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The Enigma of the Gajda Affair in Czechoslovak Politics in 1926

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Jonathan Zorach
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Extract

While historians have studied Pilsudski’s coup d’état in Poland extensively, histories of interwar Eastern Europe either totally ignore or make only guarded references to an alleged attempted coup in Czechoslovakia in the same year under the aegis of the prominent general and former Russian legionary, Radola Gajda (1892-1948). In 1926, Gajda, the acting chief of staff of the Czechoslovak Army, was removed from his post to be tried and convicted for having committed several treasonable offenses against the Czechoslovak state. Historians agree that Gajda harbored Fascist political sympathies—as after his dismissal from the army, he became the leader of the “National Fascist Community” (Národnί obec fašistická or NOF), the small Czech Fascist movement—but no one has written in detail about Gajda’s career in the army before 1926. Two older accounts of Czechoslovak politics by Ferdinand Peroutka and Harry Klepetář briefly discuss the sensational scandal surrounding Gajda, and several Communist historians have asserted that Gajda reached an agreement with the Slovak leader Vojtech (Béla) Tuka to carry out a coup against the government during the 1926 Sokol gymnastic congress.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 683 - 698
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1976

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References

1. On Pilsudski's coup, see Joseph, Rothschild, Pilsudski's Coup d'Etat (New York, 1966).Google Scholar

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8. Gajda admitted this to an American officer who was studying in France at the time. Letter of Colonel Arthur Budd to A.C. of S., G-2, March 17, 1939. Records of the United States War Department (hereafter cited as US WD), National Archives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 2494-214.

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13. See Tomáš Pasák, “K promblematice NOF v letech hospodárske krize na pocatku tficátych let” [On the Problems of the NOF in the Years of the Economic Crisis in the Beginning of the 1930s], Sbornik historicity, 13 (1965), p. 96 (hereafter cited as Pasak).

14. Thunig-Nittner, pp. 232-35.

15. Alena Gajanová, “Gesky fasismus” [Czech Fascism] in Prispevky k dejinám fasizmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku [Contributions to the History of Fascism in Czechoslovakia and Hungary] (Bratislava, 1969), p. 69.

16. See Erik Polak, “K otazce rozpadu vsenarodni koalice a nastoleni vlady mezinarodni burzoazie v ceskoslovensku v letech 1925-1926” [On the Question of the Disintegration of the Government of the Multi-National Coalition and the Installation of the Government of the International Bourgeoisie in Czechoslovakia in the Years 1925— 1926], Ceskoslovensky casopis historicky, 9, no. 1 (1961): 17-41. On the 1926 crisis, see Dusan Uhlif, “Republikanska strana lidu zemedelskeho a malorolnickeho ve vlade panske koalice” [The Republican Party of the Agrarian and Small Peasant People in the Cabinet of the Gentlemen's Coalition], Ccskoslovcnsky casopis hisloricky, 18, no. 2-3 (1970): 195-236.

17. Cf. the comments about Benes in the report enclosed in Le Général Faucher à M. le Ministre de la Guerre, le 16 juillet 1926, no. 562/cab., SHA: SC, Carton 3 on Czechoslovakia (hereafter cited as T-3).

18. The French minister observed that the formation of the cabinet of experts was accompanied by a degeneration of the political struggle into a free-for-all of personal attacks: Gajda calumniated his detractors, Klofàc produced a medical certificate in parliament alleging the partial paralysis and nervous breakdown of Stfibrny, Benes published the details of Stfibrny's personal finances, and Masaryk imprudently attacked the National Democrats in a newspaper interview. See M. Couget (Ministre de France a Prague) a M. Briand, le 13 septembre 1926, Records of the French Foreign Ministry (hereafter cited as MAE), Quai d'Orsay, Paris, European series, Czechoslovakia, no. 9 (hereafter cited as T-9).

19. Chef Mission a Guerre, le 19 mars 1926, SHA: SC, T-3.

20. Koch an Auswirtiges Amt, den 8. Marz 1926, Microcopy T-120 (Records of the German Foreign Ministry), roll 447, U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

21. Reinebeck an Auswartiges Amt, den 30. April 1926, ibid.

22. Klepetàf, p. 240, quotes a short excerpt from the debate.

23. “Le fascisme tchechoslovaque et Parmee, ” le 23 mai 1926, no. 2831/cab., SHA: SC, T-3.

24. Einstein to secretary of state, May 28, 1926, Records of the U.S. Department of State (hereafter cited as USSD), 860f.00f/l.

25. “Le fascisme tchéchoslovaque et l'armée”; Peroutka, vol. 5, pp. 2820-21, quotes an excerpt of Bechyne's attack on Gajda.

26. Václav Pesa, “K otázce pocátku fasistickeho hnuti v ceskych zemich” [On the Question of the Beginning of the Fascist Movement in the Czech Lands], Casopis Matice moravske, 72 (19S3): 240.

27. “Le fascisme tchechoslovaque et l'armee.”

28. Conversation of Benes quoted in Libuse Otáhalová and Milada Cervinková, eds., Dokumenty z historic ceskoslovenske politiky, 1939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Politics, 1939-1943], vol. 1 (hereafter cited as Otáhalová and Cervinková) (Prague, 1966), p. 400.

29. Gajanova, “Cesky fasismus, ” p. 71; cf. Gajanova's comment in the symposium Fasismus a Evropa [Fascism and Europe], vol. 1 (Prague, 1971), p. 71.

30. Major Oldfield to Sir George Clerk, July 22, 1926, D/19, enclosure in Sir George Clerk to Sir Austin Chamberlain, July 22, 1926, F.O. C 8296/32/12.

31. Einstein to secretary of state, July 13, 1926, USSD 860f.22/15.

32. Gazette de Prague, September 8, 1926.

33. Einstein to secretary of state, November 2, 1936, USSD 860f.22/lS.

34. Otáhalová and Cervinková, vol. 1, p. 400.

35. M. Roux á M. Briand, le 13 juillet 1927, no. 12, MAE, T-9.

36. Note de M. Corbin, le 12 Janvier 1927, ibid.

37. Czechoslovakia and the USSR had no formal diplomatic relations in 1926, but the two countries had exchanged low-level diplomatic personnel since 1920, when trade missions were established in Prague and Moscow. On the French reaction to Soviet statements, see M. Couget a M. Briand, le 13 juillet 1926, no. 173, MAE, T-9.

38. The Soviets especially resented Gajda for his conduct in Siberia during World War I; a concise Soviet view of Gajda may be found in the Bol'shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia [The Great Soviet Encyclopedia], vol. 14 (Moscow, 1929), p. 306.

39. Pesa, “K otazce pocatku fasistickeho hnuti v ceskych zemich, ” p. 236.

40. See Peters, Ihor Andrianovych, Chekhoslovatsko-sovetskie otnosheniia, 1918-1934 [Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations, 1918-1934] (Kiev, 1965), p. 222.Google Scholar

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42. M. de Seguin á M. Briand, le 8 novembre 1927, MAE, T-9; Einstein to secretary of state, March 8, 1927, USSD 860f.22/22.

43. Einstein to secretary of state, February 16, 1928, USSD 860f.22/26; Gittings (Charge a.i.) to secretary of state, November 5, 1927, USSD 860f.22/24.

44. Sir George Clerk to Sir Austin Chamberlain, October 6, 1926, no. 288, F.O. C 10842/83/12.

45. Ibid.

46. Gittings to secretary of state, November S, 1927, USSD 860f.22/24.

47. Sir George Clerk to Sir Austin Chamberlain, October 6, 1926, no. 288, F.O. C 10842/83/12.

48. Snejdárek was a Czech who joined the French Foreign Legion before the First World War. When the Czechoslovak legion in France was formed, he was transferred to it; he then returned to Czechoslovakia as a member of the French military mission. A close associate of Mittelhauser, he disliked Russian legionaries such as Gajda and Syrovy, whom he regarded as unprofessional soldiers and amateurs.

49. Le Général Faucher á M. le Ministre de France á Prague, le 11 février 1928, MAE, T-9.

50. Ibid.

51. Gajanová, Dvoji tvdr, p. 195.

52. Otáhalová and Cervinková, vol. 1, pp. 400-401.

53. Klepetár, pp. 237-38.

54. Juraj, Kramer, Iredenta a separatismus v slovenskej politike [Iredenta and Separatism in Slovak Politics] (Bratislava, 1957), pp. 132–33 Google Scholar. See also Kramer, , Slovenske autonomisticke hnutie v rokoch 1918-1929 [The Slovak Autonomist Movement in the Years 1918-1929] (Bratislava, 1962), p. 343–47.Google Scholar

55. Tuka was arrested, tried, and convicted in 1929 on charges of treason and espionage. As a condition of his release from prison, Minister of Justice Ivan Dérer had Tuka write a confession, which was then read into the Czechoslovak parliamentary debates. Dérer felt an almost pathological hatred for Tuka, and he published all the evidence of Tuka's unlawful activity he could find.

56. Quoted in Dérer, Ivan, Slovensky vyvoj a lud'ackd srada [Slovak Development and the People's Party's Betrayal] (Prague, 1946), pp. 61–62 Google Scholar. Also see Karol, Sidor, Slovenska politika na pode prazského snemu [Slovak Politics in the Prague Parliament], vol. 2 (Bratislava, 1943), p. 211 Google Scholar. Gajda was not an issue at Tuka's trial. See, for example, J., Smida, The Tuka Trial (Bratislava, 1930).Google Scholar

57. Pesa, “K otazce pocatku fasistickeho hnuti v ceskych zemich, ” pp. 247-48. Gajanova, Dvoji tvdf, pp. 42-44, cites the mutually contradictory evidence of Kramer and Pesa but fails to account for the differences between the two.

58. “Czechoslovakia, Annual Report, 1928, ” F.O. C 2322/2322/12.

59. The lack of clear evidence was illustrated by Benes's own admission that he had difficulty discrediting Gajda. See Otahalova and Cervinkova, vol. 1, pp. 400-401.

60. See Pasak, pp. 120-25.

61. Sbirka sakonu a nafiseni statu ceskoslovenkeho [Sammlung der Gesetse und Verordnungen des cechoslovakischen Staates]. The law was supplemented by Decree 67 of May 28, 1927.

62. Sir George Clerk to Sir Austin Chamberlain, September IS, 1926, no. 272, F.O. C 10228/374/12.

63. Central European Observer, December 9, 1927.

64. Le General Faucher a M. le Ministre de la Guerre, no. 647, enclosure in Le Ministre de France a Prague a M. le Ministre des Affaires-Etrangeres, le 10 mai 1927, no. 205; Le General Faucher a M. le Ministre de la Guerre, no. 663/cab., MAE, T-9.

65. On Podhajsky, see Eglin to War Department, August 23, 1926, USWD 2494- 157/2.

66. Major Oldfield to Sir George Clerk, July 22, 1926, no. D/19, enclosure in Sir George Clerk to Sir Austin Chamberlain, July 22, 1926, no. 226, F.O. C 8296/83/12.

67. Mr. Keeling to Sir Austin Chamberlain, January 19, 1938, no. 13, F.O. C 442/ 365/12.

68. See Necasek, Frantisek et al., eds., Dokumenty o protilidove a protinarodni politics T. G. Masaryka [Documents on the Anti-People and Anti-Nation Politics of T. G. Masaryk] (Prague, 1953), no. 49.Google Scholar