Antonín Zápotocký

Who was Antonín Zápotocký?

Antonín Zápotocký was communist Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953 and President of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957.

He was born in Zákolany, Kladno District, Bohemia. His father was Ladislav Zápotocký, one of the founders of the Czech Social Democratic Party, together with Josef Boleslav Pecka-Strahovský and Josef Hybeš.

He was a delegate of the Left Wing of the ČSSD to the Second Comintern Congress, held in Petrograd, 19 July – 7 August 1920. Together with Bohumír Šmeral, he co-founded the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia when it broke away from the ČSSD in 1921. He was General Secretary of the KSČ from 1922 to 1925. In 1940, he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released in 1945, but the Netherlands demanded his extradition on the suspicions of his participation in executions of Dutch citizens.

From June 18, to July 18, 1946 he was Chairman of the Constituent National Assembly.

Zápotocký became Prime Minister on 15 June 1948, replacing Klement Gottwald, who became President. On 14 March 1953, shortly after his return from Joseph Stalin's funeral, Gottwald died, and was succeeded as President by his Prime Minister. Zápotocký personally favoured a more humane way of governing, but was outflanked by the Stalinist first secretary, Antonín Novotný. At a meeting in Moscow, Zápotocký was told to adhere to "collective leadership"—in effect, give up power to Novotný.