Josef Tiso

(b. Bratislava, 13 Oct. 1887; d. Bratislava, 18 Apr. 1947) Slovak; President of Slovakia 1939 – 45 Tiso was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1910. He became involved in politics after the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 because he resented Czech domination of the new state. Together with two other priests, Hlinka and Jehlička, he founded the Slovak People's Party, which called for Slovak autonomy. Following Hlinka's death in August 1938, Tiso became leader of the party. After the Munich Agreement of September 1938 he planned in collaboration with Hitler for the dissolution of the rump of the Czechoslovak state. In October 1938 he became the premier of an autonomous Slovak government. On 14 March 1939, after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, Tiso proclaimed Slovakia an independent republic, with himself as President. In October 1939 Slovakia became a protectorate of the Third Reich. In June 1941 Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union, which lost Tiso support among Slovaks. At the end of 1944 Tiso's government was unable to control the Slovak National Rising and he called in German support. He was sentenced to death by a Czechoslovak court in April 1947. The non-Communist members of Beneš's coalition government sought a reprieve, but at the insistence of the Communists Tiso was hanged on 18 April 1947.