Přehled o publikaci

Jindřich Bechinie came from an old but impoverished noble family of the Bechyňs from Lažany. Of his four grandparents only his paternal grandfather was a nobleman, and only one of his four siblings married into a noble family. Moreover, Bechinie’s father committed suicide during Jindřich’s childhood. In this respect, therefore, he was an exceptional representative of his estate. During the First World War, Bechinie fought in the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian Army on both the Russian and Italian fronts and reached the lowest officer rank. After the end of the war and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, he decided to remain in the armed forces and applied to join the newly formed Czechoslovak Army. At the same time, Czechoslovakia took a very reserved attitude towards the nobility – seen as one of the mainstays of the monarchy. Therefore, nobles were virtually absent among its elites. The army was no exception. During the 1920s, all noble generals taken over from the Austro-Hungarian Army were retired. Nevertheless, Jindřich Bechinie was not only accepted into the Czechoslovak army, but even served as an active officer until the end of the 1930s. He was the only identified representative of the upper nobility so far. His aforementioned “plebeianisation” probably played a role in this. On the other hand, Bechinie’s “Austrianness” and noble origins may have been behind his stunted career in the 1930s. This was even though he was evaluated positively in all his reports and there was never even a shadow of doubt about his loyalty to the Czechoslovak Republic. In March 1939 Bechinie took part in the defence of Slovakia against Hungarian aggression. After the end of the so-called Small War, he remained in the army of the newly formed Slovak State. This was probably due to the lack of qualified artillery officers of Slovak nationality. During his more than a year of service he received an excellent report. During 1940, however, his involvement in the Slovak Army ended, probably because of his Czech nationality. Bechinie then settled in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, in the West Bohemian metropolis of Pilsen. As in the previous cases, when the political situation changed radically, Bechinie was able to adapt quickly and decided to serve the fourth regime. He obtained Reich citizenship and became a member of the Sturmabteilung. His family also adopted the ideas of National Socialism. Bechinie’s collaboration led to a complete estrangement with close and distant relatives, some of whom did not survive the Nazi persecution. The fall of the “Third Reich” was not survived by Jindřich Bechinie himself.