Gustáv Husák (January 10, 1913 Dúbravka (today part of Bratislava) - November 18, 1991 Bratislava) was a Slovak politician, a long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. His rule is known as the period of Normalization. Gustav Husak, president of Czechoslovakia, official portrait File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and the countrys largest city, with a population of some 430,000. ... November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years), with 43 remaining. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa (KSČ) was a political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... In the history of Czechoslovakia, normalization is a name commonly given to the period 1969 to about 1987. ...

Life

As a son of an unemployed worker near Bratislava, he quickly became a Communist. He joined the Communist Youth Union at the age of sixteen while studying at the Gymnasium (Grammar School) in Bratislava. In 1933, when he started his studies, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) which was banned from 1938 to 1945. During World War II he was periodically jailed by the Jozef Tiso government for illegal Communist activities, and he was one of the leaders of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising against Nazi Germany and Tiso. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa (KSČ) was a political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Jozef Tiso Monsignor Jozef Tiso (October 13, 1887–April 18, 1947) was a Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of Slovakia during World War II when it was a Nazi puppet state. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 29 September 1938: British PM Neville Chamberlain, French PM Eduard Daladier, Italian PM Benito Mussolini and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler meet in Munich and surrender the Sudetenlands of the Czech lands to Germany. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

After the war he began a career as a government official in Slovakia and party functionary in Czechoslovakia. From 1946 - 1950, he was a kind of quasi Prime Minister of Slovakia, and as such he strongly contributed to the liquidation of the Democratic Party of Slovakia, which had won 62% in the 1946 elections in Slovakia, thus preventing the Communists from seizing power in Czechoslovakia. 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

In 1950 he fell victim to a Stalinist purge of the party leadership, and was sentenced for life, spending the years from 1954 to 1960 in prison. A convinced communist, he did not cease to view his imprisonment a gross misunderstanding which he periodically stressed in several appealing letters addressed to the party leadership. It is well known that Antonín Novotný, the Czechoslovak president and first party secretary of that time, repeatedly declined to grant Husák pardon by assuring his comrades that "you do not know what he is capable of when coming to power". The true reason for Novotný's stance, however, may be ascribed to his personal politically motivated slovakophobia as well. Finally, as a result of the De-Stalinization period in Czechoslovakia, Husák's conviction was overturned and his party membership restored in 1963. By 1967 he was attacking the KSC's neo-Stalinist leadership, and he became a deputy premier of Czechoslovakia in April 1968, during the period of liberalization under party leader Alexander Dubček. Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Antonín Novotný was a president of Czechoslovakia. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Alexander Dubček. ...

As the Soviet Union grew increasingly alarmed by Dubček's liberal reforms in 1968 (Prague Spring), Husák began calling for caution. After the Soviets had invaded Czechoslovakia in August and he had participated in the Czechoslovak-Soviet negotiations between the kidnapped Alexander Dubček and Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow, he suddenly became a leader of those party members calling for the reversal of Dubček's reforms. This change becomes understandable if we consider that he had been in prison for six years of his life, he was a highly intelligent and pragmatic person, and if we look at one of his official speeches in Slovakia after the 1968 events, during which he ventured the rhetorical question, where his opponents (i. e. supporters of opposition against the Soviet Union) want to find those "friends" of Czechoslovakia (i. e. countries in Europe) that would come to support the country (i. e. against Soviet troops). 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... This article refers to a period of history of Czechoslovakia in 1968. ... Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  listen (Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев) (December 19, 1906 – November 10, 1982) was effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with others. ... Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Maskvá  listen) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Pragmatism is a school of philosophy which originated in the United States in the late 1800s. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ...

Supported by Moscow, he was appointed leader of the Communist Party of Slovakia in as early as August 1968, and he succeeded Dubček as first secretary (title changed to general secretary in 1971) of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April 1969. He reversed Dubček's reforms and purged the party of its liberal members in 1969 - 1971. During the two decades of Husák's leadership, Czechoslovakia became one of the Moscow's most loyal vassals. In the first years following the invasion, Husák managed to appease the outraged civil population by providing a relatively satisfactory living standard and avoiding any overt reprisals like was the case in the 1950's. This does not make his regime far from being brutal, however. Under the cover of everyday stability, there was a permanent activity of the ill-fated secret police (StB) targeted at the outspoken dissidents represented later by Charter 77 as well as hundreds of unknown individuals who happened to be objects of StB's preventive strikes. Husák yielded his post as general secretary in 1987, when younger members of the Communist party wanted to participate in the power (Miloš Jakeš, Ladislav Adamec). Communist rule collapsed in Czechoslovakia in late 1989, and that December Husák resigned as president. In February 1990 he was expelled from the Communist Party. He died almost forgotten on 18 November 1991. Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Maskvá  listen) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Old party In the past, the Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska -- KSS) was a communist party in Slovakia. ... Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa (KSČ) was a political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. ... April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Maskvá  listen) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... A secret police (sometimes political police) force is a police organization that operates in secret to enforce state security. ... Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Stub | State security | Czechoslovakia ... The Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. ... Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Stub | State security | Czechoslovakia ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... . Miloš Jakeš (born August 12, 1922) was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987-1989, until collapse of communist party dominance. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years), with 43 remaining. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Functions

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia/KSC (prohibited 1938, dissolved 1939-1945) The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa (KSČ) was a political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. ...

• 1933-1938/1939 and 1989(December)-(February)1990: common member
• spring 1945: member of its Provisional Central Committee (established in the parts of Czechoslovakia liberated by the Red Army)
• 1949-1951 and 1968 (August 31)-1989: member of its Central Committee and (except for 1949-1951) a member of its Presidium
• 1969 (April) -?1987: one of its secretaries
• 1969 (April)-1987: party leader (first secretary, since 1971 general secretary)
• 1987 (December 17): resigned as party leader (replaced by Miloš Jakeš)

Communist Party of Slovakia/KSS (illegal 1939-1944/1945) Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... . Miloš Jakeš (born August 12, 1922) was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987-1989, until collapse of communist party dominance. ... Old party In the past, the Communist Party of Slovakia (Slovak: Komunistická strana Slovenska -- KSS) was a communist party in Slovakia. ...

• 1939-1945: one of its leaders
• 1943-1944: member of its 5th illegal Central Committee
• 1944-1950 and 1968 -1971: member of its Central Committee and (except for 1970-1971) member of its Presidium and (except for 1944-1948) one of its secretaries
• 1944-1945: vice-chairman
• 1968 (August 28)-1969: party leader („first secretary“)

Slovak National Council (during WWII a resistance parliament-government, since 1968 the Slovak parliament)

• 1943-1944: one of its main organizers
• 1944-1950 and 1968 (December)-1971: its deputy
• 1944-1950: member of its Presidium
• 1944-1945:vice-chairman

Council of Commissioners (Zbor povereníkov) (a quasi government responsible for Slovakia)

• 1944-1945: Commissioner of the Interior
• 1945-1946: Commissioner of Transport and Technology in Slovakia
• 1946-1950: President of the Council of Commissioners, in which he contributed to the suppression of the influential Democratic Party of Slovakia by the Communists (1947-1948)
• 1948-1950: Commissioner of Agriculture and Land Reform in Slovakia
• 1949-1950: Commissioner of Alimentation in Slovakia

Czechoslovak Parliament (called National Assembly and since 1968 Federal Assembly)

• 1945-1951 and 1968-1975: deputy
• 1969-1975: member of its Presidium

Czechoslovak government

• 1968 (April-December): a vice-premier of the Prague Spring Czechoslovak government

President of Czechoslovakia This article refers to a period of history of Czechoslovakia in 1968. ... This is a list of presidents of Czechoslovakia. ...

• 1975-1989: President of Czechoslovakia
• 1989 (December 10): resigned as the President of Czechoslovakia within the Velvet Revolution

The Velvet Revolution (Czech: sametová revoluce, Slovak: nežná revolúcia) (November 16 - December 29, 1989) refers to a bloodless revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the communist government there. ...

Other important data

• 1929-1932: member of the Communist Youth Union (prohibited in 1932)
• 1933-? : studies at the Law Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, then a lawyer in Bratislava
• 1936-1938: member of the Slovak Youth Union (1936 founder and secretary)
• 1937-1938 vice-president of the Slovak Students Union and secretary of the Association for the Economic and Cultural Cooperation with the Soviet Union
• 1940-1944: four times jailed by the government of Jozef Tiso for illegal Communist activities
• 1943-1944: member of the 5th illegal KSS Central Committee, one of the main organizers of the anti-Nazi Slovak National Uprising(1944) and of its leading body, the Slovak National Council
• late 1944- February 1945: he fled to Moscow after the defeat of the Slovak National Uprising
• 1950: charged with „bourgeois nationalism“ with respect to Slovakia (see History of Czechoslovakia)
• 1951: arrested
• 1954: sentenced for life
• 1954-1960: imprisoned
• 1960: conditionally released through an amnesty
• 1963: his conviction was overturned and his party membership restored and he was rehabilitated
• 1963-1968: scientific employee of the State and Law Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
• 1969 (April)-?1989: chief commander of the Popular Militia
• 1971 (January)-?1989: president and member of the Presidium of the National Front Central Committee

The Comenius University (Slovak: Univerzita Komenského), with most faculties located in Bratislava, is the largest university in Slovakia. ... Jozef Tiso Monsignor Jozef Tiso (October 13, 1887–April 18, 1947) was a Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of Slovakia during World War II when it was a Nazi puppet state. ... 29 September 1938: British PM Neville Chamberlain, French PM Eduard Daladier, Italian PM Benito Mussolini and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler meet in Munich and surrender the Sudetenlands of the Czech lands to Germany. ... Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Maskvá  listen) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Historical settings to 1918 Main Article: Origins of Czechoslovakia The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 was the culmination of the long struggle of the Czechs against their Austrian rulers and of the Slovaks against Hungarisation and their Hungarian rulers. ... The Slovak Academy of Sciences (in Slovak Slovenská akadémia vied) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. ... The National Front (in Czech: Národní fronta, in Slovak: Národný front) was a (permanent) coalition (or rather group) of parties – since 1948 also of various associations and mass organisations – from 1945 to 1990 in Czechoslovakia. ...

See also

• History of Czechoslovakia

Historical settings to 1918 Main Article: Origins of Czechoslovakia The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 was the culmination of the long struggle of the Czechs against their Austrian rulers and of the Slovaks against Hungarisation and their Hungarian rulers. ...

Ludvík Svoboda Ludvík Svoboda was born 24 November 1895 in Hroznatín, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) and died on 20 September 1979, Prague, Czechoslovakia. ... This is a list of presidents of Czechoslovakia. ... Marián Čalfa was a leader of Czechoslovakia, who was also leading the government during the Velvet Revolution. ...