Frantisek Chvalkovsky

František Chvalkovský (July 30, 1885 - February 25, 1945) was a Czech diplomat and the fourth foreign minister of Czechoslovakia.

Activities during the First Republic

In the newly independent state (First Republic of Czechoslovakia), Chvalkovský first became a secretary of interior minister Antonín Švehla. In 1920, he joined diplomatic service and participated in the negotiations of the Treaty of Trianon. Later on, he served as an ambassador in Japan, USA, Germany and Italy.

After Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement ended the First Republic of Czechoslovakia. The previous pro-democratic and anti-totalitarian policies gave way to calls for authoritarian government and closer cooperation with Nazi Germany (more: ). Political elite, connected with former President Edvard Beneš had to leave offices and Chvalkovský became foreign minister. He tried to maintain independence of the rump state by concessions to neighbours, hoping to gain time for a more favorable outcome in the future. He grossly underestimated Hitler's desire to occupy Central Europe and the hunger for revenge from Poland and Hungary, who had to make painful concessions to Czechoslovakia after World War I. He represented Czechoslovakia during Vienna Arbitration. Due to insufficient preparation, Czechoslovakia had to concede significant parts of Slovak territory to Hungary. When Slovakia declared independence on March 14, 1939, Chvalkovský traveled with President Emil Hácha to Berlin, hoping to preserve the independence of Czech lands with further concessions. Instead, Hitler forced them - in violation of Munich Agreement - to sign an agreement with annexation of the country on March 15, 1939. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.

Under Nazi rule

With the establishment of Protectorate, there was officially no place for Czech diplomatic service. As a last ruling, under German pressure, the Foreign Ministry ordered all Czechoslovak ambassadors to close embassies and transfer them to Germans. Patriotic clerks hoped that ambassadors, free the direct Nazi pressure, would disobey and keep the embassies for the future benefit of Government-in-exile. As a last resort, if the host government would be hostile to them, they should have transferred the embassy to the host government rather than Germany. Unfortunately, many ambassadors did not read between the lines and obeyed the order literally, as they were always used to, causing significant damage to the Czechoslovak interest. Given the sequence of events, shaped by Chvalkovský, many countries, such as France (a signatory of Munich Agreement), initially considered the fall of Czechoslovakia a result of internal forces rather than German aggression. Chvalkovský has thus caused a big damage to Czechoslovakia during this critical period.

After closing of Foreign Ministry in 1939, Chvalkovský became an envoy of Protectorate in Germany. He was killed on a highway outside Berlin during an Allied Air raid.

External links

* [http://www.mzv.cz/wwwo/mzv/default.asp?id=23113&ido=7970&idj=1&amb=1 František Chvalkovský's biography on the web site of Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs]