The Beginnings of the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav Exile Governments in London during the Second World War Expectations, Possibilities, and Reality Milan Sovilj Institute for Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague Mutual contacts in exile during the Second World War were just one episode of relations between Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the 20th century. It was a very specifi c episode, as it was taking place far away from the homes of its participants, at a time when both countries were either partly occupied by or ruled by govern- ments loyal to Germany. During the interwar period, there were many things that Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia had in common (cooperation with Romania in the political-economic alli- ance of the Little Entente, various economic contacts, signifi cant cultural relations). On the other hand, there were quite a few differences in the governance system, domestic developments, and – in particular since the mid-1930s – foreign policy orientation. It was, as a matter of fact, the complex international situation at the end of the 1930s, which leading Czechoslovak and Yugoslav politicians were hardly able to infl uence, that left its mark on the termination of Czechoslovak-Yugoslav interwar relations. Contacts between the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (until its occupation) were practically limited to 6 Czech Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. VIII economic ones and, moreover, they were fully under German control,1 and rela- tions between the new Slovak State and Yugoslavia were a long way from friendly and cordial.2 In addition, early contacts were being slowly established between Czechoslovak exile bodies and Belgrade, following on the heritage of the countries’ pre-war cooperation. Although Yugoslavia was a free country at the beginning of the Second World War, its international situation was very complicated. Step by step, it was besieged by the Italian sphere of interest (starting with the occupation of Albania in April 1939); interests of the Third Reich were obvious thanks to the presence of Germans on the Yugoslav border (initially after the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938, and later after the expansion of the Tripartite Pact by additional members, Hungary and Romania in November 1940 and Bulgaria in March 1941). Owing to its diffi cult position, Yugoslavia could not and would not maintain any offi cial contacts with Czechoslovak exile representatives.3 Closer relations became reality only when leading Yugoslav representatives left for exile and after the Ger- man occupation of the country in April 1941.4 1 See SOVILJ, Milan: Československo-jugoslávské vztahy v letech 1939–1941: Od zániku Československé republiky do okupace Království Jugoslávie [Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations in 1939–1941: From the dissolution of Czechoslovakia to the occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia]. Praha, Filozofi cká fakulta Univerzity Karlovy 2016, pp. 49–120. 2 See Ibid., pp. 121–156; IDEM: Yugoslav-Slovak Relations 1939–1941, with Particular Em- phasis on Croatia. In: HOLJEVAC, Željko – HOMZA, Martin – VAŠŠ, Martin (ed.): Croatia and Slovakia: Historical Parallels and Connections (from 1780 to the Present Day). Zagreb – Bratislava, FF press 2017, pp. 134–142; NĚMEČEK, Jan: K slovensko-jugoslávským vztahům 1939–1941 [On Slovak-Yugoslav relations 1939–1941]. In: ŠESTÁK, Miroslav – VORÁČEK, Emil (ed.): Evropa mezi Německem a Ruskem: Sborník prací k sedmdesátinám Jaroslava Valenty [Europe between Germany and Russia: A collection of works on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Jaroslav Valenta]. Praha, Historický ústav AV ČR 2000, pp. 385–398; TKÁČ, Ján: Slovensko-juhoslovanské a slovensko-chorvátske vzťahy v rokoch 1939–1941 [Slovak-Yugoslav and Slovak-Croatian relations between 1939 and 1941]. In: Historický zborník, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2009), pp. 154–168; JARINKOVIČ, Martin: Slovensko a Juhoslávia v rokoch II. svetovej vojny [Slovakia and Yugoslavia in the years of the Second World War]. Banská Bystrica, Klub priateľov Múzea SNP 2012, pp. 8–63; ŠKORVANKOVÁ, Eva: Sloven- sko-juhoslovanské vzťahy v rokoch 1939–1941 [Slovak-Yugoslav relations between 1939 and 1941]. In: ŠTĚPÁNEK, Václav – MITÁČEK, Jiří (ed.): Studia Balkanica Bohemo-Slovaca, No. 7: Příspěvky přednesené na VII. mezinárodním balkanistickém sympoziu v Brně ve dnech 28.–29. listopadu 2016 [Contributions delivered at the 7th International Symposium on Bal- kan Studies in Brno, 28–29 November 2016]. Brno, Moravské zemské muzeum – Ústav slavistiky Filozofi cké fakulty Masarykovy univerzity 2017, pp. 415–427. 3 See SOVILJ, Milan: Osudové okamžiky Království Jugoslávie na jaře roku 1941 očima představitelů československého exilu [Pivotal moments for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the spring 1941 as viewed by Czechoslovak exile representatives]. In: Moderní dějiny, Vol. 25, No. 2 (2017), pp. 129–133. 4 Relations between the Czechoslovak and the Yugoslav exile governments during the Sec- ond World War have hitherto been paid scant attention by Czech (or previously Czechoslo- vak) and Yugoslav (and later Serbian) historiographers. There are several more important works which, however, do not cover the whole period of the Second World War, such as the book by German historian Detlef Brandes on the stay and activities of the Czechoslovak, Polish and Yugoslav exile governments in London, which has also been published in Czech The Beginnings of the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav Exile Governments 7 (BRANDES, Detlef: Großbritannien und seine osteuropäischen Alliierten 1939–1943: Die Regierungen Polens, der Tschechoslowakei und Jugoslawiens im Londoner Exil vom Kriegsaus- bruch bis zur Konferenz von Teheran. München, Oldenbourg 1988; in Czech: Exil v Londýně 1939–1943: Velká Británie a její spojenci Československo, Polsko a Jugoslávie mezi Mnichovem a Teheránem [The exile in London 1939–1943: Great Britain and its allies Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia between Munich and Tehran]. Praha, Univerzita Karlova – Karoli- num 2003). The same author published yet another text on a similar topic 30 years later, but he in fact only summarized his earlier fi ndings in it (IDEM: Limited Infl uence: The Brit- ish and the Governments-in-Exile of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. In: SMETA- NA, Vít – GEANEY, Kathleen (ed.): Exile in London: The Experience of Czechoslovakia and the Other Occupied Nations, 1939–1945. Praha, Univerzita Karlova – Karolinum Press 2017, pp. 12–19). Historian Branko Petranović left an important text in former Yugoslavia’s histo- riography, which mainly dealt with the attitude of the Yugoslav government to its Czecho- slovak exile counterpart (PETRANOVIĆ, Branko: Odnosi jugoslovenske i čehoslovačke vlade u emigraciji 1941–1945 godine [Relations between Yugoslav and Czechoslovak exile governments in 1941–1945]. In: Vojnoistorijski glasnik, Vol. 40, No. 3 (1990), pp. 49–71). More than 20 years had elapsed before the topic was picked up by Serbian historian Mira Radojevič, who, using Yugoslav documents, examined political attitudes (RADOJEVIĆ, Mira: Srpsko-češka saradnja tokom Drugog svetskog rata: Prilog proučavanju [Serbian- Czech cooperation during the Second World War: A contribution to the study]. In: KO- PRIVICA, Verica – KORDA-PETROVIĆ, Aleksandra – ŠTĚPÁNEK, Václav (ed.): Od Morave do Morave, Vol. 2: Iz istorije češko-srpskih odnosa / Od Moravy k Moravě, Vol. 2: Z historie česko-srbských vztahů [From Morava to Morava Vol. 2: From the history of Serbian-Czech relations]. Novi Sad – Brno, Matica srpska – Matice moravská 2011, pp. 141–159). The same authoress also wrote an extensive biography of Milan Grol, a prominent representa- tive of the Yugoslav exile government (until 1943), in which she also mentions his contacts with Czechoslovak politicians in London (RADOJEVIĆ, Mira: Milan Grol. Beograd, Filip Višnjić 2014). One of the fi rst historians to touch upon this topic in Czechoslovakia was Miro- slav Tejchman in 1984 (TEJCHMAN, Miroslav: Československo-jugoslávské vztahy v letech druhé světové války [Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations during the Second World War]. In: Slovanské historické studie, Vol. 14. Praha, Historický ústav ČSAV 1984, pp. 84–120). Later, Jiří Plachý examined different forms of military cooperation between Czechoslovak and Yugoslav exile representatives (PLACHÝ, Jiří: Československý podíl na spojenecké pomoci při výstavbě jugoslávských jednotek v letech 1944–1945: Příspěvek k československo- jugoslávským vztahům [The Czechoslovak share in the assistance of the Allies in the build- ing of Yugoslav units in 1944 and 1945: A contribution to Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations]. In: Slovanský přehled, Vol. 96, No. 1–2 (2010), pp. 161–167). A part of Jonáš Pospíchal’s very good M.A. thesis defended at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in Brno in 2015 was published as an extensive study in Slovanský přehled (POSPÍCHAL, Jonáš: Odtažitost a vyčkávání: Vztahy exilových vlád Československa a Jugoslávie v letech 1941–1943 [Wari- ness and waiting: Relations of the exile governments of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia between 1941 and 1943]. In: Ibid., Vol. 102, No. 3 (2016), pp. 451–502). Some of the au- thor’s statements concerning the Yugoslav exile representation may be too simplifi ed or questionable, but the quality of his study consists mainly in the fact that someone from the Czech environment examined, after a long time, not only Czechoslovak, but also different Yugoslav sources on Czechoslovak-Yugoslav political relations during the war exile. I also refer to some of my own works