The sealed and secret letter of a hero Czech president hidden in Glasgow flat for 30 years
A letter written by Czech hero President Tomas Masaryk was sealed for more than 90 years and hidden for many decades in Scotland. It was finally opened in Prague yesterday.
It was a sealed letter written by hero Czech President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in the final years of his life that had a nation, it is said, on the edge of its seat as it was opened near Prague live on national radio.
In the grounds of the presidential residence of Lany Chateau to the west of the Czech capital, the mystery of its contents was unravelled on Friday amid great speculation at the peak of Masaryk Week, which is held to celebrate the achievements of the man known as “President Liberator” and chief founder of Czechoslovakia.
But what is little known is the letter, secured with four rubber stamps, was hidden away in a tenement flat in Glasgow’s west end for more than 30 years.
The flat, in Queen Margaret Drive overlooking the Botanic Gardens, served as a quiet repository for items linked to President Masaryk, who secured the foundation of the Czechoslovakia in 1918 following the fall of Austria-Hungary, and his son, Jan, who later served as Foreign Minister and died after falling out of a window following the Putsch of 1948.
The letter was kept by Lumir Soukup - one of two under secretaries to Jan Masaryk - who went on to marry a Scots woman and lecture in Czech studies at Glasgow University from around 1950 after fleeing the new Communist regime.
Dr Jan Culik, who took over from Mr Soukup at the university in the 1970s for a short spell and then later returned to work in his office as a Czech studies lecturer, knew his former colleague well.
He said: “I was invited to Lumir’s flat overlooking the Botanic Gardens several times and that was where he kept the letter - but he didn’t talk about the letter at all.
“He was a very much the guardian of the flame of the Masarykian heritage. He was very much interested in keeping this legacy alive.”
Dr Culik said Mr Soukup retired in 1983 to live in France, where he spent the rest of his life. He later offered the letter to the Czech national archives, but instructed that it must not be opened for another 20 years.
He added: “Lumir Soukup was very protective of the Masaryks, so if there was anything personal in the letter, this is why he would have wanted to keep it sealed for 20 years. For some reason, they respected it. That was in 2005 - and now they are opening it.”
It was initially understood the letter was dictated by the former president to his son in 1937, while on his deathbed.
After it was opened, it is now known the letter was written over five pages, probably in 1934, when the former president was already seriously unwell.
Dr Culik, who listened to the live broadcast, said: “The document contains Masaryk’s political recommendations for Czechoslovakia after his death. He is seriously worried about the danger from Hitler and the German minority in Czechoslovkia after his death.
“But he says that the Czechs will survive if they proceed carefully. ‘Watch Out’, he says.”
The letter added: “Organise a large funeral for me, to make a real political impact. People are very much afraid of death, they should not be.”
Jan Masaryk’s typewriter, which had been gifted to Mr Soukup, was left behind in his Glasgow University office when Dr Culik moved in.
After a decades in Dr Culik’s possession, the typewriter was recently returned to the Czech Republic with the help of Veronika Macleod, the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Edinburgh.
It now forms pride of place in Jan Masaryk’s former apartment and office in the Czernin Palace in Prague, which is being recreated in honour to him.
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