Karol Šmidke (21 January 1897 – 15 December 1952) was a Slovak communist politician, resistance fighter, and a member of 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 Com ...

. Šmidke was Co- President of the Presidium of the Slovak National Council (with Vavro Srobar) 5 September - , Co- Speaker of the Slovak National Council (with

Jozef Lettrich Jozef Lettrich (17 June 1905 in Turčianske Teplice — 29 November 1969 in New York City) was a Slovak writer and politician. Lettrich is best known as the leader of the non-Communist, big tent Democratic Party (Slovakia, 1944), Democratic Part ...

) 14 September 1945 - 26 February 1948, Acting Speaker from 26 February to 12 March 1948 and Speaker 12 March 1948 - 14 July 1950. He was also the first President of the

Board of Commissioners A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States. A county usually has three to five ...

from 18 September 1945 until 14 August 1946, when he was succeeded by

Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...

. In 1950 he lost his position in the party and was put under investigation, alongside

, Laco Novomeský, and Vladimír Clementis, under accusations of being a "bourgeois nationalist". He would die under unclear circumstances in 1952 before he was to be put on trial. He would be posthumously rehabilitated in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smidke, Karol 1897 births 1952 deaths Politicians from Ostrava People from the Margraviate of Moravia Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Communist Party of Slovakia (1939) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1935–1939) Members of the Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia Members of the Constituent National Assembly of Czechoslovakia Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954) Prime ministers of Slovakia Heroes of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czech people of Slovak descent