born Nov. 27, 1921, Uhrovec, Czech.
died Nov. 7, 1992, Prague
Czech politician.
In World War II he took part in the underground resistance to Nazi occupation. After the war he rose in Communist Party ranks to become a member of the Presidium of the party's Central Committee (1962). In 1968 he forced Antonín Novotný (190475) to resign and replaced him as head of the Communist Party. He introduced liberal reforms in the brief period known as the Prague Spring , which ended when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Demoted to lesser posts, he was expelled from the party in 1970. He returned to prominence in 1989 after the Communist Party had given up its monopoly on power, and was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.