo , publisher: Časopis českého studenstva, Prague 1891 (this brochure has been banned)
  • Můj finanční plán , Pražská akciová tiskárna, Prague 1920
  • Financial Policy of Czechoslovakia during the First Year of its History , Clarendon Press, Oxford 1923 ( online at Archive.org )
  • Finanční a hospodářská politika do konce roku 1921 , Pražská akciová tiskárna, Prague 1922
  • Národní hospodářství , Český čtenář, Praha 1922
  • The financial and economic policy of Czechoslovakia , Duncker & Humblot , Munich / Leipzig 1923

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e JUDr. Alois Rašín , résumé on the server of the Government of the Czech Republic, online at: vlada.cz / ...
  2. ↑ a b Alois Rašín, český politik , curriculum vitae, material from the České národní listy portal, online at: ceskenarodnilisty.cz / ...
  3. ↑ a b c d Přehled představitelů ČNB a jejích právních předchůdců , short biographies of the representatives of the Czech National Bank and its predecessor institutions, online at: cnb.cz / ...
  4. ↑ a b c Alois Rašín , curriculum vitae of the Osobnosti.cz portal, online at: financnici.cz
  5. ↑ a b Životopisy ministrů 1918–2004 (part 5), in: Author collective: Historie Ministerstva financí 1918–2004 , compilation of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, online at: mfcr.cz / ...
  6. ↑ JUDr. Alois Rašín , Národní shromáždění československé, Revoluční Národní shromáždění, Records of the Revolutionary National Assembly (11/14/1918 to 4/15/1920), online at: psp.cz/.../=3448 ; JUDr. Alois Rašín , Národní shromáždění republiky Československé, Poslanecká sněmovna, records of the Assembly of Representatives (April 25, 1920 to November 14, 1925), online at: psp.cz/.../=295
  7. ↑ Zákon ze dne 25. února 1919, jímž se ministr financí zmocňuje, aby provedl nařízením okolkování bankovek a soupis jmění za účelem uložení majetkové dávky (Law 24/1919), online at beck-online.cz19
  8. ↑ Miroslav Gregorovič: Kapitoly o českém fašismu . Lidové noviny publishing house, Prague 1955, p. 22. ISBN 80-7106-100-X .
personal data
SURNAME Rašín, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak lawyer, politician, economist and finance minister
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Nechanice
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1923
Place of death Prague