Generální velitel četnictva, Praha

After the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state in 1918, the government took over a number of institutions and organisations of the defunct Austrian monarchy, including the repressive state apparatus, which included the gendarmerie. The status of the gendarmerie under the Ministry of the Interior was determined by Act No 299 Coll. of 14 April 1920. The General Commander of the gendarmerie had already been established by a decree of the National Committee of 31 October 1918, and his main task was to supervise the discipline, training and orderly activity of the gendarmerie. The scope of his powers varied frequently and in some matters overlapped with the activities of the 13th Department of the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the management of the gendarmerie. The Reich Protector's decree on the reorganisation of all the Protectorate's police and gendarmerie units on 1 July 1942 entailed, among other things, the merger of the V (Police) Department of the Ministry of the Interior with the General Gendarmerie Headquarters and the creation of the Office of the General Commander of the uniformed Protectorate Police (Generalkommandant der uniformierten Protektoratspolizei). The gendarmerie in the pre-war Czechoslovak Republic was a militarily organised security force to maintain public order and security throughout Czechoslovakia. It was also responsible for controlling the borders and sending illegal emigrants from Nazi Germany, including Jews, back to Germany. After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the gendarmes were entrusted with the function of auxiliary police, among other things, they accompanied transports of Czech and Moravian Jews from various places to the Terezín ghetto and served as camp and prison guards.