Was Jan Masaryk murdered after all? New American, British and French documents reopen investigation

Jan Masaryk
  • Was Jan Masaryk murdered after all? New American, British, and French documents reopen investigation
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Police have reopened the case of the death of former Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk who died on the eve of March 10, 1948. Originally believed to be a suicide, the Office for Documentation and Investigation of Crimes of Communism (ÚDV), a unit of the Czech Police, now suspects murder, based on newly obtained documents from the diplomatic archives of France, the United States, and Great Britain.

Photo: Vinohradská 12/iROZHLAS.cz

The Masaryk case was reopened after new documents were obtained by the Czech Foreign Ministry last August. "The aim is to compare this new information with the facts that have been established so far and uncover any new connections that could provide answers to long-unanswered questions," the police said on Tuesday after announcing the reopening of the case.

The first post-war foreign minister died after falling from the window of his apartment in the Czernin Palace in March 1948 – shortly after the Communist coup of February 1948. What happened in the apartment has been subject to much speculation. However, contrary to the mid-20th century account that presumed suicide or an unfortunate accident, investigations from 2001 to 2003 considered the possibility that Masaryk was assassinated.

Photo: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů

Masaryk’s death was later investigated by dozens of experts. None of them could completely disprove any of the theories surrounding the foreign minister’s unexpected death, whether it was suicide, an accident, or murder.

Photo: Jan Špička

The last time prosecutors shelved the case was in March 2021, when the ÚDV closed the investigation without reaching a clear conclusion. But now it has been reopened. "The bureau is investigating the matter as a suspected homicide offense," the police announced.

Pavel Žáček, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on security, initiated the collection of documents about Masaryk's death from abroad.

Photo: Jan Špička

One of these newly discovered documents from the archives shows that Masaryk had a violent argument with three men before his death. "I won't do this for you. I will sign everything, but not this. I will do everything, but this will only happen over my dead body!" Jan Masaryk allegedly shouted on the evening of March 9, 1948.

Photo: Jan Špička

The author of the record relied on the testimony of an unnamed source, to whom Masaryk's alleged cries were relayed by Bohumil Příhoda, Masaryk's butler at the time. The record does not specify who the three men that Masaryk was shouting at were. It is also unknown what Masaryk was refusing to sign.

The British Secret Service, in turn, allegedly worked with a tip that Masaryk was injected with a violently poisonous dose of cyanide and then thrown out of the window.

Another document from the US embassy in London, written on April 5, 1948, tells another story. It stated that Masaryk had written a letter to an American woman living in Prague before his death, in which he mentioned that he was planning to leave Czechoslovakia at the earliest opportunity, raising the question of why he would choose suicide after making his intentions to leave the country known.

Jan Masaryk | Photo: Czech Television

“The Communists got wind of the message. They visited the woman in question before she could destroy the letter. Afterward, several Russian and Czech agents visited Masaryk, whose body subsequently ended up in the courtyard with bruises on his neck," the dispatch read. The autopsy report from 1948, however, does not mention any bruises on Masaryk's neck.

Jan Masaryk (1886-1948) was the son of the first President of Czechoslovakia T. G. Masaryk. During the Second World War in 1940, he became foreign minister of the London government-in-exile. After the war, he remained in the same position as a non-partisan in the governments of both Zdeněk Fierlinger and Klement Gottwald.

He did not join the resignation of non-communist ministers in February 1948. After the Communist coup, Masaryk wanted to settle in London and start a new life. Instead, he met a tragic death on the night of 10 March 1948.

Author: Jakub Ferenčík | Sources: iROZHLAS.cz , ČTK
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