Jiří Stříbrný

Who was Jiří Stříbrný?

Jiří Stříbrný was a Czech politician. He was one of the "founding fathers" of the Czechoslovak Republic, but became a quite controversial figure later on. He died in prison in 1955, after being charged with World War II collaboration, although the specifics of that remain unclear.

In 1926, Stříbrný was expelled from the Czechoslovak Socialist Party, just a short time after General Radola Gajda was forced to stand down from the military. Gajda openly admitted to being a supporter of Italian fascism, although some would say he was fired on command of Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš. Gajda expressed his grievances through the press holdings of Stříbrný, which did not sit well with the Socialist Party leadership, under Beneš.

Stříbrný founded fascist party, the Slavic Socialist Party, later known as the National league, through which he participated in local elections. He cooperated with Gajda and Charles Pergler in the 1929 elections, getting elected to the Chamber of Deputies again. In the 1930s, he worked with Karel Kramář in the National Union, which also included the likes of František Mareš. At the end of the Second World War, Stříbrný was arrested and charged with collaboration. He died in Valdice prison in 1955.