Bratislava: SiltaNews – News Desk
Some joked it would turn out to be a recipe for a sponge cake, while others expected it might reveal the Slovak origins of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
On 19 September, at Lány Castle, Czechia, words that the statesman likely dictated to his son, the diplomat Jan Masaryk, were read aloud for the first time in 88 years. The envelope with its mysterious contents was opened by historians from the National Archives and the Masaryk Institute, in the presence of Czech President Petr Pavel.
Historians confirmed that the five-page letter is authentic, written in Jan Masaryk’s own hand. After a brief examination, historian Dagmar Hájková suggested that the text was not written on Masaryk’s deathbed, as previously assumed, but rather around 1934.
“The document records Masaryk’s words at a time when he was unwell and thought he was leaving his country,” she explained. Most of the text is in English. At home, too, life was conducted in that language with his American-born wife, Charlotte.