Volume 16 , Issue 8

25 February 1948 News

Sixty-six years ago today, Wednesday, 25 February 1948, the day in early morning that NW Okie was born in Northwest Oklahoma. It was also when the Communists were taking power in Czechoslovakia.

NW Okie's Maternal ancestors (HURTOSCI or HURT)on the HURT's side of the family were from the Austria-Hungary (Bohemia & Moravia) area. These Bohemians came to America in 1876, settling in Nebraska and some settling in Northwest Oklahoma Territory, near Orion, Oklahoma in Major county.

The Wikipedia webite states, Czechoslovakia (or Czecho-Slovakia; Czech and Slovak: Ceskoslovensko, Cesko-Slovensko) was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. On 29 June 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho-Ukraine to the USSR.

It was this day, 25 February 1948, that President Eduard Benes was pressured from the Czechoslovakian Communist party, and he allowed a communist dominated government to be organized. But the Soviet Union did not physically intervene. Western observers decried the virtually bloodless communist coup as an example of Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe.

We find the political scene in Czechoslovakia following WWII was complex. Eduard Benes was head of the London based Czech government in exile during the war, and returned to his native land in 1945 to take control of a new national government following the Soviet withdrawal in July of that year. National elections in 1946 resulted in significant representation for leftist and communist parties in the new constituent assembly. Benes formed a coalition with these parties in his administration.

Czechoslovakia was not formally within the Soviet orbit, though, and American officials were concerned with the Soviet communist influence in the nation. They were also particularly upset when Benes' government strongly opposed any plans for the political rehabilitation and possible rearmament of Germany. In response, the United States terminated a large loan to Czechoslovakia. Moderate and conservative parties in Czechoslovakia were outraged, and declared the U.S. action was driving their nation into the clutches of the communists. The communists made huge electoral gains in the nation, as the national economy spiraled out of control.

When moderate elements in the Czech government raised the possibility of the nation's participation in the U.S. Marshall Plan (a massive economic recovery program designed to help war torn European countries rebuild), the communists organized strikes and protests, and began clamping down on opposition parties. Benes tried desperately to hold his nation together. By February 1948, the communists had forced the other coalition parties out of the government. On February 25th, Benes gave in to communist demands and handed his cabinet over to the party. Rigged elections were held in May to validate the communist victory. Benes resigned and his former foreign minister, Jan Masaryk died under very suspicious circumstances. Czechoslovakia became a single party state.

Both the United States and Great Britain denounced the communist seizure of power in Czechoslovakia, but neither took any direct action. Putting too much faith in Czechoslovakia democratic traditions, or possibly fearful of a Soviet reaction, neither nation offered anything beyond verbal support to the Benes government. The Communist party, with support and aid from the Soviet Union, dominated Czechoslovakia politics until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 brought a non-communist government to power.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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