Jan Rys-Rozsévač (1 November 1901 – 27 June 1946) was a

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

n journalist and politician and leader of fascist organisation Vlajka. Jan Rozsévač began to study medicine at a university but didn't finish his studies. In 1936 he joined Vlajka (in Czech ''the flag''), a nationalistic organisation founded in 1930. At the time he adopted the pen name Jan Rys. Under this name he published books "Židozednářství - metla lidstva" (''Jewish freemasonry - the scourge of humankind'', 1938) and "Hilsneriáda a TGM" (''

Hilsner Affair The Hilsner affair (also known as the Hilsner trial, Hilsner case or Polná affair) was a series of Antisemitism, antisemitic trials following an accusation of blood libel against Jews, blood libel against Leopold Hilsner, a History of the Jews in ...

and

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Tomáš () is a Czech name, Czech and Slovak name, Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas (name), Thomas. Tomáš is also a surname (feminine: Tomášová). Notable people with the name include: Given name Sport *Tomáš Berdych (born 198 ...

'', 1939). After the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

in 1938, Vlajka was officially disbanded and Rys-Rozsévač imprisoned. He was released just before the rest of Czechoslovakia was occupied (15 March 1939) to become leader of Vlajka. Rys-Rozsévač attempted to establish a mass fascist organization and helped to move Vlajka from traditional anti-

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

chauvinism to collaboration with

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s and

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. During 1939 - 1940 Vlajka organized mass meetings against politicians of the

First Republic of Czechoslovakia The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechoslovakia a compou ...

as represented by Masaryk and

Beneš Beneš (feminine: Benešová) is a Czech surname. The name originated as a pet form of the given names Benedict (given name), Benedikt and Benjamin (name), Benjamin. The Germanization, Germanized form is Benesch and the Anglicized form is Benesh. No ...

. The German occupational authorities nevertheless decided to support a group of collaborators around Emanuel Moravec, his political competitor. Because of constant

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

attacks on Moravec, Vlajka was disbanded at the end of 1942 and the leaders, including Rys-Rozsévač, were sent as privileged prisoners into the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

and transferred to Tyrol at the end of the war, where he was liberated in early May 1945.Peter Koblank:
Die Befreiung der Sonder- und Sippenhäftlinge in Südtirol
', Online-Edition Mythos Elser 2006 After the war Rys-Rozsévač and three his coworkers (Josef Burda, Jaroslav Čermák and Otakar Polívka) were sentenced to death, and several others to were sentenced to long term imprisonment. Rys-Rozsévač was hanged in

Pankrác Prison Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison (), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in Pankrác, not far from Pražského povstání metro stati ...

in 1946.

References

Literature

* Milan Nakonečný: ''Vlajka'', 2001, . Republished as ''Český fašismus'' (''Czech fascism''), 2006, . Narrative description of Czech fascism and its reprezentants.

External links

Short biography
at Kdo byl kdo (in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rys-Rozsevac, Jan 1901 births 1946 deaths Dachau concentration camp survivors People from Jičín District People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Vlajka politicians Executed politicians Executed Czechoslovak collaborators with Nazi Germany People executed by the Third Republic of Czechoslovakia by hanging