Franz Spina (5 October 1868 in
Městečko Trnávka
Městečko Trnávka () is a municipality and village in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,400 inhabitants.
Administrative division
Městečko Trnávka consists of 12 municipal parts (in brackets populat ...
– 17 September 1938 in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
) was a
German-Czechoslovak politician. He was right-wing and activist politician of the
First Republic Era. Franz Spina was chairman of ''
Bund der Landwirte'', or Union of Farmers and Rural Enterprises, right-wing party of German-speaking countryside of Czechoslovakia. His party was the first to actively cooperate with Czechoslovak government and entered the Cabinet of Lord's Coalition (Prime Minister
Antonín Švehla
Antonín Švehla (15 April 1873, in Hostivař – 12 December 1933 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician. He served three terms as the Interior Minister and three terms as the prime minister of Czechoslovakia. He is regarded as one of the ...
) together with Czechoslovak
agrarians,
clericals, entrepreneurs and
national democrats. Franz Spina became the very first
ethnic German
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War ...
government minister in
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. Since the establishment of
Sudeten German Party
The Sudeten German Party (, SdP, ) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months after the First Czechoslovak Republic had outlawed the Germ ...
, popularity of Union of Farmers had been declining. However, Spina believed in successful Czechoslovak-German cooperation until his death in 1938, fortnight before the
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...
.
1868 births
1938 deaths
People from Svitavy District
People from the Margraviate of Moravia
Moravian-German people
Farmers' League politicians
Government ministers of Czechoslovakia
Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1920–1925)
Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1925–1929)
Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1929–1935)
Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1935–1939)
Sudeten German people
People from Austria-Hungary
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