Josef Špaček

Who is Josef Špaček?

Josef Špaček was a Czechoslovak communist politician who was an important member of the government during the 1968 reformist period known as the Prague Spring. He was appointed to the Central Committee of the communist party of Czechoslovakia after communist party leader Antonín Novotný was replaced by Slovak politician Alexander Dubček. Along with Dubček and other Central Committee members, Špaček was arrested by the Soviets during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In the years following the collapse of the Dubček government, Špaček was relegated to low-level, non-political positions, including working as a forestry official. Following the restoration of democracy in 1989, he was again politically active and in 1990 was elected to the national parliament.