Board of Commissioners (Slovak executive body)
Encyclopedia
Board of Commissioners was an executive body of Slovak National Council
Slovak National Council
The Slovak National Council is the name of different types of supreme bodies in the history of Slovakia. They existed within the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia or the Slovak Republic or were bodies of Slovak exiles:...

.

Creation

In 1943 two Slovak National Council
Slovak National Council
The Slovak National Council is the name of different types of supreme bodies in the history of Slovakia. They existed within the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia or the Slovak Republic or were bodies of Slovak exiles:...

s were created. One was created abroad and was a body of Slovak exiles, renamed in 1948 to Slovak National Council Abroad, until terminated in 1960.

The second one was an illegal body created as a rebellious organisation against clerofascist
Clerical fascism
Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...

 regime in first Slovak Republic, this body is also predecessor of current Slovak parliament
National Council of the Slovak Republic
The National Council of the Slovak Republic , abbreviated to NR SR, is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral, and consists of 150 MPs, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation every four years....

. At the time of its creation it exercised legislative, executive and judicial powers and therefore members of the Council issued direction which created Board of Commissioners as of September 1, 1944 in order to shift the executive powers.

Organisation

First two Boards were headed by the Presidium of Slovak National Council and agenda was administered by the Office of the Presidium of Board of Commissioners. The number of commissioners varied through its existence from 9 (in the First Board) to 17 (in the Eleventh Board). Their seat was in Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...

 and the bodies carried on work until October 23, 1944. End of the Second Board had connection with Slovak National Uprising
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...

.

The body was reinstalled on February 2, 1945, when Third Board was created . It had 10 members. Fourth and Fifth Board (which ended his function on September 18) had 12 commissioners. This Boards had their seats in Košice
Košice
Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...

 and later in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

.

After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the Sixth Board was created and a lot of changes were put in practise. The members were not elected anymore, but they were appointed on a parity basis. Commissioners were chosen from representatives of Democratic Party
Democratic Party (Slovakia)
The Democratic Party was a political party in Slovakia. When it was founded in late 1989 , it saw itself a continuation of the historical Democratic Party....

 and Communist Party
Communist Party of Slovakia (1939)
The Communist Party of Slovakia was a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in March 1939, when the Slovak Republic was created, as the Slovak branches of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia were separated from the mother party...

. Another turnover was that there were established a presidentship (leader was newly a single person). First president was Karol Šmidke
Karol Šmidke
Karol Šmidke was a Slovak politician, member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.Smidke was Co-President of the Presidium of the Slovak National Council 5 September - ? 23 October 1944, Co-Speaker of the Slovak National Council 14 September 1945 - 26 February 1948, Acting Speaker from 26...

 (September 18, 1945-August 14, 1946).

The powers of Board were restricted on June 27, 1946 by Third Prague Agreement. The reason was a landslide victory of democrats in present-day Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

. After reconstitution of Czechoslovakia
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...

 and landslide victory of communists in present-day Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 it was necessary for communist to stop all democratic attempts in Slovakia. The agreement stated also that Board of Commissioners would be under control of Czechoslovak government. This events became one of the reasons of frustration of Slovaks in common state.

After elections in 1946 Slovak National Council created new Boards (seventh and eight) on August 14, 1946 led by Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák was a Slovak politician, president of Czechoslovakia and a long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia...

. Form of the body was determined by Government Programme of Košice. Czechoslovakia was a unitary state where were two major nations (Czechs
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 and Slovaks). The Board was supposed to be some kind of Slovak government. Gustáv Husák is considered to be former quasi Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 of Slovak part of the republic. The limited powers remained in existence. There were 13 commissioners in this body.

Creation showed asymmetry in executive as there was not any similar body for Czechs. After Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 – in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" – was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades...

 communist Board president Gustáv Husák suspended all democrats in the Board (though they were legally elected) and changed the body into communist. Ninth Board (entirely occupied by communist) was created on March 6, 1946 with 12 commissioners. Soon it was replaced by the Tenth Board with 13 members in office from June 1948 to December 1954. In this Board a new leader was appointed in May 1950, namely Karol Bacílek, succeeded by Július Ďuriš in September 1951 who was succeeded by Rudolf Strechaj in January 1953. Rudolf Strechaj was president of Eleventh and Twelfth Board as well.

Abolition

The powers of Board were gradually more and more restricted, although the number of commissioners increased: the Eleventh Board had 17 and the Twelfth (the last one) had 15 members. On July 11, 1960, a new Constitution of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....

was adopted and Board of Commissioners was entirely abolished.
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