{{short description|Czech politician}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Rudolf Beran |image = R. Beran.JPG |office = [[List of rulers of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia#Prime Ministers of Bohemia and Moravia|Prime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] |term_start = 16 March 1939 |term_end = 27 April 1939 |term_start1 = 1 December 1938 |term_end1 = 15 March 1939 |predecessor = Position established |president = [[Emil Hácha]] |successor = [[Alois Eliáš]] |office1 = [[List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia|Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia]] |predecessor1 = [[Jan Syrový]] |president1 = [[Emil Hácha]] |successor1 = [[Jan Šrámek]] (in exile) |birth_date = {{birth date|1887|12|28|df=y}} |birth_place = [[Pracejovice]], [[Austria-Hungary]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1954|4|23|1887|12|28|df=y}} |death_place = [[Leopoldov Prison]], [[Czechoslovakia]] |party = [[Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants|Agrarian Party]]<br>[[Party of National Unity (Czechoslovakia)|Party of National Unity]]<br>[[National Partnership]] |spouse = Marie Pilařová |children = |signature = }} '''Rudolf Beran''' (28 December 1887 – 23 April 1954) was a Czech politician who served as [[List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia|Prime Minister]] of the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]] and [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] from 1938 to 1939. After [[World War II]] he was convicted for [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborating]] with [[Nazi Germany]] and died in prison.
==Early life== Rudolf Beran was born in [[Pracejovice]], [[Austria-Hungary]], on 28 December 1887.{{sfn|Brockhaus Enzyklopädie}}
==Career== Beran was the leader of the [[Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants]].{{sfn|Rich|1974|p=34}}
President [[Emil Hácha]] appointed Beran as [[List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia|prime minister]] on 30 November 1938, and he formed his cabinet on 1 December. Beran dismissed his entire cabinet, except for two members, on 9 March 1939.{{sfn|Kerner|1949|p=472}}
On 14 December 1938, Beran stated that he would "[[The Holocaust|solve the Jewish problem]]".{{sfn|Czechoslovakia Aims to Solve Jewish Problem, “premier Beran States|1938}} He proposed creating [[labor camp]]s for [[Romani people]] and other groups on 6 February 1939, and the first labor camps were approved by his cabinet on 2 March.{{sfn|Asiedu|2007}}
The country was [[Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)|occupied]] by Nazi Germany, which created the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]].{{sfn|Kerner|1949|pp=472-473}} [[Alois Eliáš]] succeeded Beran as prime minister on 28 April.{{sfn|Lincoln Journal Star|1939}} Beran was arrested in May 1941 by the Germans and spent years in various concentration camps. While he was in custody of the Gestapo in Prague, he had to answer several written questions submitted to him by [[Karl Hermann Frank|K. H. Frank]], Hitler's ''Staatsminister'' of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lukes|first=Igor|date=1993|title=Stalin and Beneš at the End of September 1938: New Evidence from the Prague Archives|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/stalin-and-benes-at-the-end-of-september-1938-new-evidence-from-the-prague-archives/81749BB21A7E0080626E2AC9AF37B2B4|journal=Slavic Review|volume=52|issue=1|pages=28–48|doi=10.2307/2499583|jstor=2499583|s2cid=163953051 |issn=0037-6779|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Beran was convicted for his collaboration with the Nazis{{sfn|Time|1954}} and sentenced to twenty years in prison.{{sfn|McEnchroe|2022}} He died at the [[Leopoldov Prison]] on 24 April 1954.{{sfn|Montreal Star|1954}}{{sfn|Time|1954}} In 2022, the [[Judiciary of the Czech Republic|High Court]] in Prague reopened the case against Beran and [[Jan Syrový]] for review.{{sfn|McEnchroe|2022}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Works cited== {{refbegin|30em}} ===Books=== * {{cite book|editor-last=Kerner |editor-first=Robert |title=Czechoslovakia |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=1949 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.175847}} * {{cite book|last=Rich |first=Norman |title=Hitler's War Aims: The Establishment of the New Order |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |date=1974 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlerswaraims0000rich |isbn=0393055094}}
===Magazines=== *{{cite magazine |date=3 May 1954 |title=Milestones |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |publisher=[[Time Inc.]] |url=https://time.com/archive/6825985/milestones-may-3-1954/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250626161829/https://time.com/archive/6825985/milestones-may-3-1954/ |archive-date=26 June 2025 |ref={{harvid|Time|1954}}}}
===News=== * {{Cite news |date=14 December 1938 |title=Czechoslovakia Aims to Solve Jewish Problem, “premier Beran States |work=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/czechoslovakia-aims-to-solve-jewish-problem-premier-beran-states |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250626161414/https://www.jta.org/archive/czechoslovakia-aims-to-solve-jewish-problem-premier-beran-states |archive-date=26 June 2025 |ref={{harvid|Czechoslovakia Aims to Solve Jewish Problem, “premier Beran States|1938}}}} * {{Cite news |last=Asiedu |first=Dita |date=20 April 2007 |title=Ghetto No. 1: new Czech film documents life at country's biggest Roma ghetto |work=[[Radio Prague]] |url=https://english.radio.cz/ghetto-no-1-new-czech-film-documents-life-countrys-biggest-roma-ghetto-8608770 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250626161412/https://english.radio.cz/ghetto-no-1-new-czech-film-documents-life-countrys-biggest-roma-ghetto-8608770 |archive-date=26 June 2025}} * {{Cite news |last=McEnchroe |first=Thomas |date=4 April 2022 |title=Court reopens treason case against Czechoslovakia’s Munich-era prime minister |work=[[Radio Prague]] |url=https://english.radio.cz/court-reopens-treason-case-against-czechoslovakias-munich-era-prime-minister-8749527 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250626161400/https://english.radio.cz/court-reopens-treason-case-against-czechoslovakias-munich-era-prime-minister-8749527 |archive-date=26 June 2025}}
===Newspapers=== * {{Cite news |date=24 April 1954 |title=Former Czech Premier Nazi Collaborator, Dies |page=41 |work=[[Montreal Star]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montreal-star/175334232/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref={{harvid|Montreal Star|1954}}}} * {{Cite news |date=28 April 1939 |title=Gets Bohemia Post |page=14 |work=[[Lincoln Journal Star]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lincoln-journal-star/175334627/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |ref={{harvid|Lincoln Journal Star|1939}}}}
===Web=== * {{Cite web |title=Rudolf Beran |publisher=[[Brockhaus Enzyklopädie]] |url=https://brockhaus.de/ecs/enzy/article/beran-rudolf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250626165954/https://brockhaus.de/ecs/enzy/article/beran-rudolf |archive-date=26 June 2025 |ref={{harvid|Brockhaus Enzyklopädie}}}}
{{refend}}
==External links== * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317183049/http://zivotopisyonline.cz/ceskoslovenska-vlada-beranova-1938-1939-clenove.php |date=March 17, 2008 |title=Members of Beran's government before occupation, 1.12.1938 - 15.3.1939 }} {{in lang|cs}} * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526131852/http://zivotopisyonline.cz/protektoratni-vlada-1939-clenove.php |date=May 26, 2008 |title=Members of Beran's government after the occupation, 16.3.1939 - 27.4.1939 }} {{in lang|cs}} * {{PM20|FID=pe/001496}} * https://kulisek-spisovatel.webnode.cz/politikadruherepubliky/
{{Prime ministers of Czechoslovakia}} {{Rulers of Bohemia and Moravia}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beran, Rudolf}} [[Category:1887 births]] [[Category:1954 deaths]] [[Category:People from Strakonice District]] [[Category:People from the Kingdom of Bohemia]] [[Category:Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants politicians]] [[Category:Party of National Unity (Czechoslovakia) politicians]] [[Category:National Partnership politicians]] [[Category:Prime ministers of Czechoslovakia]] [[Category:Prime ministers of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] [[Category:Members of the Revolutionary National Assembly of Czechoslovakia]] [[Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1920–1925)]] [[Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1925–1929)]] [[Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1929–1935)]] [[Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies of Czechoslovakia (1935–1939)]] [[Category:Czech anti-communists]] [[Category:Czech collaborators with Nazi Germany]] [[Category:Czech people of World War II]] [[Category:Prisoners who died in Czechoslovak detention]] [[Category:Czechoslovak people who died in prison custody]]