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Item # 557620
THE NEW YORK TIMES, New York, NY, March 11, 1948
* Jan Garrigue Masaryk
* Czechoslovak
This 56 page newspaper has a four column headline on the front page: "MASARYK KILLED, A SUICIDE, REDS SAY; U.N. SHELVES CZECH PLEA FOR INQUIRY; MARSHALL IS STIRRED BY WORLD CRISIS" with subheads and photo of Masaryk. (see) More inside.
Other news of the day throughout. Rag edition in great condition.
wikipedia notes: On March 10, 1948 Masaryk was found dead, dressed in his pajamas, in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bathroom window. The initial 'investigation' stated that he had committed suicide by jumping out of the window, although for a long time it has been believed by some that he may have been murdered by the nascent Communist government. The 'conclusion' of death by suicide was reaffirmed by a second investigation taken in 1968 during the Prague Spring and a third one in the early 1990s after the Velvet Revolution. Despite the outcomes of all three investigations, discussions about the mysterious circumstances of his death are still continuing, without apparent consensus. Those who believe that Masaryk was murdered have called it the Third Defenestration of Prague and point to the presence of nail marks on the window sill from which Masaryk fell, as well as smearings of feces and Masaryk's stated intention to leave Prague the next day for London. Members of Masaryk's family—including his former wife, (Frances Crane Leatherbee), a former in-law named Sylvia E. Crane, and his sister Alice Masaryk —stated their belief that he had indeed killed himself, according to a letter written by Sylvia E. Crane to The New York Times, and considered the possibility of murder a "cold war cliché" (The New York Times, 28 January 1990). However, a Prague police report in 2004 claims that he was indeed murdered.
The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, described his conversation with Nicolae Ceauşescu, who told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill". Jan Masaryk was one of them. es: In the Spring of 1948 there was a rumour in Prague that the Soviet NKVD was responsible for the death of Jan Masaryk. NKVD major G. Schramm, who was involved with the Czechoslovak intelligence, and secret communist police, was according to that rumour responsible for Mararyk's death. Schramm was shot dead in his Prague flat on the 27.05.1948, a possible "silencing" of an inconvenient witness, the NKVD and/or KGB were famous for. Two young Czech philosophy students were arrested, tortured and later executed for shooting major Schramm. They were Milan Choc, who, in spite of torture at the hands of the Czech secret police, denied any involvement in the shooting to the end. The other youth was Sadek, of whom I have no more information.
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March 11, 1948
THE NEW YORK TIMES, New York, NY, March 11, 1948
* Jan Garrigue Masaryk
* Czechoslovak
This 56 page newspaper has a four column headline on the front page: "MASARYK KILLED, A SUICIDE, REDS SAY; U.N. SHELVES CZECH PLEA FOR INQUIRY; MARSHALL IS STIRRED BY WORLD CRISIS" with subheads and photo of Masaryk. (see) More inside.
Other news of the day throughout. Rag edition in great condition.
wikipedia notes: On March 10, 1948 Masaryk was found dead, dressed in his pajamas, in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bathroom window. The initial 'investigation' stated that he had committed suicide by jumping out of the window, although for a long time it has been believed by some that he may have been murdered by the nascent Communist government. The 'conclusion' of death by suicide was reaffirmed by a second investigation taken in 1968 during the Prague Spring and a third one in the early 1990s after the Velvet Revolution. Despite the outcomes of all three investigations, discussions about the mysterious circumstances of his death are still continuing, without apparent consensus. Those who believe that Masaryk was murdered have called it the Third Defenestration of Prague and point to the presence of nail marks on the window sill from which Masaryk fell, as well as smearings of feces and Masaryk's stated intention to leave Prague the next day for London. Members of Masaryk's family—including his former wife, (Frances Crane Leatherbee), a former in-law named Sylvia E. Crane, and his sister Alice Masaryk —stated their belief that he had indeed killed himself, according to a letter written by Sylvia E. Crane to The New York Times, and considered the possibility of murder a "cold war cliché" (The New York Times, 28 January 1990). However, a Prague police report in 2004 claims that he was indeed murdered.
The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, described his conversation with Nicolae Ceauşescu, who told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill". Jan Masaryk was one of them. es: In the Spring of 1948 there was a rumour in Prague that the Soviet NKVD was responsible for the death of Jan Masaryk. NKVD major G. Schramm, who was involved with the Czechoslovak intelligence, and secret communist police, was according to that rumour responsible for Mararyk's death. Schramm was shot dead in his Prague flat on the 27.05.1948, a possible "silencing" of an inconvenient witness, the NKVD and/or KGB were famous for. Two young Czech philosophy students were arrested, tortured and later executed for shooting major Schramm. They were Milan Choc, who, in spite of torture at the hands of the Czech secret police, denied any involvement in the shooting to the end. The other youth was Sadek, of whom I have no more information.
Category: The 20th Century
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