Emanuel Moravec | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Education of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | |
| In office January 1942 – May 1945 | |
| President | Emil Hácha |
| Prime Minister | Jaroslav Krejčí (1942–1945) Richard Bienert (1945) |
| Preceded by | Jan Kapras |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 April 1893 Prague, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 5 May 1945 (aged 52) Prague, Bohemia and Moravia |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Alma mater | War School |
| Occupation | politician, soldier, author |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Austria-Hungary (1914) Russian Empire (1915–1917) Czechoslovakia (1917–1938) |
| Branch/service | Czechoslovak Army |
| Years of service | 1914–1938 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Commands | 1st Field Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment |
Emanuel Moravec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmoravɛts]; 17 April 1893 – 5 May 1945) was a Czech army officer and writer who served as the collaborationist Minister of Education of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia between 1942 and 1945. He was also chair of the Board of Trustees for the Education of Youth, a fascist youth organisation in the protectorate.
In World War I, Moravec served in the Austro-Hungarian Army, but following capture by the Russians he changed sides to join Russian-backed Serbian forces and then the Czechoslovak Legion, which went on to fight on the side of the White Army in the Russian Civil War. During the interwar period he commanded an infantry battalion in the Czechoslovak Army. As a proponent of democracy during the 1930s, Moravec was outspoken in his warnings about the expansionist plans of Germany under Adolf Hitler and appealed for armed action rather than capitulation to German demands for the Sudetenland. In the aftermath of the German occupation of the rump Czechoslovakia, he became an enthusiastic collaborator, realigning his political worldview towards fascism. He committed suicide in the final days of World War II.
Unlike some officials of the short-lived protectorate government, whose reputations were rehabilitated in whole or in part after the war, Moravec's good reputation did not survive his tenure in office and he has been widely derided as a "Czech Quisling".