Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme

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The organization Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme , German Petitions Committee We remain loyal , PVVZ for short, was a non-communist-oriented Czech resistance group that fought against the National Socialist occupation of Czechoslovakia during the time of the Protectorate . It was active from 1939 to 1942. From 1940 it was one of the three components of the umbrella organization ÚVOD .

History and activity

Kroměříž , 1938, a protest march

On May 15, 1938, leading daily newspapers in Czechoslovakia published the manifesto “Věrni zůstaneme” (“We stay loyal”), with which the Czechoslovak public should be mobilized in the face of the threat of aggression by the German Reich . The manifesto, which postulated loyalty to the ideals of the young republic and to the legacy of its founder TG Masaryk , was initiated and signed by 308 well-known, mostly left-wing intellectuals, scientists and artists, an extensive signature campaign that was signed by more than a million people, was organized by the "Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme" committee set up for this purpose.

Immediately after the occupation of the so-called remaining Czech Republic on March 15, 1939, the committee reorganized itself as a resistance group. The committee itself was initiated by employees of the social democratically oriented Dělnická akademie (Workers' Academy ) and the "Support Committee for Democratic Spain" (Výbor na pomoc democickému Španělsku), which came into being in the mid-1930s and brought together over 2000 Czech and Slovak interbrigadists ; Little by little, more left-wing intellectuals and democrats, trade unionists and social democrats, but also Freemasons and others, come across. The committee had good contacts and helpers with the workers in the railway and metallurgy companies and the post office. PVVZ also worked closely with the Obrana národa resistance group and was active throughout the protectorate.

The resistance group concentrated on intelligence work by sending important information about the situation in the Protectorate to the government-in-exile in London by radio and courier; the group also organized escape routes abroad for members of the armed forces, distributed illegal newspapers, carried out acts of sabotage, etc.

The group worked closely with the resistance groups Obrana národa and Politické ústředí , with whom they founded the umbrella organization ÚVOD in early 1940 , where they were represented by Volfgang Jankovec and František Andršt. After the other two groups were severely weakened as a result of arrests by the Gestapo, Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme became the most important part of ÚVOD. It united about 3,000 people. In the fall of 1942, however, she was also arrested and practically smashed. Already at the end of 1938 the women's group Ženská národní rada joined the resistance and joined the Petiční výbor Věrni zůstaneme.

Programmatic work

In 1941, the leadership of the organization wrote the programmatic document "Za svobodu, do nové ČSR" (For freedom in the new Czechoslovakia). The document, which was distributed illegally, was a programmatic vision of post-war Czechoslovakia that contained reformist-socialist concepts and required extensive socio-economic reforms.

Management of the organization

Among the leading figures were Josef Fischer , Volfgang Jankovec , Vojtěch Čížek , František Andršt , Jaroslav Fukátko and Karel Josef Beneš as well as Milada Horáková, who was later executed under the communist regime .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kalendárium: 15. května 1938 (Calendar 15 May 1938), online at: www.svornost.com / ... , accessed on July 13, 2012
  2. ^ Václav Průcha, Lenka Kalinová, Koncepce budoucí hospodářské a sociální politiky v čs. odboji za druhé světové války, in: Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 3/2005, ISSN  0572-3043 , online at: www.vse.cz/...pdf=152 , here in particular chapter 2. Domácí český odboj (p. 93ff. )
  3. ↑ Eva Leicmanova: Czech resistance and Europe performances in World War II , In: Seminar on "resistance and European unification in World War II" 1999/2000, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schmale, Institute for History of the University of Vienna, online at: www.univie.ac.at / ...
  4. ↑ Odbojové skupiny, online at: www.annefrankguide.net/cs-cz / ... , accessed on July 13, 2012
  5. ↑ a b Catalog of the exhibition "Česká společnost od Mnichova k válce", published by ÚSTR 2009, ISBN 978-80-87211-20-5 , online at: www.ustrcr.cz / ... , p. 25, accessed on July 13, 2012
  6. ↑ a b Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, online at: www.veterani.army.cz / ... , accessed on July 13, 2012
  7. ↑ Květa Jechová: Emancipace shora , in: Paměť a dějiny 4/2013, ÚSTR publications , online at: ustrcr.cz / ...
  8. ↑ a b Petiční výbor "Věrni zůstaneme", short lemma of the online encyclopedia CoJeCo, online at: www.cojeco.cz / ... , accessed on July 13, 2012
  9. ↑ JUDr. Milada Horáková, curriculum vitae, online at: www.valka.cz/clanek_13681.html , accessed on July 13, 2012

See also