Loading...| Preceded by Edvard Beneš |
President of Czechoslovakia 14 June 1948 – 14 Mar 1953 |
Succeeded by Antonín Zápotocký |
| Preceded by Zdeněk Fierlinger |
Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia 2 July 1946 – 15 June 1948 |
Succeeded by Antonín Zápotocký |
Biography
Klement Gottwald was a Czech communist revolutionary and politician, first president of Communist Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953.[1]
Klement was born on 23 November 1896 at Dědice no. 102, Vyškov, Bohemia, son of an unmarried maidservant Marie Gottwaldová.[2] His father was probably the farmer František Skácel from nearby Heroltice, but he did not acknowledge him. His family, however, regularly sent money for Klement’s upkeep.[3]
Before World War I he was trained in Vienna as a carpenter. From 1915 to 1918 he was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army. In the summer of 1918, Gottwald deserted from the army. After the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic, he served for two years in the Czechoslovak Army.[1] As soldier he met his future wife Marie Holubová.[4] They had one daughter, Marta (1920–1998). He was not eager to marry Marta; he and his wife only began living together in 1924 and did not marry until 21 March 1928 in Prague.[5]
From 1920 to 1921 he worked in Rousínov as a cabinetmaker. In September 1921 he moved to Banská Bystrica, where he became the editor of the communist magazine Hlas Ľudu. Later, he moved to Žilina and became editor in chief of Spartakus magazine. In 1922 he moved to Vrútky. In 1924 he moved to Ostrava. From 1926 he worked in Prague. He emigrated to the Soviet Union in November 1938. On 10 May 1945, he returned to Prague.[1]
He was a long-time alcoholic and suffered from heart disease caused by syphilis that had gone untreated for several years. Shortly after attending Stalin's funeral on 9 March 1953, one of his arteries burst. He died five days later on 14 March 1953, aged 56.[6] He was the first Czechoslovak president to die in office.[1]
His embalmed body was initially displayed in a mausoleum at the site of the Jan Žižka national monument in the district of Žižkov, Prague. In 1962, the personality cult ended and it was no longer deemed appropriate to show Gottwald's body. His body was cremated, the ashes returned to the Žižka Monument and placed in a sarcophagus. After the end of the communist period, Gottwald's ashes were removed from the Žižka Monument (in 1990) and placed in a common grave at Prague's Olšany Cemetery, together with the ashes of about 20 other communist leaders which had also originally been placed in the Žižka Monument.[1]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
Wikipedia entry:
Wikipedia contributors, "Klement Gottwald"
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (accessed 31 May 2026). - ↑
N - Dědice 12477 - 174 (174)
(https://www.mza.cz/actapublica/matrika/detail/11718?image=216000010-000253-003378-000000-012477-000000-00-B11606-01720.jp2 : 16 September 2022) - ↑ Milada Prokopová: Gottwald se narodil před 120 lety svobodné děvečce, místo nejasné
- ↑ Jan Sedmidubský: První dáma Marta Gottwaldová byla nevzdělaná, ale přátelská a štědrá
- ↑ Matrika MAG O42, pg. 93. AHMP
- ↑
Burial:
"Find a Grave Index"
FamilySearch Record: QVKC-JZR9 (accessed 31 May 2026)
Find A Grave: Memorial #44291949
Klement Gottwald burial (died on 14 Mar 1953) in Prague, Okres Praha, Prague Capital City, Czech Republic. Born on 23 Nov 1896.
- FamilySearch Person: MKYP-VZR
- Wikidata: Item Q296054, en:Wikipedia
