Miloš Klika

Miloš Klika (3 April 1890 – 21 August 1962)^[1] was a Czech physician, fencer, and resistance figure. A urologist and professor of medicine, he competed in the individual épée and sabre events at the 1912 Summer Olympics, representing Bohemia.^[2]

During World War II, Klika played a central role in the Czechoslovak resistance as a close associate of Protectorate Prime Minister Alois Eliáš. He is best known for his involvement in the so-called chlebíčková aféra (Sandwich Affair) of September 1941, in which he used his medical expertise to prepare bacterially contaminated food that was served to collaborationist journalists, killing one of them.^[3][4]

Klika was born in Prague into a prominent medical family; his father was a physician, one of the first hygienists of the City of Prague, and a Prague city councillor.^[5] His father was also the first chairman of the Czech Scout organisation, as a close friend of Antonín Benjamin Svojsík, the founder of Czechoslovak scouting.^[5]

Klika studied medicine at the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University.^[5] He became one of the first professors of urology in Czechoslovakia, teaching at Masaryk University in Brno.^[5] In 1919, owing to his knowledge of Hungarian gained during World War I service on the eastern front, he was among a group of Czech physicians sent to Bratislava to take over the Slovak State Hospital from Hungarian administrators following the establishment of Czechoslovakia.^[5] He subsequently practised as a urologist in Prague, where he also maintained a private clinic.^[5]

Klika represented Bohemia in fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, competing in the individual épée and sabre events.^[1][2] Bohemia sent thirteen fencers to the 1912 Games.^[1]

Klika was a close personal friend and physician of General Alois Eliáš, who served as Prime Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 1939. Although nominally heading the Protectorate government, Eliáš secretly maintained contact with the Czechoslovak government-in-exile and domestic resistance organisations such as Obrana národa.^[4] As early as 1940, Klika and Eliáš together planned the assassination of Karl Hermann Frank, the senior SS and police leader in the Protectorate, using biological agents, though this plan was not carried out.^[6] Klika is considered the originator of the concept of eliminating leading Nazi figures through bacteriological means.^[6]

Klika also provided cover for Eliáš's resistance activities by falsifying medical records at his private urology clinic, fabricating diagnoses such as fictitious kidney stones on X-rays to justify the Prime Minister's frequent visits, which were in reality used for clandestine meetings.^[5]

In September 1941, a group of seven leading collaborationist journalists—known as the aktivistická sedmička (activist seven)—intensified their campaign against the Protectorate government, demanding greater support for pro-Nazi policies. The group included Karel Lažnovský, Vladimír Krychtálek, Jaroslav Křemen, Emanuel Vajtauer, Karel Werner, Vladimír Ryba, and Václav Crha.^[6]

On 18 September 1941, Eliáš agreed to receive the journalists at the Prime Ministry offices. Before the meeting, he brought five open-faced sandwiches (chlebíčky) topped with spread and sardines to Klika's medical office. Using a syringe, Klika injected each sardine with cultures of typhus and tuberculosis bacteria, and into one sardine he additionally injected botulinum toxin dissolved in water.^[4][3] The poison was injected beneath the surface so it would not be visible and so Eliáš would not contaminate himself while serving. At the meeting, Eliáš placed the contaminated sandwiches at individual place settings marked with name cards, while a separate platter of uncontaminated food was placed in the centre of the table.^[6][7]

Within days, four of the seven journalists fell ill. Three recovered, but Karel Lažnovský, aged 35, was hospitalised with typhoid at the Vinohrady Hospital and died on 10 October 1941.^[6][4] His death coincided with the arrival of Reinhard Heydrich as the new Reich Protector, who declared a state of emergency and ordered mass arrests of resistance figures, including Eliáš, who was tried and ultimately executed in June 1942.

The Gestapo investigated both Eliáš and Klika but was unable to prove their involvement. A special commission established by the Reich Criminal Police Office in February 1942 formally rejected any connection between Eliáš and the poisoning.^[6][7] The Nazi authorities gave Lažnovský a state funeral and renamed the embankment on the Vltava in Nové Město after him (today Rašínovo nábřeží).^[8]

The affair became publicly known only decades later, when Klika's own written account emerged. In his notes, Klika recorded: "I performed the infection of the sandwiches. Using an injection syringe, I injected into each sardine 0.5 cc of typhus and tuberculosis bacilli culture, and into one sardine 0.5 cc of botulinum toxin dissolved in water."^[9] The chlebíčková aféra is today regarded by Czech historians as a significant act of resistance carried out with the involvement of the fourth-highest official in the Protectorate.^[4]

Klika's son, Jaromír Klika (1919–2015), was also active in the resistance. In 1939, as a medical student at Charles University, the younger Klika founded the illegal resistance group Zbojník, which later merged with another group to form the Zpravodajská brigáda (Intelligence Brigade), an organisation that gathered military intelligence for transmission to London.^[5] Jaromír Klika subsequently became a urologist, following his father's profession.^[5]

• Miloš Klika at the Czech Olympic Committee (in Czech)
• Miloš Klika at Olympedia