Cold War Czechoslovakia: Post-World War II Czechoslovakia (1945-48)

Figure 1.--Stalin was slower in Czechoslovakia to install a NKVD Stalinist police state than in other Eastern European states trapped in the Soviet empire. As aesult it was still possible to escape before the Iron Curtain was firmly established and the borders hardened. Here is a couple ghat fled the Communists. Th press caption read, "Czechs find refuge in U.S. Zone of Germany: Dr. Zdenek Vrbicky, his wife, Constance, a former British subject, and their three-nonth-old daughter sit in teir room in Schwabach displsced persons camp, near Nurenberg, Germny, Wednesday, after escape into the U.S. zone from their home at Asch, Czechoslovakia, fter Communidts took control. They and many other Czech refuges have been transferred to camp from another camp at Moschendorf near Czech border." The photograph was taken March 13, 1948.

The Red Army liberated most of Czechoslovakia from the NAZIs. Civilians in Prague rose up against the Germans (May 1945). Russians fighting with the Germans played a role in driving the SS out of Prague. Patton's 3rd Army reached Pilsen and other areas in western Bohemia. After the German surrender, the pre-War Government-in-exile returned to Prague and set up a post-War government. From the beginnining, however, the Edvard Beneš Government did not have control of the police and security forces. Security was from the beginning in Soviet hands, the NKVD and Red Army. President Beneš issued a decree expelling ethnic Germans. Under the Beneš Decrees about 2.9 million ethnic Germas were expelled. These of course were mostly the Sudeten Germans that had demanded to be reunited with the Reich. Czechs hoped that after liberation from the Germans that they would be able to rebuld a democratic nation. They were, however, occupied by the Red Army which meant that the security services were in the hands of the Soviets. Some Czechs optimistically saw their country as a bridge between East and West. The country held its first democratic elections since the German occupation (Spring 1946). The democratic elements were led by President Beneš. The Czechoslovak Communist Party (CCP) won 38 percent of the vote. The took most of the key positions in the new government. The Communists aided by Soviet security forces gradually neutralized anti-communist forces. Some democratic politicans disappeared. Others were intimidated into silence. Here Stalin moved slower than in other Soviet occupied countries, but the same process was pursued. The United states offered to include both the Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe in the post-War recovery Marshall Plan. The Beneš Government hoped that Czechoslovakia could participate in the Marshall Plan. Stalin refused to participate and ordered his Eastern European satellites to refuse as well. The CCP seized power (February 1948). The Soviet inspired action made Stalin's designs on Europe crystal clear. This shocking development was a primary factor in Anerica and Western Europe forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949). Just as Czechoslovakia was at center stage in the lead up to World War I. It was at center stage in the outbreak of the Cold War.

Created: 8:50 PM 1/12/2017
Last updated: 8:51 PM 1/12/2017