Kamil Krofta

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Kamil Krofta (1936)

Kamil Krofta (born July 17, 1876 in Pilsen , † August 16, 1945 in Prague ) was a Czech historian from the Goll School and a diplomat .

youth

In 1894 he finished his studies at the secondary school in Pilsen and began studying philosophy in Prague , then from 1896 to 1899 in Vienna . From 1899 to 1901 he was studying in the Vatican Archives .

Scientific career

From 1901 Krofta worked in the Bohemian State Archives in Prague. In 1905 he became a private lecturer in Austrian history at Charles University in Prague . From 1911 he was an associate professor and from 1919 a full professor of Czech history with a special focus on Slovakia.

Political career

From 1919 he was ambassador to the Vatican and was instrumental in the recognition of Czechoslovakia by the small state. From 1921 to 1925 he resided as ambassador in Vienna, where he also gave lectures at the Comenius University in Bratislava . From 1925 to 1927 he was ambassador to Berlin . From 1927 he took over the management of the Presidium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the government of President Edvard Beneš . In 1936 he retired. From February 29, 1936 to October 4, 1938, he succeeded Milan Hodža as Foreign Minister of the Czechoslovak Republic in the Jan Syrový I government.

After the establishment of the protectorate , he published a defense of Czechoslovak foreign policy. He joined the Czech resistance group Parsifal and was one of the leading figures in the Preparatory National Revolutionary Assembly ( Přípravný národní revoluční výbor ). He was imprisoned in 1944 and initially held in Pankrác prison and later in Theresienstadt concentration camp .

He died of the consequences of his imprisonment shortly after the liberation of Czechoslovakia.

Memberships

From 1916 he was an associate member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences .

Works

Most of his books dealt with Bohemian history. From 1903 to 1909, together with Jan Bedřich Novák , he wrote a book about Bohemian parliaments and assemblies before the Battle of White Mountain . Another historically valuable work was his treatment of the Hussite period , in which he was primarily concerned with the study of the history of religion and the church from the 15th century until the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. In addition, he was also interested in the economic and social history of Bohemia. In this area he wrote several books and essays about the life of the rural population, customs law in Moravia in the 16th century, the beginning of the Bohemian tax law and others.

Published in German (selection)

  • History of Czechoslovakia. (Authorized translation from Czech by Camill Hoffmann ). Erich Reiss, Berlin 1932.
  • The Germans in Bohemia (= Political Library. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 537358-x ). Orbis, Prague 1924.
  • The Germanness in Czechoslovak history (= Political Library. Vol. 9). Two lectures were given in the Urania in Prague on April 16 and May 16, 1934. Orbis, Prague 1934.
  • Europe at a crossroads. Exposé by the Minister of Foreign Affairs held in the external committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate on May 28, 1936 (= Čechoslovakische Quellen und Dokument. No. 11, ZDB -ID 84155-9 ). Orbis, Prague 1936.
  • The roots of Czechoslovak foreign policy (= Prager Rundschau. Special supplement , issue January 1937, ZDB -ID 400742-6 ). Orbis, Prague 1937.
  • The Germans in the Czechoslovak State (= Czechoslovak sources and documents. No. 20). Orbis, Prague 1937.
  • Czechoslovakia and the international situation at the beginning of 1937. Exposé by the Foreign Minister. Presented on March 2, 1937 in the external committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the National Assembly (= Czechoslovak sources and documents. No. 21). Orbis, Prague 1937.
  • Czechoslovakia and the Little Entente in European Politics Today. Exposé of the Foreign Minister. Presented on May 21, 1937 in the external committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the National Assembly (= Czechoslovak sources and documents. No. 22). Orbis, Prague 1937.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Krofta, Kamil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech historian and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Pilsen
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1945
Place of death Prague