Václav Kopecký

Václav Kopecký (27 August 1897 – 5 August 1961) During the interwar period, Kopecký was a member of the underground communist cell in the Karlín area of Prague, along with future party leaders Klement Gottwald and Rudolf Slánský. From 1940 to 1941, Kopecký was a representative of the Comintern, spending World War II in the Soviet Union. In July 1944, he voiced the sentiments of the emerging Communist consensus on postwar nationality issues, which rejected proletarian internationalism and accepted the Czechoslovak government-in-exile's plans for national homogenization via the expulsion of Sudeten Germans. Expressing hope that the Jewish question would "forever disappear […] as a decoy for reactionary elements",

Minister

In post-war Czechoslovakia, Kopecký served as Minister of Information (1945–1953) and Minister of Culture (1953–1954). As Minister of Information, Kopecký surrounded himself with writers and artists close to the KSČ. Czech poet František Halas led the ministry's publishing department; writer Ivan Olbracht headed the radio department; visual artist Adolf Hoffmeister the foreign affairs department; and a film department was headed by Vítězslav Nezval.

Kopecký was noted for his antisemitic statements, criticizing Jews for Zionism and cosmopolitanism; he also stage-managed the Slánský trial. According to Jewish historian Michal Frankl, Kopecký "distinguished himself with antisemitic diatribes," criticizing the presence of Jews in politics and attacking Zionism and cosmopolitanism. In 1945, he accused the "Jewish super-rich like Petschek, Weinmann, Rothschild, Gutman" of "blood-sucking" and argued that wealthy Jews could not live in the people's democracy. He also objected to the resettlement of Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia in post-war Czechoslovakia. For Rudolf Slánský's fiftieth birthday in July 1951, Kopecký lauded him in the party newspaper Rudé právo and claimed that "already at home and at primary school [Slánský] absorbed a full-blooded native Czechness". Despite their former association, Kopecký became a personal enemy of Slánský and was involved in the Slánský trial as one of the main stage managers.

Later life and career

On 31 January 1953 Václav Kopecký became deputy prime minister in Antonín Zápotocký's government. He kept this office on 21 March 1953 in the first government Viliam Široký formed on 21 March the same year, and on 14 September 1953 he became first deputy prime minister. He was also Minister of Culture in the Široký government from 14 September 1953 to 12 December 1954. He also took over the post of Deputy Prime Minister in the second Široký government.

Kopecký resigned from government positions on 12 December 1954. However, he remained a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee and retained a strong party influence. Kopecký adhered to a Stalinist line, trying to keep the party in the positions of the Gottwald period under the new conditions.

Václav Kopecký died in Prague on 5 August 1961 of a pulmonary embolism. He was given a state funeral. After cremation, his remains were buried at the Jan Žižka National Monument at Vítkov. In 1990, his ashes were moved to Olšany Cemetery, together with those of about 20 other communist leaders which had also originally been placed in the Jan Žižka National Monument.

After Kopecký's death, Strossmayerovo náměstí (Strossmayer Square) in Prague was renamed Kopeckého náměstí (Kopecký Square) in his honor; the old name was returned in 1968, during the Prague Spring.

Honours and awards