Emanuel Moravec was a decorated Czechoslovak colonel, military writer, and outspoken opponent of Nazi Germany who urged President Edvard Beneš to resist Hitler during the Munich Crisis of 1938.

After the German occupation of the Czech lands in March 1939, however, Moravec took a radically different path. Once a defender of Czechoslovakia, he became one of the country’s most notorious Nazi collaborators. Supported by Reinhard Heydrich, he was appointed Minister of Education and National Enlightenment, promoted cooperation with the Third Reich, embraced Nazi propaganda, and sought to bring Czech youth closer to Germany.

Hated as the “Czech Quisling,” Moravec remained loyal to the occupation regime until its final days. When the Prague Uprising erupted on 5 May 1945, the former colonel faced his final reckoning.