- Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk (September 14, 1886 - March 10, 1948) was a Czechoslovak diplomat and politician.
- George Soros
George Soros (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, as György Schwartz) is an American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist. He peacefully promotes democracy in Eastern Europe. Currently, he is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute and is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. His support for the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, …
- Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák (January 10, 1913 in Dúbravka (today part of Bratislava, Slovakia) - November 18, 1991 in Bratislava) was a Slovak politician, the last president of Czechoslovakia and a long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. His rule is known as the period of Normalization.
- Tomáš Masaryk
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, sometimes called Thomas Masaryk in English, (March 7, 1850 - September 14, 1937) was a Czech statesman, sociologist and philosopher, who as the keenest advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the first President and founder of Czechoslovakia.
- Josef Korbel
Josef Korbel was a Czechoslovakian diplomat and U.S. educator, who is now best known as the father of Bill Clinton's Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and the mentor of George W. Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Though he served as a diplomat in Czechoslovakia, Korbel's Jewish heritage forced him to flee after the Nazi invasion in 1939. He served as an advisor to Edvard Beneš, the exiled Czech president in London, until the Nazis were defeated.
- Emil Zátopek
Emil Zátopek (September 19, 1922 - November 22, 2000) was a Czech athlete probably best known for his amazing feat of winning three gold medals in athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5 km and 10 km runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life. Zátopek was the first athlete to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10 km run (in 1954).
- 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.
- 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.
- Regina Maršíková
Regina Maršíková is a successful former Czechoslovakian tennis player, winning 5 singles titles and 12 doubles titles. Her single titles were at Rome, Toronto and Christchurch in 1978, Phoenix in 1980 and Berlin in 1981. In Grand Slam competition she never went further than the semi-finals (three, all at the French Open, 1977-79). Her major doubles win was at the French Open in 1977 with Pam Teeguarden.
- Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust (born February 9, 1931 in Most) is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He played as midfielder and was and indispensable player for Czechoslovakia.
- Emil Hácha
Emil Hácha was a Czech lawyer, the third President of Czechoslovakia, taking office in 1938, and the first and only State President of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Emil Hácha was born on July 12, 1872 in a town of Trhové Sviny. He graduated from a secondary school in České Budějovice and then applied for the law faculty at the University of Prague.
- 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).
- Milan Hodža
Milan Hodža (February 1, 1878, Sučany, Austria-Hungary (present-day Slovakia) – June 27, 1944, Clearwater, Florida, United States) was a prominent Slovak politician and journalist, serving from 1935 to 1938 as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia. As a proponent of regional integration, he was famous for his attempts to establish a democratic federation of Central European states.
- Antonín Zápotocký
Antonín Zápotocký was Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953 and President of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957. He was born in Zákolany, near Kladno, Bohemia (then in Austria-Hungary, now in the Czech Republic). His father was Ladislav Zápotocký, one of the founders of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), together with Josef Boleslav Pecka-Strahovský and Josef Hybeš. He was a delegate of the Left Wing of the ČSSD to the Second Comintern Congress, …
- Stan Mikita
Stanislav "Stan" Mikita was a Slovak-Canadian professional ice hockey player, generally regarded as the best center of the 1960s. Mikita was born in Sokolče, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), as Stanislav Gvoth, but moved to Ontario, Canada, as a young boy to avoid the political troubles in the area due to Communist control. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle who gave him their surname, Mikita.
- Jozef Gabčík
Jozef Gabčík was a Slovak soldier involved in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (one of the most important men in Nazi Germany). Gabčík was a Slovak paratrooper of a rotmistr (rittmeister) rank. At the end of 1941, he and Jan Kubiš secretly landed in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to plan the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, which they carried out on May 27, 1942.
- Karel Kramář
Karel Kramář was a Czech politician. Leader of the Young Czech Party in Austria-Hungary and later of the National Democratic Party in Czechoslovakia. A liberal nationalist with close ties to the political elite in Prague and Vienna, Kramář pursued a policy of cooperation with the Austrian state as the best means of achieving Czech national goals before the First World War, even as he favored closer ties between the Czechs and the Russian Empire.
- Antonín Panenka
Antonín Panenka is a former Czech footballer. An attacking midfielder known for the quality of his passing and his free kicks, Panenka played for Bohemians Prague for most of his career, joining the club as a youth in 1959. He came to international prominence playing for Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship; Czechoslovakia reached the final, where they faced West Germany.
- 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, …
- 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.
- Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician and the party's General Secretary after World War II and was one from leading creators and organizers of communistic terror in Czechoslovakia at the turn of 40th and 50th years. Later he fell into disfavour with the regime and was executed after a show trial.
- Andrej Hlinka
Andrej Hlinka (September 27, 1864 - August 16, 1938) was a Slovak politician and Catholic priest, one of the most important Slovak public activists in the pre-WWII Czechoslovakia, leader of the Slovak People's Party (until his death), papal chamberlain (since 1924), infulled papal protonotary (since 1927), member of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (the parliament) and chairman of the St. Vojtech Group (organization publishing religious books).
- Jan Železný
Jan Železný (born June 16, 1966 in Mladá Boleslav) is a Czech athlete, world and Olympic champion and world record holder in javelin throw. Železný won the gold at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games and Silver in the 1988 Olympics as well as three World Championship titles; in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Because of his achievements he is widely considered to be the greatest javelin thrower ever. Železný holds both the world record, at 98.48 m set in 1996, …
- Karel Kuttelwascher
Karel Miroslav Kuttelwascher, "Kut" (September 23 1916 - August 17 1959) was a Czech fighter pilot, a flying ace of the UK's Royal Air Force in World War II. He was the most successful RAF pilot of Czech nationality.
- Rudolf Viest
Rudolf Viest, was Slovak division general, commander of the partisan army during the Slovak National Uprising and the only Slovak general during the interwar period in the first Czechoslovak republic.
- Ota Šik
Ota Šik was a Czech economist and politician. He was the man behind the "New Economic Model" (economy liberalization plan) and was one of the key figures in the Prague Spring.
- 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.
- Ján Golian
General Ján Golian was a Slovak Brigadier General who became famous as one of the main organizers and the Commander-in-Chief of the insurrectionist Slovak Army during the Slovak National Uprising against the Nazis. He was the supreme military leader of the uprising from April 27, 1944 (while the uprising was still in preparation) until the arrival of General Rudolf Viest on October 7, 1944. Afterwards, General Ján Golian served as Viest's adjutant.
- 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.
- František Peřina
František Peřina was a Czech fighter pilot. In 1939, following the first dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia by Nazi Germany, he fled the country. He travelled to France where he was shot down and seriously injured and later served with the RAF as a pilot in the 312. (Czechoslovak) Squadron. He shot down about fifteen German airplanes during WWII and became one of the most successful Czechoslovak fighter pilots.
- Jan Stráský
Jan Stráský is a Czech politician. Stráský studied philosophy and political economy at the Charles University in Prague. During the 1960s-'80s he worked at the Central bank of Czechoslovakia. In 1991 Stráský became member of the Civic Democratic Party, since 1992 he was member of parliament, minister of transportation (1993-95), and minister of health (1995-96).
- 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, …
- Marián Čalfa
Marián Čalfa was a Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia during and after the Velvet Revolution, and a key facilitator of smooth power transfer from the Communists to a new democratic representation. An ethnic Slovak, he was a member of KSČ, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. From 1985, he worked as the head of a legislative department of the Czechoslovak federal government. In April 1988, he became a minister - the chairman of the legislative committee.
- Antonín Švehla
Antonín Švehla was a Czechoslovakian politician. He served three terms as the prime minister of Czechoslovakia. He is regarded as one of the most important political figures of the First Czechoslovak Republic; he was the leader of the Agrarian Party, which was dominant within the Pětka, which was largely his own invention. Švehla is also credited with the admirable slogan of the pětka: "We have agreed that we will agree."
- Otakar Jaroš
Otakar Jaroš was a Czech officer in the Czechoslovak army of the Soviet Union. He was killed in the Battle of Sokolovo and became the first foreign soldier decorated with the highest Soviet decoration Hero of the Soviet Union.
- 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.
- Rudolf Beran
Rudolf Beran was a Czechoslovakian politician who served as prime minister of the country before its occupation by Nazi Germany and shortly thereafter, before it was declared a protectorate. A leader of the Agrarian Party from 1933, he was appointed prime minister by President Emil Hácha on December 1, 1938, and served until April 27, 1939. After he retired, he settled on his farm. During World War II, he had contacts with members of the Czech resistance.
- 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.
- Alois Vašátko
Alois Vašátko DSO DFC (25 August 1908, Čelákovice, Czechoslovakia – 23 June 1942) was a Czech fighter pilot. After graduating from a teacher's institute, he became a teacher in Litoměřice. A couple of months later he was drafted into the army. He finished his military service in 1929 and started studies at several army institutes. During the years 1937-38, he attended pilot training in Olomouc, and in March 1939 he became an active pilot.