Beneš, Edvard

(born May 28, 1884, Kozlany, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died Sept. 3, 1948, Sezimovo Ústí, Czech.) Czechoslovakian statesman. A disciple of Tomáš Masaryk, Beneš was a founder of modern Czechoslovakia. He served as its first foreign minister (1918–35) and its president (1935–38). Forced to capitulate to Adolf Hitler's demands over the Sudetenland, he resigned. He headed the Czech government-in-exile in England (1940–45), then reestablished a government on his native soil in 1945. Recognizing the need to cooperate with the Soviet Union, he nevertheless refused to sign a new communist constitution and resigned in 1948 shortly before his death.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica