Josef Plojhar

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Josef Plojhar at the 9th party congress of the GDR CDU in 1958

Josef Plojhar (born March 2, 1902 in Budweis , † November 5, 1981 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak Catholic priest , politician and author .

Life

After attending school, he studied Catholic theology and worked as a pastor after his ordination . Plojhar was a member of the Czechoslovak People's Party (Československá strana lidová, ČSL) and was arrested on March 15, 1939 after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and interned in Buchenwald concentration camp during the Second World War .

After the Second World War, in 1948 he supported the takeover of power by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Komunistická strana Československa ) and the formation of the National Front of Czechs and Slovaks (Národní fronta Čechů a Slováků). He took the view that Catholicism and communism are compatible.

In 1948 he was supported by Prime Minister Antonín Zápotocký to Health Minister appointed and kept this office also under his successors for twenty years until he was deposed by the reform movement under Alexander Dubcek during the Prague Spring in 1968. From 1951 to 1968 he was also also chairman of the ČSL.

Even if Josef Cardinal Beran , the Archbishop of Prague , had withdrawn his permission to hold sermons , his continued appearance in priestly clothing gave the communist government a certain reputation abroad.

Thanks to his excellent knowledge of German, Plojhar was often one of the delegation members who represented Czechoslovakia abroad (he traveled to the GDR several times). He was an advocate of cooperation between the Czechoslovak People's Party and the Eastern CDU ; these contacts remained rather limited, since both parties were subordinate to the communists.

In 1968 he became honorary chairman of the ČSL and held this position until his death.

He published the experiences of his internment in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1975 in a book under the title Buchenwald warns by Union-Verlag Ost-Berlin .

literature

Web links

Commons : Josef Plojhar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Catholic Church and the Prague Spring
  2. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: KIRCHENKAMPF / INTERNATIONALES: Two eyes for one (No. 11/1950)
  3. ^ Paul Ullmann: A Difficult Neighborhood: The History of Diplomatic Relations between Austria and Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1968 . 2006, ISBN 3-8258-7756-6 , p. 107 and a.
  4. ↑ Peter Hauptmann: Church in the East: Studies on the Eastern European Church History . 1983, ISBN 3-525-56381-7 , p. 146.
personal data
SURNAME Plojhar, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak Catholic priest, politician and author
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Ceske Budejovice
DATE OF DEATH 5th November 1981
Place of death Prague