"Karl Kramar was born on 27 December 1860 at Vysoke nad Jizerou. He studied law in Prague, Berlin, and in Strassburg, and national economy and sociology at Paris. From 1890, Kramar was Young Czech party member, 1890-1915 member of parlianment in Vienna. As a russophil and pan-slavist, he organised two Pan-slav Congresses (Prague in 1908, Sophia in 1910).
On hearing of the murder of Franz Ferdinand, Kramar made the public statement: "The attempt was murder, which everyone must condemn." In the era of assassins, Kramar was not about to be labeled one of their supporters. But as one of the heads of Czech national resistance (the so-called Mafia), Kramar was arrested in 1915, and sentenced to death in 1916. Following the coronation, Kaiser Karl granted Kramar amnesty and also his fellow resistance member Alois Rasin; other prisoners were released from their captivity on 2 July 1917; on the same day, the Czech Legion scored a notable success against the Austrians under FML Eduard Böltz at Zborow. The Austrians managed to suppress all communiques concerning the action within the Empire, but the Germans printed it in their papers, thus severely undermining Austrian control over the Czechs.
"Karl Kramar wanted a Czech monarchy associated with tsarist Russia. He dreamed about a pan-slavic Empire consisting of Russia, Poland, the Czech lands, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro. Kramar planned to join Higher Hungary (including Visegrad and Budapest!), Lausitz, and Kladsko (Glatz county in Silesia) to Czechia, and to join northern Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slovenian regions to Serbia. He supposed Russian should be the official language for this empire.
"Note: Originally, Czechs wanted to democratise Austria-Hungary, but during the war, Masaryk decided to work for an independent Czechoslovak national state. He managed to persuade President Wilson about the need for a new organisation of Central Europe. The Czechoslovak state was to be a barrier between Russia and Germany.
"During revolution October days in 1918, Kramar was member of Narodni vybor (National Comittee), which took power in Prague. After WWI, he established right wing party Ceskoslovenska (Czechoslovak National Democracy). He was also first prime minister of Czechoslovakia (14 November 1918 to 8 July 1919) under the presidency of Tomas Masaryk. Kramar worked as member of Czechoslovak parliament from 1919.
"Together with his wife Nadyezda (who came from Russian noble family) Kramar supported Russian emmigrants, especially the monarchists. He also help to build a Russian Orthodoxy church in Prague and Russian cultural-historical museum at Zbraslav. His strong anti- communism led him to right wing radicalism and therefore he also sympathized with fascist Italy. For the election in 1934, he even built a coalition called Narodni sjednoceni (National Union) with smaller Czech radical nationalist and fascist parties. His former family villa in Prague is the contemporal residence of the Czech Prime Minister."
Karl Kramarz died on 26 May 1937 in Prague.
GWS, 12/00
