Overview
- At a live broadcast attended by President Petr Pavel, archivists opened a family envelope long held under a 20-year embargo.
- Inside a white outer sleeve lay a yellow envelope containing five handwritten pages in Czech and English attributed to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
- A passage read on national media stated, “It is the end, but I’m not afraid,” alongside instructions to his son Jan and reflections on the country’s politics.
- Historian Dagmar Hajková said the notes likely date to summer 1934, diverging from the previously assumed 1937 timing, with handwriting judged authentic in a preliminary check.
- The materials were deposited in 2005 by Jan Masaryk’s former secretary, Antonín Sum, and officials say the documents will now undergo thorough study, including analysis of remarks on Czechs, the German minority and Slovak politician Andrej Hlinka.