* February 25, 1903, Warsaw (today Kalinčiakovo) + February 20, 1981, Bratislava
"I financed the Slovak National Uprising." This is the title of a document that was recently broadcast on STV 2. A documentary about the life and fate of an important person in Slovak history, about a person whose work provided economic and financial support for the SNP. We are talking about Imrich Karvaš - the first governor of the National Bank of Slovakia.[/I]
Imrich Karvaš was born into a subnotary's family. His mother worked as a housewife. His parents did not own any property. When he was 6 years old, he started attending a folk school in Pukanec. He graduated from folk school in 1913 in Holíč. This was followed by studies at the grammar school in Skalica, which he completed in 1921 with a high school diploma. At the grammar school he met Vladimír Clementis of a later communist functionary. From 1921 to 1925 he studied at the University of Bratislava where on 11 November 1925 he graduated as a doctor of law. In the years 1926-27 he undertook a study trip to Strasbourg and Paris where he studied economic problems. In the early 1930s, he went to Berlin and London, where he again addressed this issue. In 1937 he undertook another study trip, this time to the USA and Canada. However, he already went on this journey as a professor of economics at the University of Bratislava. In the USA, he lectured at universities and in Slovak regional associations. In addition, he studied the essence of Roosevelt's economic policy.
In the years 1930-1933 he was appointed secretary of the Association of Slovak Banks. From 1932 he also served as Secretary General of the Institute of National Economy of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Russia, where he worked until 1938. At the same time, he also held the position of Vice President of the Export Institute. After the announcement of the general mobilization, Imrich Karvaš joined the unit in Nitra. However, on the same day he received a telegram from Prague, in which he learned that he had been appointed Minister in General Government Syrový. He served as Minister of Industry, Trade and Trade. After the occupation of the Czech lands, he went back to Bratislava and continued lecturing at the university. On May 2, 1939, he was appointed Governor of the Slovak National Bank. His term of office was to last 6 years. Only the President of the Slovak Republic, Dr. Jozef Tiso.
Imrich Karvaš was never a member of any political party, although by law he was automatically a member of the wider HSĽS committee as a public official. However, he never sent a party application or membership fees. The collection, which took place in three collections, was used to create the gold deposit of the Slovak Republic. Mining in the Kremnica mines also helped to replenish the gold. However, the Slovak economy also lacked money from German companies, whose debt climbed to 6 billion 952 million Slovak crowns. In 1942, Karvaš presented evidence of the murder of Slovak Jews in parliament. He pointed to the violation of the agreement between Slovakia and Germany, where Slovakia paid 500 Reichsmarks for each Jew and the German side was to ensure the transfer of these people, who were to inhabit Poland. The Slovak government asked the German side to visit areas where Slovak Jews were to live. However, the Germans rejected this request. After this act, the Slovak government stopped the transports.
In 1942, Imrich Karvaš was also appointed Chairman of the Supreme Supply Office. In this capacity, he joined the Slovak National Uprising in August 1943. He managed to save 20,000 pairs of military footwear from the factory in Baťovany and also the amount of fuel hidden in tanks at the railway station in Zemianske Kostoľany. After the bombing of the Apollo refinery, he also began to move the remaining strategic supply to central Slovakia. Under the pretext of bombing Bratislava, Imrich Karvaš began transferring money from the headquarters of the National Bank to a branch in Banská Bystrica and Ružomberok.As a result of these transfers, on August 30, 1944, the amount of 3 billion 541 million 398,000 Slovak crowns. It was two thirds of the Slovak money that was used for the benefit of the insurgents. He had the remaining money and gold transferred to a bank account in Switzerland. By doing so, he prevented government officials from using money from the National Bank to flee abroad. Only the President of the Slovak Republic Jozef Tiso received 2 million of these foreign exchange before being transported to Switzerland. After the outbreak of the SNP, the money was blocked in Switzerland and was to be used only in favor of the reconstruction of Czechoslovakia.
On September 3, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo in his own apartment. He was taken for questioning to Vienna and Berlin, where he was tortured. He was sentenced to death for organizing the SNP. He was later interned in the Flossenburg, Dachau, Innsbruck and Niederdorf concentration camps. After returning from the concentration camp in 1945, he began lecturing again at the Department of Law in Bratislava. At the same time, he worked as an advisor to the Czech-Slovak government for the reconstruction of Slovakia. In the years 1946-1947, he became the dean of the Faculty of Law and also the chairman of the International Executive Committee of the Spa.
The year 1948 was fateful for him. Imrich Karvaš refused to cooperate with the Communist Party. For this he was sentenced in 1949 for high treason to 2 years in prison and for confiscation of property. He was released after a year due to health problems. In 1953, the Karvaš family had to move out of Bratislava as part of Action "B". In 1958, he was again sentenced to 17 years for high treason and espionage. He spent only two years in prison because he was released on amnesty. In 1969 he was judicially rehabilitated.
Imrich Karvaš died on February 20, 1981 of a third heart attack.
Honors: He has been awarded several awards in memoriam for his life's work, merits for democracy and human rights - year 1991, Order of T.G. Masaryk III. class - January 1, 2001, Pribin's Cross I. class Since 1998, the University of Economics in Bratislava has been awarding the Imrich Karvaš Medal
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Karvas-Imrich-t75642#278797
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