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.
Activities and affiliations
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
Related historical events
- 1944–1949The People's Democracies of Eastern EuropeCzechoslovak interior ministerIn charge of the interior ministry and police from 1945; his replacement of police officers in February 1948 was the trigger of the cabinet crisis.
- 1945–1948Czechoslovakia: from the Košice programme to February 1948Interior ministerTriggered the crisis by purging the police and defied the cabinet’s reinstatement vote.
- 1947–1948The Marshall Plan and the Cold Warinterior minister who triggered the crisis by dismissing non-communist police chiefsOn 13 February 1948 he replaced eight non-communist police chiefs with communists, triggering a government crisis and the resignation of twelve non-communist ministers.
The London Exile, 1939–1945
After Nazi Germany occupied the Czech lands in March 1939, Nosek was arrested in the Gestapo's mass roundup known as Aktion Gitter (Akce Mříže, "Operation Bars") and held for several weeks in Prague's Pankrác Prison. Released, he escaped to Britain via Poland and Sweden, and remained there through the war. In exile he became one of the leading figures of the communist emigration, serving as a member of the Czechoslovak State Council from 1941 and as its vice-chairman from 1942. The State Council was the advisory and supervisory body of the London-based government-in-exile led by Edvard Beneš, but Nosek's activity was directed by the Moscow-based party leadership under Klement Gottwald. The exile ended in April 1945, when he entered the government formed at Košice as Minister of the Interior.