The prosecutor’s office in Prague has resumed its investigation into the mysterious death of former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk in March 1948. Reason new findings, reported the newspaper „Pravo“ (online edition).
Masaryk was the last democratically elected minister to remain in power after the communists took power. He was found dead under the bathroom window of his office on the second floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Doubts about investigative photos
Before the democratization of 1989, the authorities officially spoke of suicide or an unfortunate accident. Now a hitherto unknown amateur tape recording from the year 1968 has emerged. In it, the policeman Vilibald Hofmann, who had been first on the spot, raised doubts about the crime scene’s well-known investigation photos. „This is not the original picture, because the deceased is already prepared for taking pictures,“ said the witness.
The find should give the theory new breeding ground that Masaryk was pushed out of the window and thus murdered. The Czech Republic often speaks of the „third lintel in Prague“, in the style of the historic lintels of 1419 and 1618. Jan Masaryk was the son of the founding father and first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk.
