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.
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