Bedřich Pokorný (6 March 1904 Brno – 25 March 1968 Brno) was a

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

communist

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

and an agent of the Státní bezpečnost. Pokorný joined the Czechoslovak Army in 1924 and began attending the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

at Hranice in 1926. After finishing courses in

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

in 1934, he was appointed an intelligence officer of the 12th Division in Košice and later in Prešov and worked in

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

aiming against the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. After the occupation of Czech lands and creation of the

Slovak state Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

he returned home. Like many other officers of the former Czechoslovak Army he got a job in the

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

administration and became a financial clerk of the Moravian land office in Brno. During the occupation he reportedly cooperated with several resistance groups, including that run by the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

. His active resistance was later, during the show trials in the '50s, alleged to have been fictional and he was accused instead of collaboration with the Nazis. In April 1945, after the liberation of Brno by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

, Pokorný took over command of the newly organized Czech police. In May, he became a police commander in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

. During the summer of 1945, Pokorný and many other senior Czechoslovakian officials organized both ethnic cleansing and

expulsion Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Persona non ...

against the Sudeten Germans. This included the so-called Brno death march. In July 1945 Pokorný joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

and was appointed commander of one of the intelligence service sections of the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

in Prague. During the retribution, Pokorný led the investigation against many of the German war criminals, but he has since been accused of faking some testimonies and forging evidence to harm the communist party's opponents. In January 1951 Pokorný was arrested and in December 1953 sentenced in a show trial to 16 years imprisonment for

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

, conspiracy, protection of former

Gestapo The (), 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 Prussia into one orga ...

agents and collaborators, and other activities, which supposedly hindered the work of the police. The sentence was quashed in November 1956 and Pokorný was released, rehabilitated and had his party membership restored. In March 1968, during the Prague Spring, Pokorný hanged himself in a forest near Brno.

References

Resources

* Karel Kaplan & František Svátek: ''Die politischen Säuberungen in der KPC.'' In Weber/Mählert: ''Terror – Stalinistische Parteisäuberungen 1936–1953''. Schöning Verlag 1998, p. 546 ff. * Jiřina Dvořáková
''Bedřich Pokorný – vzestup a pád''
( PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pokorny, Bedrich 1904 births 1968 suicides 1968 deaths Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members Czechoslovak mass murderers Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Ethnic cleansing of Germans Genocide perpetrators Politicide perpetrators Military personnel from Brno People from the Margraviate of Moravia People of the StB Prisoners and detainees of Czechoslovakia Suicides by hanging in Czechoslovakia War criminals of World War II