Jan Masaryk

Jan Masaryk, the son of Tomas Masaryk, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1886. He became a diplomat and from 1925 to 1938 was the Czech ambassador in London. In this role he tried unsuccessfully to stop Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini signing the Munich Agreement which transferred the Sudetenland to Germany.

In 1941 Eduard Benes became head of a Czechoslovakia provisional government in London. Masaryk became foreign minister and during the Second World War was a popular radio broadcaster to the people in his homeland.

Benes maintained a good relationship with Joseph Stalin and on 12th December 1943 he signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union. In March 1945 Benes flew to Moscow and after meeting Stalin agreed that in his post-war coalition he would accept several Soviet-trained Czechs.

Masaryk and Benes accompanied the Russian-sponsored Czechoslovak Corps that liberated the country from Nazi Germany in May 1945.

Eduard Benes became president of Czechoslovakia but in the 1946 general election the Communist Party won the largest number of parliamentary seats with 38 per cent of the votes. Klement Gottwald set up a National Front government but caused great controversy when under the orders of Joseph Stalin, he rejected Marshall Aid.

In June 1948, when it became clear that Gottwald intended to introduce a Russian-style political system, Benes resigned from office. Later that year Jan Masaryk was found dead. He had either been murdered or had committed suicide in protest at the imposition of a Stalinist political system.