Július Ďuriš

Július Ďuriš 1954

Július Ďuriš (born March 9, 1904 in Rovňany , † February 18, 1986 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak and Slovak politician and functionary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) and the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), partly in their central committees active, was a member of parliament and held a ministerial post in various governments (including finance minister).

Life, political career

Július Ďuriš studied law at Charles University in Prague in the late 1920s . In 1927 he joined the KPTsch, and then studied politics and social sciences in Paris. Because of his membership and activity in the Czechoslovak section of the Parti communiste français , he was expelled from France and went back to Slovakia, where he became a leading functionary in the KSS, from 1939 to 1941 (after the establishment of the Slovak state ) he was a member of the illegal Party leadership, he was in prison from 1941 to 1945, but was able to escape in February 1945.

Ďuriš continued his party career after 1945: from 1945 to 1953 he was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Slovak KSS and at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the CPC until 1963. During this time he was also Minister of Agriculture and was able to serve the Communist Party well: before 1948, Ďuriš was responsible for distributing the land that was confiscated from the expelled Germans, Hungarians, so-called collaborators, etc. With his land reform he became popular and was able to strengthen the party's position - already in the parliamentary elections in 1946 he was largely responsible for the party's electoral successes, especially in rural regions. At the time he claimed that there would be no compulsory collectivization of agriculture in accordance with the Soviet model in Czechoslovakia and, as minister, enabled the creation of numerous independent farms, but at the same time secretly prepared corresponding laws and, after the February revolution in 1948 and later , enforced collectivization in one particularly strong scope. From 1945 to 1963 Ďuriš was a member of the National Assembly.

Július Ďuriš held the following government posts in Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1963 (with one interruption) (in brackets: date of term of office as minister):

• Minister of Agriculture in the Zdeněk Fierlinger I government (4/5 April 1945 - 6 November 1945), the Zdeněk Fierlinger II government (6 November 1945 - 2 July 1946), the Klement Gottwald I government (2 July 1946 - 25 February 1948), the Klement government Gottwald II (25.2.1948 - 15.6.1948), Antonín Zápotocký government (15.6.1948 - 10.9.1951)
• Forestry and Wood Industry Minister in the Antonín Zápotocký government (January 31, 1953 - March 21, 1953), Viliam Široký I government (March 21, 1953 - September 14, 1953)
• Minister of Finance in the Viliam Široký I Government (September 14, 1953 - December 12, 1954), Viliam Široký II Government (December 12, 1954 - July 11, 1960), Viliam Široký III Government (July 11, 1960 - September 20, 1963)

Due to differences with the then General Secretary of the party and President of the Republic Antonín Novotný , Ďuriš had to give up all party, government and state functions in 1963; because of his sympathy and support for the Prague Spring of 1968, he was expelled from the party in 1970.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Július Ďuriš , curriculum vitae of the official portal of the Government of the Czech Republic, online at: vlada.cz/...45563
2. ↑ ^{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 / ...
3. ↑ Július ĎURIŠ , brief overview of the totalita.cz portal, online at: totalita.cz / ...
4. ↑ Compared with Přehled vlád ČR (overview of all governments), portal of the government of the Czech Republic, online at: vlada.cz ...