Petr Zenkl
Encyclopedia
Petr Zenkl, PhD. was a influential Czech politician, government minister, Mayor of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, chairman of the Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party
Czech National Social Party was a civic nationalist political party established in 1898 within the Young Czech Party as a nominally socialist group with a stress on achieving Czech independence from Austria–Hungary Czech National Social Party (Czech: Česká strana národně sociální) was a civic...

 (1945-1948), deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (1946-1948) and the chairman of exile Council of Free Czechoslovakia (1949-1974).

Biography

Petr Zenkl was born as the eighth son of a small businessman, originally a tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...

, in the South Bohemian town of Tábor
Tábor
Tábor is a city of the Czech Republic, in the South Bohemian Region. It is named after Mount Tabor, which is believed by many to be the place of the Transfiguration of Christ; however, the name became popular and nowadays translates to "camp" or "encampment" in the Czech language.The town was...

. All of the children helped their father in his business and strived to earn money. The father was Czech patriot, thus the children joined the Sokol
Sokol
The Sokol movement is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner...

 movement. Zenkl studied at the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 (grammar school) in Tábor and later graduated from the Philosophy Faculty of the Charles University in Prague and in 1907 gained a doctorate. During his studies in Tábor he met a daughter of his history teacher, 16-year old Pavla, and married her six years later in 1909.

From 1911 Zenkl was active in local politics in Prague, more precisely in Karlín
Karlín
Karlín is a cadastral area of Prague, part of Prague 8 municipal district, former independent town . It is bordered by the river Vltava and Holešovice to the north, Vítkov hill and Žižkov to the south, New Town to the west and Libeň to the east.-History:The building of the Karlín district began in...

, which was until 1921 an independent town before its incorporation to Prague. In 1911 he became a member of the Karlín town council, and in 1919 became a mayor of Karlín. He lost his position when Karlín was incorporated into Prague in 1921-1922. As a member of the Prague city council, Zenkl was installed in 1937 to the position of Prague's mayor, replacing his successful predecessor, dr. Karel Baxa
Karel Baxa
Karel Baxa was a Czech politician in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and then in Czechoslovakia. He is most known for his long term position as mayor of Prague .-Advocacy:...

.

Shortly after the Nazi German occupation of Prague (March 1939) Zenkl was arrested and jailed in the Pankrác Prison
Pankrác Prison
Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison , is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic...

. From there he was transported to the Dachau concentration camp and, after three weeks, to the Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...

, where he was liberated together with other inmates by the army of U.S. General George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...

. With American military help, he was able to fly through Frankfurt am Main and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where he learned that his place as Mayor of Prague had been taken by the communist Václav Vacek. He was also informed that he had been elected chairman of his Czech National Social Party by the Revolutionary Committee of the party.

He took over his position as a mayor in August 1945, replacing Vacek, and fulfilled his duties until May 1946, when elections took place and Václav Vacek was installed to the office again. After the elections, as a chairman of the second strongest party (after the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....

) he became the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak government in May 1946. In September 1947 Zenkl, together with minister Jan Masaryk
Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech diplomat and politician and Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948.- Early life :...

 and fellow National Socialist minister Prokop Drtina, were victims of communist-orchestrated intimidation, when they received boxes containing explosives. In February 1948 Zenkl resigned, together with other non-communist government ministers, to convince the communist Minister of Interior Václav Nosek to cancel unconstitutional measures, which Nosek instituted during his ministry.

After the communist coup d'état of 1948
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 – in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" – was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades...

 Zenkl was under constant surveillance by the communist State Security apparatus. He managed, however, to escape with his wife to the West in August 1948. In subsequent years he became the head of the Czechoslovak political exile movement. In 1949-1974 he was a chairman of the exile Council of Free Czechoslovakia, based in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. After the fall of communism
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...

 in 1989, his remains were transferred from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to the Vyšehrad Cemetery
Vyšehrad cemetery
Established in 1869 on the grounds of Vyšehrad Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, the Vyšehrad cemetery is the final resting place of many composers, artists, sculptors, writers, and those from the world of science and politics...

 in Prague. In October 1991 he was awarded, in memoriam, the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, II class, by President Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...

.

Works

  • Tomáš G. Masaryk a idea federalisace Evropy a světa (1953)
  • Masarykova Československá republika (Masaryk's Czechoslovak Republic) (1955)
  • T. G. Masaryk and the Idea of European and World Federation (1955)
  • Communist Seizure of Power and the Press 1945-48 (1962)
  • A history of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948 (1973)
  • Mozaika vzpomínek (Mosaic of Memories) (1997)

External links

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