- Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš (May 28 1884–September 3 1948) was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was born in Kožlany, Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire).
- Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk (September 14, 1886 - March 10, 1948) was a Czechoslovak diplomat and politician.
- Jozef Tiso
Monsignor Jozef Tiso was a fascist Slovak politician of the SPP, Roman Catholic priest who became a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament, a member of the Czechoslovak government, and finally the President of Independent Slovak Republic from 1939-1945, allied with Nazi Germany. After the end of World War II, Tiso was hanged by Czechoslovak authorities.
- Ladislav Adamec
Ladislav Adamec was a Czechoslovak communist political figure. In October 1988, Lubomír Štrougal retired from being the Prime Minister and was replaced by Ladislav Adamec. He was the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from October 12, 1988 to December 7, 1989. He had previously been the Prime Minister of the Czech Socialist Republic from 1987 to 1988.
- Ludvík Svoboda
Ludvík Svoboda was a Czechoslovak national hero who fought in both World Wars and was later the president of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
- Milada Horáková
Milada Horáková was a Czechoslovak politician executed by Communists on trumped-up charges of conspiracy and treason. As a one of few women ever executed in Czechoslovakia she is regarded as a symbol of anti-Communist resistance for her firm and courageous stance during her trial. She was born in Prague and then studied law at the Charles University. She graduated in 1926 and then worked at the Prague City Council.
- Ivan Hlinka
Ivan Hlinka (January 26, 1950 - August 16, 2004) was a Czech professional ice hockey player and coach. He was one of the most important figures in Czech ice hockey.
- Milan Rastislav Štefánik
Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovak politician, diplomat, and astronomer. During World War I, he was General of the French army, at the same time the Czechoslovak Minister of War, one of the leading members of the Czechoslovak National Council (i.e. resistance government), and he contributed decisively to the cause of Czechoslovak sovereignty. (The status of Czech- and Slovak-populated territories, among others, …
- Ludvík Vaculík
Ludvík Vaculík is a Czech writer and journalist. A prominent samizdat writer, he is most famous as the author of the "Two Thousand Words" manifesto of June 1968.
- Otto Wichterle
Otto Wichterle (27 October, 1913 in Prostějov in Austria-Hungary, now in the Czech Republic - 18 August, 1998) was a Czech chemist and inventor, best known for his invention of modern contact lenses. After finishing high school in Prostějov, Wichterle chose science for his career and began to study at the Chemical and Technological Faculty of the Czech Technical University (now the independent Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague).
- Jan Werich
Jan Werich (born 6 February, 1905, Prague - died 31 October, 1980, Prague) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer. Between 1916 to 1924 he attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencová Street in Prague (where his future partner, Jiří Voskovec, also studied). He studied law at the Law School of Charles University from 1924 to 1927, …
- Ján Kadár
Ján Kadár (April 1., 1918., Budapest - June 1., 1979., Los Angeles, California), was a Czechoslovak film director of Hungarian origins, active from the 1960's in the Czech "New Wave" of art films. Ján Kadár collaborated for 17 years with Elmar Klos. Having won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his film "The Shop on Main Street". In 1970 Ján Kadár emigrated to the United States where he resumed his career, …
- Hubert Ripka
Hubert Ripka was a Czechoslovak political figure and author, born 1895, died 1958. His books include: *Munich: Before and After: A Fully Documented Czechoslovak Account of the Crises of September 1938.... London: Gollancz, 1939 *East and West. Lincolns-Prager, c1944 *Eastern Europe in the post-war world Methuen, 1961
- Jiří Hájek
Jiří Hájek was a Czechoslovak politician and diplomat. Together with Václav Havel, Zdeněk Mlynář, and Pavel Kohout, Hájek was one of the founding members and architects of Charta 77.
- František Moravec
František Moravec was Czechoslovak military intelligence officer before and during World War II. In 1915 Moravec was drafted into Austro-Hungarian Army and sent to the Eastern Front, into Galicia. In September 1914 he fought at the Battle of Rawa. On January 13, 1915 Moravec was taken as prisoner by Russian troops and sent to the POW camp in Tsaritsyn. In 1916 he joined the Serbian Legion and fought in the Romanian Front, was moved from Archangel (Archangelsk) to Britain, …
- Jaromil Jireš
Jaromil Jireš was a prominent Czechoslovak "New Wave" filmmaker. He directed "The Joke", adapted from a novel by Milan Kundera, and "Valerie a týden divů" based on a novel by Vítězslav Nezval, among other works. Another of Jires' prominent works was Valerie and her Week of Wonders which was released in 1970. It was a surrealist film about the sexual awakening a young women in a gothic style.
- Alois Eliáš
Alois Eliáš was a Czechoslovak general and politician. He served as prime minister of Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia from April 27, 1939 to September 28, 1941.
- Josef František
Sergeant Josef František was a Czech fighter pilot, a flying ace of the Polish Air Force of the World War II. Josef František joined the Czechoslovak airforce in 1936. In 1938 he became a fighter pilot, serving in the 40th squadron in Prague. After Czechoslovakia fell under German occupation (March 15, 1939) he escaped to Poland, like many other Czechoslovak airmen (despite a popular version, it was not an escape by plane).
- Jan Syrový
Jan Syrový was a Czechoslovak general and prime minister during the Munich Crisis. During World War I, he fought in Czechoslovak Legion and lost his right eye in the Battle of Zborov. Later he was in command of the Legion and anti-bolshevik forces on the Trans-Siberian railway. After the war, he was Chief of Staff of the Czechoslovak Army (1927-1933) and then its general inspector (1933-1938). After Milan Hodža's government resigned on September 23, 1938, …
- František Fajtl
Lieutenant General František Fajtl was a Czech fighter pilot of the World War II. He was a RAF squadron and wing commander and led a group of Czechoslovak fighter pilots who formed an air regiment under Soviet Air Force command, supporting the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. He was dismissed from the Czechoslovakian Air Force after the Communists came to power in 1948, and was only fully rehabilitated after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
- Jozef Lenárt
Jozef Lenárt was a Czechoslovak politician. He graduated from a chemistry high school and worked for the Baťa company. He became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ("KSČ") and of the Communist Party of Slovakia ("KSS"). He was a member of the federal parliament (whose name changed several times) from 1960 to 1990, and of the Slovak National Council from 1962 to 1963 and from 1971 to (?)1990.
- Silvia Saint
Silvia Saint (born February 12, 1976) is a Czech pornographic actress. In 1996, she was "Penthouse Pet of the Year" in the Czech edition of the magazine, and between 1997 and 2001, she appeared in over 200 pornographic movies.
- Bedřich Reicin
Bedřich Reicin was a Czechoslovak army officer and politician. Reicin was born into a poor Jewish family - his birth name was Reinzinger, sometimes written as Reicinger. He studied at a gymnasium, later at a business college from which he was expelled after discovery of his activism for the communist party. In 1930s Reicin became functionary of a communist youth organizations and contributor of the party newspaper Rudé Právo.
- Vlastimil Tusar
Vlastimil Tusar (18 October 1880 Prague - 22 March 1924 Berlin) was a Czechoslovak journalist and political figure. He served as prime minister of Czechoslovakia from 1919 to 1920. Tusar was born as the son of a civil servant he attended a gymnasium and an economical school in Prague. Between 1900 and 1903 he worked for a bank, in 1903 he became a journalist for various social democratic papers.
- Bohuslav Chňoupek
Bohuslav Chňoupek (August 10 1925, Petržalka (now part of Bratislava) - June 28 2004, Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the most visible representatives of the Communist regime after the defeat of the Prague Spring (Normalization period, i.e. 1969 - 1988). In 1945 Chňoupek became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Since 1948 he worked as journalist.
- Julius Fučík
Julius Fučík (February 23, 1903 – September 8, 1943) was a Czechoslovakia journalist, an active member of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Komunistická strana Československa [KSČ]), and part of the forefront of the anti-Nazi resistance. He was imprisoned, tortured, and murdered by the Nazis.
- Antonín Puč
Antonín Puč was a former Czech football player, the all-time leading scorer for the Czechoslovakian national team. Puč's international career lasted from 1926 to 1938; in that time, he played 60 matches for Czechoslovakia, scoring 34 goals. He played for Czechoslovakia in the 1934 World Cup scoring two goals, including one in the final, a 2-1 loss against Italy, and also played in the 1938 edition. Puč spent most of his club career with Slavia Prague.
- Artur London
Artur London, (February 1, 1915-November 8, 1986), was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Prague Trials. He was born in Ostrava, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. In 1937, London went to fight in the Spanish Civil War as member of the International Brigade. He moved to France after the defeat of the Republicans and, during World War II, was arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp.
- Ján Kubiš
Ján Kubiš has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia since July 2006. The Slovak diplomat was formerly Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General. In July 2005, the European Union appointed Jan Kubis to be the EU's special envoy to Central Asia. Kubis had previously served as the United Nations special envoy to Tajikistan during the transitional period following the civil war until the country held its first postwar elections.
- Věra Čáslavská
Věra Čáslavská is a Czech gymnast. Blonde, cheerful and possessing impressive stage presence, she was generally popular with the public and won a total of 22 international titles. She is the most decorated Czech gymnast in history and is one of only two female gymnasts, along with Soviet Larissa Latynina, to win two consecutive all-around gold medals at the Olympics. Born in Prague and originally a figure skater, …
- Karel Poláček
Karel Poláček was a Czechoslovak writer, humorist and journalist of Jewish descent. He was murdered by the Nazis in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- Ladislav Rychman
Ladislav Rychman (October 9 1922 - April 1 2007) was a Czech film director who filmed the first Czechoslovak musical comedy "Starci na chmelu" (1964).
- Chloe Vevrier
Chloe Vevrier (born Andrea Irena Fischer September 18, 1968) is a German model and porn star famous for her pendulous natural breasts and participation in lesbian pornography and erotica. Her parents are French and Czechoslovakian.
- Vladimír Růžička
Vladimír Růžička, was a former Czechoslovak and Czech ice hockey player. He was twice named the top player in the Czechoslovak Elite League, and was on the gold medal team in the Ice Hockey World Championship in 1985 and 1998 Olympic Games. After retiring as a player in 2000 he started working as a coach in HC Slavia Prague and in 2002-03 season his team won the Czech Extraliga. Between 2002-2004 he was also an assistant coach of the Czech national ice hockey team.
- Roy Gutman
Roy Gutman (born March 5, 1944, New York City) is an American journalist and author. Gutman graduated from Haverford College, in 1966, majoring in History, and from London School of Economics in 1968 with a masters degree in International Relations. Roy Gutman joined Newsday in January 1982 and served for eight years as National Security Reporter in Washington. While European Bureau Chief, from late 1989 to 1994, he reported the downfall of the Polish, East German, …
- Bořivoj Čelovský
Bořivoj (Boris) Čelovský is a Czech-Canadian historian, member of the post-1948 Czechoslovak political exile and former political adviser. He is mostly dealing with historical and contemporary reflections of the Czech-German relationships. After finishing his secondary studies in Ostrava in 1942, Boris Čelovský was sent to Germany for compulsory labour.
- Jiří Grossmann
Jiří Grossmann was a Czechoslovak theatre actor, poet, and composer.
- William Zabka
William "Billy" Zabka born in New York City, New York) is an American actor. Zabka is best known for playing "bully" types, such as his role as Johnny Lawrence in 1984's "The Karate Kid". Zabka's family is of Czechoslovak descent; the Czech translation of "Zabka" is "Little Frog."
- Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav
Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav was a Slovak poet, dramatist, translator and a member of the Czechoslovak parliament for a short time. Literary theoreticians consider him the most important Slovak poet of all times.
- Vladimír Dzurilla
Vladimír Dzurilla was a Czechoslovak ice hockey goal keeper. Dzurilla, a refrigerator repairman by profession, was goalie for the Czechoslovakian national team for over 16 years, winning two gold, three silver and four bronze medals at world championships as well as one silver and two bronze Olympic medals. For North American fans, he is mostly known for stopping 29 shots in a 1-0 win over Canada in the 1976 Canada Cup (where the Czechoslovaks would win silver).