Josef Kalfus and the trial of the so-called "Protectoral Government"

This paper deals with Josef Kalfus and his participation in the trial of the so-called Protectoral Government. The finance minister Kalfus and his four colleagues - cabinet members in the days of the Nazi occupation of the Czech Lands - were committed for trial about a year after the end of the Second World War. It was one of the biggest political legal proces ses in Czech history. The trial began on April 29th , 1946 and the sentence was pas sed on the last day of July In 1946. Even though the court was under considerable political pressure (especially the communists were exerting pressure on senate), in the end nobody was sentenced to death. The Minister of Agriculture Adolf Hrubý was condemned to life imprisonment; the Minister of Justice Jaroslav Krejčí was given a 25-year sentence, the Minister of the lnterior Richard Bienert 3-year sentence, the Transport Minister Jindřich Kamenický 5-year sentence. The former minister Josef Kalfus was found guilty, however he was absolved from punishment. The court admitted that he cooperated with the Czech resistance on territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and supported the Czechoslovaks in exile