Štefan Osuský (Stephen Osusky)

Chronology

1889 March 31. Born in Brezová pod Bradlom, Slovakia.

1906 Emmigrated to the United States

1908-1910 Studied theology in Springfield, Illinois

1914 Earned a Ph.D. degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of Chicago

1915 Received his law degree from the University of Chicago and opened his own practice in Chicago

1915 April Chaired a joint meeting of Chicago Czechs and Slovaks and engaged himself zealously in the movement for a Czechoslovak state

1915 September 23 Appointed Slovak Secretary at the first conference of the Slovak League in Cleveland

1916 February 22 Elected vice-president at a convocation of the Slovak League in Chicago, and was chosen along with Gustav Košík to travel to Europe in order to influence the Czech National Council established in Paris. Meeting with Edvard Beneš in Paris, Osuský succeeded in changing the organization's name to “National Czecho-Slovak Council”

1917-1918 Ran the Czechoslovak Information Office in Geneva, Switzerland, writing articles for the Allied press. Met with prominent figures in the national liberation movements, and dealt with German and Austrian agents like Heinrich Lammasch and Frederich Hertz

1918 September - 1921 January Czechoslovak Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain

1919 January - 1920 Attended the Paris Peace Conference as Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Delegation, and became a Delegate a few months later. Negotiated and signed his country's peace treaties with Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Was one of the signers of the Treaty of Trianon negotiated between Hungary and the Allied Powers on June 4, 1920

1919 November - 1932 Czechoslovak representative in the Reparations Commission of the League of Nations. For a period of four years, also represented Greece, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia

1919-1937 Czechoslovak Delegate in the Assembly of the League of Nations

1921 January - 1940 June Czechoslovak Minister Plenipotentiary to France

1923-1937 Chairman of the Supervisory Commission of the League of Nations

1934 Awarded the Karlík Prize (the Czechoslovak equivalent of the Nobel prize) for “exceptional services rendered to Czechoslovakia”

1936-1939 Lectured at Charles University in Prague

1939 March 16 Refused to surrender the Czechoslovak Legation in Paris to the Germans after Hitler's occupation of Prague on March 15, 1939, and succeeded in maintaining his official position as Czechoslovak envoy, although bereft of both government and country

1939 October 2 Signed a treaty with the French Government regarding the formation/reconstruction of the Czechoslovak Army in France

1939 November 17 Appointed by Beneš to the newly formed Czechoslovak National Committee in Paris. Issued a mobilization order to Czechoslovak citizens residing in France, which resulted in the formation of two Czechoslovak infantry regiments (these, together with several hundred airmen, constituted a Czechoslovak army on French soil)

1940 June After the fall of France, Osuský arranged for the transportation to England of several thousands of those troops and fled to London

1940 July - 1942 March Minister of State of the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile

1940 October 12 Appointed member of the State Council in London

1942 March 31 Removed from his post of Minister of State because of disagreements with Beneš's anti-Slovak and pro-Russian policies

1942 April 12 Resigned his post in the State Council

1942 Lectured at Oxford

1942-1945 Wrote numerous articles about Beneš and his Provisional Government

1943 Vice-president of the ‘Never Again’ Association

1945 September Moved to the United States

1945 September - 1946 Went on an extensive lecture tour of the United States

1946-1950 Visiting Professor of European Civilization and Culture at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York

1949-1960 Ran Mid-European Law Project of the National Committee for a Free Europe (reports on changes in communist states)

1949-1973 Broadcast for Radio Free Europe and Voice of America
Engaged in anti-communist movement activities

1949 February Co-founder and Chairman (later President) of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia

1950-1962 Advisor, National Committee for a Free Europe

1952-1973 Member, International Commission of Jurists

1952 November? Founder of the Council of Free Jurists from Countries Behind the Iron Curtain

1954? Chairman, Council of Europe - European Political Community Member, International Association of Democratic Lawyers Founding member, Association of Captive European Nations

1968 February Judge, Court of World Public Opinion - International Communism on Trial

1973 September 27 Died, Washington, D.C.

Finding Aid, Register of the Štefan Osuský papers,
Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2003, 2014.