Košice government

Košice government, pro-Soviet Czechoslovak provisional government that inaugurated far-reaching socialist programs during the single year of its rule after World War II and made way for the eventual Communist domination of Czechoslovakia.

Appointed by Edvard Beneš, the former president of prewar Czechoslovakia and the head of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during the war, the government was formed at Košice, in Slovakia, on April 3, 1945. Its premier was the pro-Soviet Zdeněk Fierlinger, a former diplomat who had represented the Czechoslovak government in Moscow; its cabinet contained ministers from four Czech and two Slovak political parties. The seven Communist ministers of the Košice government, however, not only formed the largest group from a single party but also controlled the key ministries of interior, agriculture, finance, education, and information.

After the Košice government assumed control of the liberated Czechoslovak lands, it organized people’s committees to function as local governments and also developed a distinctly pro-Soviet foreign policy, on the basis of which it obtained the Teschen district from Poland (through Soviet intervention) but ceded sub-Carpathian Ruthenia to the Soviet Union. In addition, it approved the nationalization of key industries, power plants and networks, banks, and other financial, credit, and insurance institutions.

After parliamentary elections were held in May 1946, the Košice government, whose activities had increased the Communists’ popularity, was succeeded by a new government, whose Communist premier, Klement Gottwald, retained many of the Communist ministers who had served in the Košice government.