PRAGUE, Sept 2 (Bernama-dpa) — The investigation into the mysterious death 78 years ago of Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk is entering a new phase, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
Police have begun exhuming of the politician’s remains at the cemetery in Lany near Prague, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The remains will later be examined using modern forensic methods. The aim is to shed more light on the circumstances of his death and help refute various theories, it was said.
Masaryk was found dead on March 10, 1948 in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry at the Czernin Palace, beneath the bathroom window on the second floor of his official residence.
The circumstances surrounding his apparent fall from the window, which occurred at the height of the Cold War, remains a mystery to this day.
Masaryk was regarded as liberal and pro-Western, leading some historians to believe that he was murdered by Soviet agents. Others suspect suicide or an accident.
The investigation was reopened following the discovery of new documents in diplomatic archives in France, the US and the UK.
Masaryk’s death is referred to as the “Third Defenestration of Prague,” following historic incidents in the city in which people were thrown out of windows in 1419 and 1618.
These events marked the start of the Hussite Wars and the Thirty Years’ War, respectively.
Masaryk was born on September 14, 1886, to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founder of the state and first Czechoslovak president.
He was held in high esteem by the public and, following the Communist coup in February 1948, refused to step down as Foreign Minister.
Communist rule did not end until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, which marked the transition to democracy in what was then Czechoslovakia.
The country later split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
— BERNAMA-dpa