Masaryk, Jan (yän mä`särĭk), 1886–1948, Czechoslovak diplomat, son of Thomas G. Masaryk. He was (1925–38) Czechoslovak minister to Great Britain, and in London he became (1940) foreign minister in the Czechoslovak government in exile headed by Eduard Beneš after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. During World War II, Masaryk supported a policy of cooperation with the Soviet Union as well as with the Western powers. He continued to hold his post after his government returned (1945) to Prague, and he remained in office after the Communist coup of Feb., 1948. A few days later it was officially announced that he had committed suicide by throwing himself from a window. The announcement aroused world consternation. No real evidence was ever adduced to prove whether his death was or was not voluntary.

Bibliography

See C. Sterling, The Masaryk Case (1982).

Masaryk, Jan (Garrigue)

(born Sept. 14, 1886, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died March 10, 1948, Prague, Czech.) Czech statesman. The son of Tomáš Masaryk, he entered the foreign service of the newly independent Czechoslovakia in 1919 and served as ambassador to Britain from 1925 to 1938. During World War II he was foreign minister of the Czechoslovak provisional government in London (1940–45) and later Prague (1945–48). At the request of Pres. Edvard Beneš, he remained at his post after the communist takeover in 1948. Two weeks later he either jumped or was pushed to his death from a window in the foreign office.