Long-awaited Masaryk letter opened at Lány Chateau

Experts opened a long-sealed letter by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first Czechoslovak president, at the Lány Chateau on Friday. The five-page note, almost entirely written in English, contains Masaryk’s reflection that “if people are uneducated and foolish, there is little that can be done.”

The letter, reportedly dictated to his son Jan, also acknowledges Masaryk’s awareness of his approaching death and gives instructions for organizing his funeral.

Although it was previously thought to have been written shortly before Masaryk’s death in 1937, experts say it was likely drafted in the summer of 1934. The letter was handed to the National Archive on September 19, 2005, by Jan Masaryk’s secretary, Antonín Sum, with instructions to keep it sealed for another 20 years.