The deputy interior minister who arrested Dubček and handed him to the Soviets
At the 1987 May Day parade in Bratislava, a student threw two eggs at Šalgovič as he stood on the reviewing stand. He had to leave the platform and hand his soiled jacket to a bodyguard.
A Slovak security officer and politician in Czechoslovakia. During the war he deserted from the pro-Nazi Slovak army to the Soviets and served in the Czechoslovak corps; after the war he joined the StB and took part in political repression. In June 1968 Dubček, considering him a personal friend, appointed him deputy interior minister with oversight of the StB. Šalgovič instead coordinated with the KGB, drew up arrest lists for the reformers, and on 21 August handed Dubček and his colleagues to the Soviet occupiers. Under 'normalization' he was shunted to the ceremonial post of chairman of the Slovak National Council (1975–1989); after the Velvet Revolution he hanged himself in the basement of his home.
Career Timeline
- 1943Deserted from Slovak army to Soviet partisans
- 1945–1951Czechoslovak army counter-intelligence; ally of Bedřich Reicin
- 1950–1962Member, KSČ Central Committee
- 1962–1968Vice-chair, KSS Central Control and Auditing Commission
- 1968.6–8Deputy interior minister and StB head; planned suppression of Prague Spring
- 1969Czechoslovak military attaché to Hungary
- 1975–1989Chairman of the Slovak National Council