František Galan
František Galan (born May 31, 1908 in Viničné , † 1945 in Mauthausen ) was a Slovak lawyer , theologian and politician of the Hlinka party . In 1940 he was briefly Commander-in-Chief of the Hlinka Guard in the Slovak state . Because of his support for the Slovak National Uprising , he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1945, transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp and executed there before the end of the war .
Life
Galan attended grammar school in Bratislava and studied at the law faculties of the Comenius University in Bratislava and in Brno . He also studied theology in Bratislava and Trnava . From 1931 to 1933 he was chairman of the Central Slovak Catholic Student Union (Slovak: Ústredie slovenského katolickeho študentstva ).
In 1933 he was one of the organizers of the Pribina celebrations, which is why the academic senate banned him from studying in all faculties of the Comenius University in Bratislava. From 1939 Galan worked as Jozef Kirschbaum's employee at the General Secretariat of the Slovak People's Party.
After President Jozef Tiso had appointed him the new Commander-in-Chief of the Hlinka Guard on May 21, 1940, Galan immediately took action against the pro-Nazi radicals within the Guard. On June 24, 1940, Rodobrana , which had been reorganized by the fascist Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka as a personal power assistant within the Hlinka Guard, was dissolved, and the position of the state police organs of the Central Office of State Security (Slovak: Ústredňa štátnej bezpečnosti , ÚŠB for short ) was expanded . Furthermore, Galan immediately ordered the Hlinka Guard to be directly subordinate to the Ludak party organs. All possible interference by the Hlinka Guard in the state apparatus was prohibited.
The leading pro-Nazi radicals of the Hlinka Guard such as Otomar Kubala viewed the period of Galan's leadership as Commander-in-Chief as one of their greatest setbacks . In later analyzes of the development of the Hlinka Guard, radical guardsmen expressed themselves as follows:
"The new commander-in-chief was the former theologian Dr. Galan and his deputy Horák from Vajnor, who is known for his corruption […] Almost all of the old employees of the HG were dismissed and, according to the proposals, Dr. Tisos and Kirschbaums appointed new ones [...] Around 200 pioneers of Hitlerism in Slovakia were arrested during this time, the Rodobrana was dissolved and every old autonomist, especially if it was known that he was one of the friends of National Socialism, became ruthless and existential damaged. "
As a result of the Salzburg dictation , Galan had to relinquish the post of commander-in-chief of the Hlinka Guard to the fascist Alexander Mach on July 29, 1940 .
After his dismissal as Commander-in-Chief of the Hlinka Guard, Galan became inspector of the Hlinka Guard at the level of the spans and, in addition to the function of Deputy Chairman of the Grain Society ( Slovak : Obilná spoločnosť ) from Ján Klinovský, he also received a position in the Supreme Office for Supply (Slovak: Najvyší úrad pre zásobovanie , or NÚZ for short ). In September 1944 he also became chairman of the NÚZ. In these functions, Galan managed to move a large amount of material and food to Banská Bystrica in favor of the Slovak National Uprising , which was his undoing.
In spring 1945 he was arrested by the Gestapo and transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp, where he was executed before the end of the war.
Others
František Galan's daughter Elena Galanová made a career in the Slovak television of socialist Czechoslovakia .
literature
- Peter Sokolovič: Hlinkova garda 1938–1945. In: Bratislava: Ústav pamäti národa. 2009, ISBN 978-80-89335-10-7 .
- Karol Sidor: Denníky 1930–1939. 2010, ISBN 978-80-89335-23-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Beáta Katrebobá-Blehová: Attempts by the Reich Foreign Minister to recall Karol Sidor as a result of the negotiations in Salzburg, p. 435 u. 436 (Slovak; PDF file; 241 kB).
- ^ Peter Sokolovič: Hlinkova garda 1938–1945. In: Bratislava. Ústav pamäti národa. 2009, ISBN 978-80-89335-10-7 , p. 254.
- ↑ Elena Galanová Životopis, on www.zivotopis.osobnosti.cz
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Galan, František |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Slovak journalist and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Viničné |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1945 |
| Place of death | Mauthausen |