JEWS THROUGHOUT CZECHOSLOVAKIA MOURNED TODAY THE DEATH OF DR. THOMAS GARRIGUE MASARYK, FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC AND A NOTED CHAMPION OF JEWS AND OTHER MINORITY PEOPLES. DR. MASARYK DIED TUESDAY OF A STROKE FOLLOWING AN 11-DAY ILLNESS. HE WAS 87 YEARS OLD.
CONDOLENCES ON BEHALF OF THE COUNTRY’S JEWISH POPULATION WERE CONVEYED PERSONALLY TO PRESIDENT EDUARD BENES AND PREMIER MILAN HODZA BY THE PRESIDIUM OF THE PRAHA JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE RABBINICAL COUNCIL.
“YIZKOR” (PRAYER FOR THE DEAD) WAS SAID FOR THE BELOVED STATESMAN IN ALL SYNAGOGUES TODAY DURING YOM KIPPUR SERVICES. SPECIAL MEETINGS TO HONOR THE CZECHOSLOVAKIAN LIBERATOR HAVE BEEN ARRANGED BY THE UNION OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES.
DR. MASARYK WAS BORN INTO A FAMILY IN WHICH HIS MOTHER TOLD HIM THAT JEWS USED THE BLOOD OF CHRISTIAN CHILDREN. HE TOLD IN AN INTERVIEW OF AVOIDING JEWISH HOUSES AS A CHILD. YET IN 1899, WHEN A JEW, LEOPOLD HILSNER, WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH ON FRAGMENTARY EVIDENCE AS THE MURDERER OF A 19-YEAR-OLD CHRISTIAN GIRL, MASARYK SPRANG TO THE JEW’S DEFENSE.
THE CASE WAS DRUMMED UP INTO A GREAT CAUSE CELEBRE WITH ANTI-SEMITIC NEWSPAPERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD USING IT FOR THEIR AGITATION. MASARYK PLAYED A PART IN THIS CASE SIMILAR TO EMILE ZOLA’S IN THE DREYFUS AFFAIR. HILSNER WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH AGAIN IN NOVEMBER, 1900, BUT EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEF COMMUTED THE SENTENCE TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT. HILSNER WAS RELEASED IN 1918. WHEN HE DIED IN 1928 IT WAS REVEALED PRESIDENT MASARYK HAD BEEN CONTRIBUTING TO HIS SUPPORT FOR SEVERAL YEARS.
PROF. MASARYK, BECAUSE OF HIS UNCEASING EFFORTS TO REFUTE RITUAL MURDER ACCUSATIONS FOUND HIMSELF BOYCOTTED SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLY, AND HIS LIFE WAS EVEN THREATENED, HIS UNIVERSITY LECTURES BROKEN UP AND THE WINDOWS OF HIS HOME BROKEN. YET, NOTHING DAUNTED, HE AGAIN DENOUNCED THE “BLOOD LIBEL” WHEN THE BEILIS CASE AROSE IN RUSSIA IN 1913. PROF. MASARYK ALSO PROTESTED STRONGLY AGAINST POGROMS IN CZARIST RUSSIA AND SPOKE AT MANY PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS. IN ONE SPEECH HE ASSERTED THAT POGROMS SINCE 1905 HAD CAUSED THE LOSS OF 37,000 LIVES.
WHILE DR. MASARYK, IN HIS LIFE-LONG STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE FREQUENTLY DEFENDED JEWS, HE MADE IT CLEAR HE WAS NOT A PHILO-SEMITE, “BUT ALL MY LIFE I HAVE BEEN CAREFUL NOT TO DO ANY INJUSTICE TO THE JEWS AND THAT IS THE REASON THAT MANY PEOPLE ACCUSE ME OF SUPPORTING THE JEWS.”
DR. MASARYK’S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE JEWS WAS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN SHAPING CZECHOSLOVAKIAN POLICY ON THE QUESTION. “I CANNOT SEE,” HE ONCE SAID, “WHY IN OUR STATE, IN WHICH THERE ARE SO MANY NATIONALITIES LIVING, THE JEWISH NATIONALITY SHOULD PROVE ANY HINDRANCE.”
HE HELPED TO BUILD UP A SYSTEM OF MINORITIES TREATIES IN EUROPE THAT WAS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING RESULTS OF POST-WAR DIPLOMACY, AND LIVED TO SEE IT BEGIN TO CRUMBLE IN POLAND AND OTHER COUNTRIES. AT VERSAILLES HE HAD LED THE FIGHT FOR THE RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHTS OF SMALLER NATIONS AND FROM THIS IT WAS BUT A STEP TO FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF SMALLER NATIONALITIES WITHOUT TERRITORIES.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
