Jan Šverma (23 March 1901,

Mnichovo Hradiště Mnichovo Hradiště (; ) is a town in Mladá Boleslav District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic ...

– 10 November 1944, Mt. Chabenec,

Low Tatras The Low Tatras or Low Tatra (; ) is a mountain range of the Inner Western Carpathians in central Slovakia. It is located south of the Tatras proper, from which it is separated by the valleys of the Váh and Poprad rivers (the Liptov-Spiš ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

journalist,

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist and resistance fighter against the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-backed

Slovak State Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

. Šverma was considered a national hero in the

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...

Biography

Ŝverma was born in to the family of a lawyer who briefly served as mayor of Mnichovo Hradiště. He studied law at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

but did not finish his studies and dedicated himself to political activism. Šverma joined the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

(KSČ) in 1921. He contributed to ''

Rudé právo ''Rudé právo'' ( Czech for ''Red Justice'' or ''The Red Right'') was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. History and profile ''Rudé právo'' was founded in 1920 when the party was splitting from the social demo ...

'', the official publication of the KSČ and was its editor-in-chief from 1936 to 1938. From 1929 he was a member of the KSČ Central Committee and Politburo. Šverma spent time in exile in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

during the existence of the

-backed

and was close to

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 f ...

, the Chairman of the KSČ, who later would become the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia. Jan_Sverma_memorial_Olsany_Cemetery_Prague_CZ_052

Jan_Sverma_memorial_Olsany_Cemetery_Prague_CZ_052

Šverma assumed the political leadership of Czechoslovak military units formed in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

during the Nazi invasion of the USSR. He died of exhaustion on the mountain Chabenec in the

mountain range during a snowstorm on 10 November 1944, while leading an insurrection of Slovak communists against the Slovak State. The circumstances of Šverma's death is described in the book Odsudíde je k život (published in exile in 1976) by Vladimír Přikryl. He was a direct witness to the discovery of an exhausted Šverma, who, according to the witness's testimony, was left lying in the snow by

Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslova ...

, who had a strained relationship with Šverma. He was suppressed as an important witness, and also thanks to his military past, he ended up in a prison in 1949 (allegedly on the direct orders of Slánský), from which he was released in 1953, only after Slánský's execution.

Legacy

A bridge 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 ...

at the former location of the Franz Joseph Bridge was named after Šverma in 1951. The village

Telgárt Telgárt (, called ''Švermovo'' in 1948–1990) is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. Etymology The name is of German origin: ''Tiergarten'' (initially a hunting area). In 1948, t ...

in Slovakia was called ''Švermovo'' from 1948 to 1990. The metro station in

presently named

Jinonice Jinonice is a cadastral district of Prague, mostly part of Prague 5, but a small area is part of Prague 13. It is located on the north edge of Prokopské údolí national park. Jinonice has been a part of Prague city since 1922. Part of Jinonice ...

was formerly called Švermova. Many places named after communist-era heroes were renamed after the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

References

1901 births 1944 deaths People from Mnichovo Hradiště People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1935–1939) Czech communists International Lenin School alumni Heroes of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic {{World-War-II-bio-stub