Czechoslovak interior minister whose purge of non-communist police in February 1948 triggered the government crisis and communist takeover
The cabinet voted to reverse his purge, but Nosek ignored the order: eight Prague police commanders were replaced by communists, and twelve non-communist ministers resigned.
The son of a miner, he joined the Social Democratic Party at eighteen and took part in founding the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1921. After the Nazi occupation he fled to Britain, where he served as vice-chairman of the London-based Czechoslovak State Council; returning in 1945 as Minister of the Interior, he systematically packed the police and security apparatus with communists. On 13 February 1948 he dismissed eight non-communist senior police officers, triggering a cabinet crisis in which twelve non-communist ministers resigned, clearing the way for Klement Gottwald's communist takeover.
Career timeline
- 1910Joined the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers' Party (ČSSD)
- 1921Founding delegate, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
- 1929Elected to the KSČ Central Committee
- 1941–1942Member, then vice-chairman, Czechoslovak State Council in London
- 1945–1953Minister of the Interior of Czechoslovakia
- 1953–1955Minister of Labour and Social Welfare
Prague Spring interior minister whose security reforms were undermined by KGB subversion and internal betrayal
On the day of the invasion, Pavel's dismissed deputy Šalgovič helped the KGB arrest Dubček, and the Interior Ministry slipped from its minister's hands.
A Czechoslovak communist who fought in the Spanish Civil War and commanded the People's Militia during the 1948 coup, Pavel became deputy interior minister and participated in the regime's repressions. Arrested in 1951, he was tortured and sentenced to 25 years in the Slánský trial, then acquitted in 1955. Returning as interior minister during the 1968 Prague Spring, he pushed to reform the StB and exposed six KGB liaison agents in his ministry, but his deputy Viliam Šalgovič collaborated with the KGB to arrest Dubček during the invasion, collapsing Pavel's reforms.
Career timeline
- 1932Joined Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- 1935Studied at International Lenin School, Moscow
- 1937–1939Fought in Spanish Civil War; commanded Dimitrov Battalion
- 1947Chief Secretary, Defense and Security Dept, KSČ Central Committee
- 1948Chief of Staff, People's Militia; Deputy Interior Minister
- 1951–1955Arrested, tortured; sentenced to 25 years (1953); acquitted and released (1955)
- 1968.04–08Minister of Interior of Czechoslovakia
- 1968–1973Forced to resign; expelled from KSČ; died under StB surveillance
