Czech police reopen Jan Masaryk death case over new evidence

Czech police have reopened the case of former Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk's death, now investigating it as a possible murder. Masaryk fell from a window in Prague’s Czernin Palace on 10 March 1948 and the official version was that he committed suicide. However, newly obtained diplomatic archives from France, the U.S., and the U.K. suggest otherwise, prompting the Office for Documentation and Investigation of Crimes of Communism (ÚDV) to revisit the case.

Past investigations, including one between 2001 and 2003, leaned toward assassination, but failed to rule out suicide or an accident. The last probe was closed in 2021 without a definitive conclusion. Police now aim to compare the new evidence with existing findings to uncover long-elusive answers.

Author: Ruth Fraňková