Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia | ||||||||||
Prozatímní státní zřízení Dočasné štátne zriadenie |
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Government in exile | ||||||||||
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Motto Pravda vítězí / Pravda víťazí "Truth prevails" |
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Anthem
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Capital | Prague (de iure) | |||||||||
Capital-in-exile |
Paris (1939-40) London (1940-45) |
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Languages | Czech, Slovak | |||||||||
Government | Republic | |||||||||
President | ||||||||||
• | 1939–1945 | Edvard Beneš | ||||||||
Prime Minister | ||||||||||
• | 1940–1945 | Jan Šrámek | ||||||||
Historical era | World War II | |||||||||
• | Munich Agreement | 30 September 1938 | ||||||||
• | German occupation of Czechoslovakia | 15 March 1939 | ||||||||
• | Surrender of Nazi Germany | April 1945 | ||||||||
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The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sometimes styled officially as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia (Czech: Prozatímní státní zřízení československé), was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee, initially by British diplomatic recognition. The name came to be used by other World War II Allies as they subsequently recognized it. The Committee was originally created by the former Czechoslovak President, Edvard Beneš in Paris, France, in October 1939. Unsuccessful negotiations with France for diplomatic status, as well as the impending Nazi occupation of France, forced the Committee to withdraw to London in 1940. From there, it moved to Aston Abbots, Buckinghamshire in 1941, where it sought relative safety from the London Blitz.
It was the legitimate government for Czechoslovakia throughout the Second World War. A specifically anti-Fascist government, it sought to reverse the Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia, and to return the Republic to its 1937 boundaries. As such it was ultimately considered, by those countries that recognized it, the legal continuation of the First Republic of Czechoslovakia.