30 November 1938 Emil Hácha elected President

The obedient civil servant Emil Hácha bowed to the authorities of the Czech political scene at a time when no one was too eager for the presidency. After the cession of large border areas to Hitler's Germany in early October 1938, the situation in the country was difficult.

Hácha never wanted to become president, but because he had been a high-ranking official of the Czechoslovak state for many years, holding the post of SupremeHe finally accepted the presidency in 1938 out of a kind of respect for the Czech political representation of the time, which agreed on his candidacy.

"For him, however, accepting the presidency was primarily a national duty, determined by the so-called higher interests of the state. Emil Hácha's presidential mandate is an example of the tragic consummation of a life in turmoil," writes Vladimír Liška in his book Presidents.

Hácha, an obedient civil servant, bowed to the authorities of the Czech political scene at a time when no one much desired the presidency. After the cession of large border areas to Hitler's Germany in early October 1938, the situation in the country was difficult, with thousands of people travelling inland.Czech refugees had to be taken care of, and the security situation deteriorated after the German seizure of the border forts.

"The economic situation in post-Monarch Czechoslovakia had wavered and considerable efforts had to be made to stabilise it. Emil Hácha's entry into the hard-pressed post-Monarch Czechoslovakia was hardly to be envied, although there were others other candidates, such as Jan Antonín Bata, the head of Živnobanka Jaroslav Preiss, the historian Josef Šusta and others. Even former president Edvard Beneš sent a letter to Hácha from his English exile, in which he not only congratulated him on his electionbut also acknowledged that the new head of state had some difficult tasks ahead of him," Liška adds.

Hácha came from Trhové Sviny from the family of a tax clerk. Two boys were born to the Háchas, the elder of whom, Emil, was already an outstanding pupil at the municipal school and at the age of ten became a student at the Catholic grammar school in České Budějovice. He showed unusual talent in the study of foreign languages. He learned English, German and mastered French. In these languages he was able to read books in the original. After graduating from high school, he went to Prague, where he studied at the Faculty of Law of Charles University.

Hácha died on 27 June 1945 in the prison hospital at Pankrác, where he had been taken after being arrested at the Lány castle on the orders of Václav Nosek.

Vladimír Liška, Presidents, Ivan Kazimour, Edvard Beneš without adoration