Ladislav Pittner

Ladislav Pittner (18 May 1934 – 15 August 2008) was a Slovak politician. He served as the Minister of Interior of Slovakia in 1994 and between 1998 and 2001.

Biography Ladislav Pittner was born on 18 May 1934 in Malacky. As a high school student, he was involved with an anti-communist dissent group Catholic Action. Due to his participation in dissent, he was expelled from school and from 1951 to 1953 jailed. Afterwards, he worked as a laborer.

In the 1960s, as the repression eased with the advent of the Prague Spring, Pittner was able to graduate from high school and in 1970 graduate from the University of Economics in Bratislava. After graduating, Pittner worked as a researcher in the Institute of economics and organization of construction.

Political career After the Velvet Revolution, Pittner shortly worked in the Institute for Defense or Democracy and Constitution, leading research on persecution of dissidents in the communist era. Between November 1990 and June 1992, he served as the Minister of Interior of Slovakia, which was at the time still part of Czechoslovakia. After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Pittner served as the minister of Interior of Slovakia twice - first in the short-lived caretaker government of Jozef Moravčík in 1994 and then again in the First Cabinet of Mikuláš Dzurinda from 1998 to 2001.

Between 1992 and 2002, Pittner also served as an MP of the National Council of Slovakia. From 2001 to 2003, Pittner served as the chair of the Political prisoner's conference. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the director of the Slovak intelligence agency, Slovak Information Service.

Personal life and death Pittner was married with four children.