Jaroslav Krejcí
Encyclopedia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from January 19, 1942 to January 19, 1945.
After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Charles University in 1915 he worked in the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
in various positions. During the 1930s he also worked in Masaryk University
Masaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
as a teacher of constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
(from 1938 as professor).
From December 12, 1938, to March 3, 1939, he was minister of justice in Rudolf Beran
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...
's government of the Czechoslovak Second Republic and head of the Czechoslovak Constitutional Court. He served as minister of justice in all Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
governments and temporarily he was also minister of agriculture. From January 19, 1942, to January 19, 1945, he was prime minister, replacing Alois Eliáš
Alois Eliáš
Alois Eliáš was a Czechoslovak general and politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from April 27, 1939 to September 28, 1941.- Career in 1939-1942 :...
, who had supported the underground resistance to Nazis
Czech resistance to Nazi occupation
Czech resistance to German Nazi occupation during World War II is a scarcely documented subject, by and large a result of little formal resistance and an effective German policy that deterred acts of resistance or annihilated organizations of resistance...
and was executed. Krejčí was a close friend of president Emil Hácha
Emil Hácha
Emil Hácha was a Czech lawyer, the third President of Czecho-Slovakia from 1938 to 1939. From March 1939, he presided under the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.-Judicial career:...
. Krejčí and his government fully cooperated with the Germans. The most infamous member of his government was Emanuel Moravec
Emanuel Moravec
Emanuel Moravec was a pre-war Czechoslovakian army colonel who became aNazi collaborator during World War II....
, a symbol of Czech collaboration with the Nazis. After the war, Krejčí was sentenced to a 25-year prison term and subsequently died while in prison.