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