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Archive Collection description: BEN
Beneš Collection (circa) (1938)
Edvard Beneš (1884-1948) became involved in politics after an academic
career. He believed that the Czech and Slovak peoples should be free from
rule by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the outbreak of the First
World War, Beneš went into exile. In 1915 he became secretary-general of
the Czecho-Slovak National Council and along with his mentor Tomas
Masaryk and M Stefanik led the Czechoslovak independence movement. After
independence was attained in 1918, Beneš became foreign minister, a post
he held until 1935. He also headed the Czechoslovak delegation to the
peace conference of 1919-1920 and was prime minister 1921-1922. In 1935
Beneš succeeded Masaryk as president but resigned in 1938 after the
Munich agreement and went into exile once more. In London during the
Second World War Beneš was president in exile 1940-1945 and on his return
to Czechoslovakia after the war was re-elected. He favoured Slavic
co-operation and friendly relations with both the Soviet Union and the
West but in June 1948, shortly after the Communists seized power he
refused to give his assent to the new constitution and resigned. A few
months later he died.
Ref: "The New Encyclopedia Britannica"
Contents
Anonymous typescript biography of Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia entitled "Ein Mann für Europe" [A Man for Europe]. The text is accompanied by 2 sheets inscribed "Fahrten und Abentuer in Zwei Jahrzehnten meines Lebens. Selbstbekenntnisse von Richard Turba" [Journeys and Adventures in Two Decades of my Life. Self-confession of Richard Turba]. It is not clear whether Turba is the author of the biography.(circa) 1938
1 envelope
(Language) German
Unrestricted access
A record for this collection is also available on the UCL Archives web site. To see it, please type BEN into the search field.
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This page last modified Thursday 22 April 2010.
