Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939–1945 | |||||||||
| Anthem: Kde domov můj / Wo ist mein Heim "Where my home is" | |||||||||
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1942, in dark green within Nazi Germany in light green | |||||||||
| Status | Protectorate and partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany under a puppet government | ||||||||
| Capital | Prague | ||||||||
| Common languages | German · Czech | ||||||||
| Government | Dual system | ||||||||
| Reich Protector | |||||||||
• 1939–1943 | Konstantin von Neurath | ||||||||
• 1941–1942 (acting) | Reinhard Heydrich | ||||||||
• 1942–1943 (acting) | Kurt Daluege | ||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Wilhelm Frick | ||||||||
| State President | |||||||||
• 1939–1945 | Emil Hácha | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1939 (acting) | Rudolf Beran | ||||||||
• 1939–1941 | Alois Eliáš | ||||||||
• 1941–1945 | Jaroslav Krejčí | ||||||||
• 1945 | Richard Bienert | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 15 March 1939 | |||||||||
| 8 May 1945 | |||||||||
| Currency | Protectorate koruna | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Czech Republic | ||||||||
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the German occupation of the Czech lands. The protectorate's population was mostly ethnic Czechs.
After the Munich Agreement of September 1938, the German Reich had annexed the German-majority Sudetenland to Germany from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Following the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic on 14 March 1939, and the German occupation of the Czech rump state the next day, Adolf Hitler established the protectorate on 16 March 1939, issuing a proclamation from Prague Castle. The creation of the protectorate violated the Munich Agreement.
The protectorate remained nominally autonomous and had a dual system of government, with German law applying to ethnic Germans while other residents had the legal status of Protectorate subjects and were governed by a puppet Czech administration. During World War II (1939–1945), the well-trained Czech workforce and developed industry were forced to make a major contribution to the German war economy. Since the Protectorate was just out of the reach of Allied bombers based in the United Kingdom, the Czech economy was able to work almost undisturbed until the end of the war. The Protectorate administration became deeply involved in the Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia.
The state's existence came to an end with the surrender of Germany to the Allies in May 1945. After the war, some Protectorate officials were charged with collaborationism, but according to the prevailing belief in Czech society, the Protectorate was not entirely rejected as a collaborationist entity.