Václav Nosek (26 September 1892 in Velká Dobrá – 22 July 1955 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a Czechoslovak Communist politician who served as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 4 April 1945 to 14 September 1953. Despite the fact that Nosek never hid his Communist views, he had spent

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in exile in the United Kingdom, unlike most Czechoslovak Communists who were in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

at the time. Czechoslovak non-Communist politicians considered Nosek one of the "good" Communists. As Interior Minister, Nosek was a central figure in the

1948 Czechoslovak coup d'etat Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. When a majority of the cabinet voted to order Nosek to stop packing the police with Communists, Nosek ignored the order with the full backing of

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and Communist Party leader

Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald (; 23 November 1896 – 14 March 1953) was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953–titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman fro ...

. On 21 February, 12 non-Communist ministers resigned in protest.

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Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

initially refused to accept their resignations, which would have normally forced Gottwald to either back down, resign or call new elections. By then, Gottwald had dropped all pretense of liberal democracy. He not only refused to resign, but demanded the appointment of a Communist-dominated government under threat of a general strike. Ultimately, Beneš gave in and appointed a Communist-dominated government, effectively giving legal sanction to a Communist coup.Czechoslovak history
at

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After 1950, Nosek's influence decreased. The powers of the Ministry of the Interior were significantly curtailed when the security forces came under the Ministry of National Security, established by the Soviet model in May 1950. Until September 1953, Nosek served as Minister of the Interior and then until the end of his life as Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. He died of lung cancer in 1955 at the age of 62.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nosek, Václav 1892 births 1955 deaths People from Kladno District People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Ministers of the Interior of Czechoslovakia Members of the Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia