The only Prague Spring leader who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol
In Moscow, standing before Brezhnev, Kriegel said: 'Send me to Siberia or shoot me dead. I will not sign.'
Czechoslovak communist politician and physician. He served as a doctor with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, then rose to become a KSČ Presidium member and chairman of the National Front during the 1968 Prague Spring, where he was among the most radical reformers. Arrested with Dubček on 21 August and deported to Moscow, he was the only one of twenty-six Czechoslovak politicians who refused to sign the Moscow Protocol. Expelled from the party and stripped of his medical license, he became a dissident and was among the first to sign Charter 77 in 1977.
Career Timeline
- 1931Joins the KSČ
- 1936–39International Brigades doctor, Spanish Civil War
- 1940–45Military doctor, China-Burma front
- 1949–52Deputy Minister of Health
- 1964–68National Assembly deputy → KSČ CC member
- 1968.4–8National Front chairman & KSČ Presidium member
- 1968.8Refuses to sign the Moscow Protocol
- 1969–77Expelled from party; first Charter 77 signatory