Karol Bacílek

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Karol Bacílek (born October 12, 1896 in Choťánky , † March 19, 1974 in Bratislava ) was a Slovak communist functionary of Czech origin who was instrumental in the illegality of the 1950s.

life and career

Bacílek, a trained machine fitter, moved to Slovakia in 1919 after serving in the Austro-Hungarian and then in the Czechoslovak army. There he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in 1921, in its founding year, and has held leading positions in the party since 1924, including 1931-1938 member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the KSČ.

1939–1943 he lived in exile in Moscow, where he attended the party school. In 1943 he returned illegally to Slovakia, where he became secretary of the Slovak section of the KSČ and actively participated in the Slovak national uprising.

After the end of the war he continued his functions in the party:

  • 1944–1966 member of the Central Committee of the Slovak Communist Party
  • 1945–1946 and 1949–1966 member of the Central Committee of KSČ
  • 1949–1963 member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Slovak Communist Party
  • 1951–1963 member of the Politburo and later of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of KSČ
  • 1951–1963 the first secretary of the Slovak Communist Party

He also held several government posts:

  • 1946–1964 Member of the National Assembly
  • 1950–1951 Chairman of the Committee of Representatives of the Slovak National Council
  • 1951–1952 Minister for State Control
  • 1952–1953 Minister for National Security

Because of his responsibility for the excesses of the judiciary in the show trials of the 1950s, he lost many of his party and state functions in 1963, the last in 1966.

In particular, his work as Minister for National Security moved Bacílek to the center of criticism. The so-called Corps of National Security ( Sbor národní bezpečnosti ), in which the StB secret police was integrated, was responsible for the preparation and to a large extent also for carrying out the show trials, during which dozens of death sentences were imposed, including Rudolf Slánský and Milada Horáková . Bacílek himself participated personally in the preparation of the interrogations, which he then approved with Soviet advisors. In this context, his statement about the role of defense lawyers is “... they should acquire the principles: ... who is guilty and who is not guilty, where errors and mistakes end and crimes begin - the party decides with assistance of the organs of national security ”has become notorious.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ , keyword Bacílek Karol, online at: www.libri.cz/databaze , Czech, accessed on November 17, 2010
  2. ↑ temporarily unavailable

swell

  • Zakázaný document. Zpráva komise ÚV KSČ o politických procesech a rehabilitacích v Československu 1949–68 (Prohibited document. Report of the Commission of the Central Committee of the KSČ on the political processes and rehabilitation in Czechoslovakia 1949–68), Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1970 (Czech edition), Introduction and closing words by Jiří Pelikán (appendix with biographies)
  • Milan Churaň a kolektiv, Kdo byl kdo v našich dějinách ve 20. století (Who was who in our history of the 20th century), Libri, Prague 1998, part 1 and 2, ISBN 80-85983-44-3 and ISBN 80- 85983-64-8 , online at: www.libri.cz
  • Karol Bacílek, short biography in tabular form, based on: J. Tomeš et al., Český biografický slovník XX. století, Praha 1999, online at: www.totalita.cz

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bacílek, Karol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak communist politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Choťánky
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1974
Place of death Bratislava