Rudolf Beran

Rudolf Beran (28 December 1887 – 23 April 1954) was a Czech politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Czechoslovak Republic and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 1938 to 1939. After World War II he was convicted for collaborating with Nazi Germany and died in prison.

Early life Rudolf Beran was born in Pracejovice, Austria-Hungary, on 28 December 1887.

Career Beran was the leader of the Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants.

President Emil Hácha appointed Beran as prime minister on 30 November 1938, and he formed his cabinet on 1 December. Beran dismissed his entire cabinet, except for two members, on 9 March 1939.

On 14 December 1938, Beran stated that he would "solve the Jewish problem". He proposed creating labor camps for Romani people and other groups on 6 February 1939, and the first labor camps were approved by his cabinet on 2 March.

The country was occupied by Nazi Germany, which created the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Alois Eliáš succeeded Beran as prime minister on 28 April. Beran was arrested in May 1941 by the Germans and spent years in various concentration camps. While he was in custody of the Gestapo in Prague, he had to answer several written questions submitted to him by K. H. Frank, Hitler's Staatsminister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Death and legacy Beran was convicted for his collaboration with the Nazis and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He died at the Leopoldov Prison on 24 April 1954. In 2022, the High Court in Prague reopened the case against Beran and Jan Syrový for review.