Richard Bienert

Richard Bienert

Richard Bienert (September 5, 1881 – February 2, 1949, both in Prague) was a Czech high-ranking police officer and politician. He served as prime minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from January 19, 1945, to May 5, 1945. After the war he was sentenced to prison for collaboration with Nazis.

Career

Bienert came from the family of Prague Magistrates clerk and after he finished the studies of law at Prague University he also entered the state service. Some of his ancestors originated of German Bohemian ethnic descent which had assimilated into Czech society. Since 1906 he worked as a police official for police in Prague and in January 1918 he even became a clerk in the Presidium of the Police in Prague. During the Great War Bienert cooperated closely with Czech resistance movement and after proclamation of Czechoslovak independence in October 1918 he was rewarded with appointment to the Prague Police Director. Later in 30's he also became the Provincial President in the Land of Bohemia.

After German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 he was shortly arrested by Germans but soon released in exchange for a pledge of loyalty. In 1942, after prime minister Eliáš got arrested by Heydrich, Bienert was appointed to minister of interior under the new prime minister Jaroslav Krejčí. In 1945 Bienert replaced Krejčí in this position and at the same time also served as the substitute for seriously ill president Hácha.

In an agreement with state secretary Frank, Bienert tried to broadcast the statement on the dissolution of the Protectorate (which should be replaced by Czech puppet state still controlled by Germans) in 5. May 1945. However the same morning the Prague uprising broke out and Bienert was captured by insurgents.

After the end of World War II, Bienert was tried for treason and collaboration with the Nazis, but because of many mitigating circumstances he was sentenced only to three years in prison. Due to poor health, he was released prematurely in 1947, and died two years later.

Government offices
Preceded by Jaroslav Krejčí	Prime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1945	Succeeded by Zdeněk Fierlinger Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia

External links

• Biography (Czech)
• Members of Bienert's government, 19.1.1945 - 5.5.1945 at the Wayback Machine (archived May 27, 2008) (Czech)