President Masaryk’s “final words” turn out to be a message to his foreign minister Beneš

Archivists have determined that the document long believed to contain the final words of Czechoslovakia’s first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, was in fact a message intended for then–foreign minister Edvard Beneš dictated to the president’s son Jan Masaryk at the end of August 1934. The finding, based on expert content analysis, was presented at a press briefing at Lany Chateau on Wednesday, several weeks after the sealed letter was ceremoniously opened before the eyes of the public.

Gravely ill, Masaryk abdicated in December 1935 and was succeeded by Beneš as head of state. He died on 14 September 1937. A scanned version of the document, written mainly in English and translated into Czech, can be viewed on the website www.tajemnaobalka.cz