Thomas Masaryk

WAS MASARYK THE MASTERMIND OF WILSON'S FOURTEEN POINTS, MANEUVERING THE UNITED STATES INTO WORLD WAR I? THE PROFILE OF A HUMANIST, PHILOSOPHER, REVOLUTIONARY, TRAITOR, STATESMAN, OR OPPORTUNIST By Karl Hausner

In this review, we will ask many questions and have some answers. How did a person of poor parents attain the success of becoming a professor of philosophy and later president? In addition, how could a person, who was brought up speaking the German language, and enjoying German culture, a man, who obtained all his education in German, become a Nationalistic Czech and the first President of Czechoslovakia.
We shall also ask how Masaryk could get access to the American political and financial elite. We will ask whether he influenced President Wilson, as Wilson contemplated, entering World War I, or whether Wilson and his political and industrial elite used Masaryk as an instrument to destroy the two largest monarchies in Europe, Austria/Hungary and Germany.

THOMAS GARRIGUE MASARYK 3.7.1850-9.14.1937

       During the year 2000, the Czech Republic celebrated the birth of Thomas G. Masaryk, who was the first President of Czechoslovakia. In 1948, when the Communists took over the country under Klement Gottwald, he was brought into discredit. His monuments were removed, because Masaryk was not a Marxist.
       However, in the year 2000, a new statue was erected in Prague. During the dedication, the American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who was born in Prague, was the guest of honor. A great deal is known about Masaryk, though much more is kept secret. Both, the Encyclopedia Britannica and the German Brockhaus say very little about his ancestry, upbringing, his frequent changes of religion, language, political outlook, jobs and his activity in the United States.
Who actually was this man who is claimed to be a great humanist, philosopher and statesman?
       Most know that he was the first President of Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1935, when his long time associate, Edward Benes, became President of that country. Masaryk died as a very wealthy person in the prominent castle LANY in Bohemia.
       During the celebrations in Prague and, of course, during the entire era of postwar Czechoslovakia, the truth about Czech politicians, active during World War I and World War II, was distorted and this continues to be the case even today. Although the Czech Republic is now part of NATO and wants to join the European Union, the truth and even justice is far from being implemented. Yet, it was Masaryk who claimed that truth alone was the foundation of his newly created country.
      The average Czech, and for that matter most Americans, know that Prague is the Capital of Czechoslovakia, respectively the Czech Republic, but very few know that this city was really not a Czech, but a Bohemian city. Seven hundred years ago, it was even the Capitol of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation under the Emperor Karl IV, a Frankonian. Czech Nationalism and Communism have kept such information away from the Czech people and the world. For example, the fact, that the oldest German University, the Karl's University, was founded in Prague 700 years ago. Up to the beginning of World War I, most cities in the present Czech Republic were heavily populated by German people, and in many instances they were the majority. All these cities, except Tabor) were founded not by Czechs, but by Germans. These two nations were living together for almost 1500 years, generally in harmony. The exeptions, of course, were the Hussite Wars, the time of the first Czechoslovak Republic between 1919 and 1938 and, of course, after World War II, when practically all Sudeten Germans - 3.5 Million of them - were brutally expelled from thenhomeland. More than 240 thousand Sudeten Germans were killed during that process.

MASARYK, THE PERSON

His mother was the daughter of a German Gastwirt (innkeeper) in the old German Town of Auspitz, Moravia. She went to Vienna for a short time and then became the cook of a very wealthy family - the Redlich's - a Jewish family whose language was German. His legal father was an illiterate Hungarian Slovak by the name of Joseph Masarik. It was generally accepted, that his biological father was Mr. Redlich. This was rather common, not just in wealthy Jewish families, that young women, who kept the household, also served as mistresses or concubines. After she was pregnant for a few months, she married a much younger illiterate coachman at the Redlich estate, to establish a legitimate family. They married August 15, 1849, however, Thomas was born on March 7, 1850. It was a little kept secret that the biological father was Nathan Redlich, who had from his own marriage three sons, all of whom became well to do. Since Masaryk's mother was German and the Redlich family spoke German, Thomas grew up with the German language. He, in his later years, spoke very highly of his mother, who gave him everything, but he rarely mentioned his legal father or his brothers, or perhaps stepbrothers is a better term.

Nathan Redlich was generous to Thomas Masaryk and it is well known, that his attorney. Dr. Alois Prazak ofBrunn (Brno) paid frequent amounts to the Masaryk family for the education of Thomas. When Thomas entered elementary school, he studied in German. Later, at the high school in Brunn (Brno), these studies, as well as his university studies in Vienna and Leipzig, were in German. As late as 1879, his colleague Penicek had to translate for Masaryk his positions into the Czech language. He spoke Czech with a strong German accent until his death. Yet, he became a fanatical Czech nationalist, hating the Habsburgs and perhaps due to that, everything German, especially the Catholic church.
Later, when Masaryk created Czechoslovakia, many Sudeten Germans hoped and believed he would be friendly to them because of his heritage. It is true, that Masaryk recognized that the Bohemian Germans or the Sudeten Germans were economically and culturally more advanced than the Czechs.

HIS AMERICAN CONNECTIONS

      While Masaryk was studying in Leipzig, he met a wealthy American music student , Charlotte Garrigue, and married her. Through this connection, he was exposed to the American financial, industrial and political elite, especially to the extremely wealthy and influential industrialist, Charles Crane. He engaged Thomas as a consultant, and it was through Crane, that Masaryk got to know Woodrow Wilson. Crane financed Wilson's election and Masaryk's son Jan was an intern at the Crane empire and later in the Secretary of State's Office under Wilson. He even married Crane's daughter.
       Although the United States had intensively engaged in the "melting pot" ideology, eliminating the ethnic grouping in this country, Wilson came up with the Fourteen Points of self determination for Europe. In the Habsburg Empire, fourteen nationalities, including Czechs and Slovaks, harmonized relatively well, but Masaryk, as an extreme nationalist, wanted the opposite. His self determining ideology appealed to many different American ethnic groups and the Wilson administration. Thus, the United States entered the conflict, proposing a self-determination concept for Europe, in other words Wilson's Fourteen Points, which big business considered good business.
       Without the American involvement in World War I, the nations involved in this conflict would have had to agree to a less dramatic change. Hitler would have not won power later, and World War II could have been avoided, as serious historians point out.

HISTORIC REVIEW OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND THE CHECH REPUBLIC

      Much has already been written about Thomas Garrigue Masaryk. After a dispute, stretching over several years to find a suitable location for a new Masaryk monument, the American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, finally unveiled his statue at his 150th birthday at the Hradschinplaza in Prague. Who actually was this man, portrayed as a great humanist, philosopher and politician? The world knows that he was the First President of the 1918/19 newly founded, multinational State of Czechoslovakia, created at the expense of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy and the various ethnic groups, especially the 3.5 million Sudeten Germans and the close to one million Magyars.
       On the presidential banner he had embroidered in Czech on one side, in Latin on the other, his motto: "The Truth is Victorious!"
       The entire history of Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten-Silesia (in the following only Bohemia), for centuries settled by Germans and Czechs, some Jews, who were mostly German speaking, was woven by the Czechs in mysticism and poetry, purposive fairy tales and stories, beginning with forefathers, Czech and Libusche. In this diction, Kail IV is only spoken of as the King of the Czechs (incorrectly), crowned in Zaachy. The fact that he was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, and Zaachy, mentioned as the old imperial city Aix-la-Chapelle, is conveniently withheld. The Czech Hussites, who ravaged innumerable, mostly German villages, towns and monasteries, murdering thousands of people, warded offfive crusades to the Holy Land, until they destroyed themselves in 1434 at Lipany. With that, the reignofterTorofoverl5years,ended.From 1620until 1920,theCzechsa]legedlyhadtoendure300years of darkness, though, during the same time, Bohemia became the highest developed province of the monarchy and perhaps Europe. It should be stated, that Bohemia is incorrectly translated as Chesky by Czech nationalists. Bohemia = Czech is wrong, but is maintained to this day. The assertion, that formerly many Czechs only spoke German is untrue! Further contortions and portrayals could be added.
       Similarly, Masaryk was given ahalo until 1948. When the Communists took over) he was considered a traitor by the Czech Communists. So was and is history being bent accordingly.

MASARYK'S BIOGRAPHY

       He wrote of himself that he was a Slovak, later a Moravian, finally a Czech. Was he not rather of German nationality and Austrian citizenship? He declared his mother Theresia to be a German from Auspitz (Hustopece). She was the daughter of a German innkeeper and butcher, who later was the Mayor of Auspitz. After several years in Vienna, she came to Goeding in 1849 to a well-to-do Jewish family by the name of Nathan Redlich to be their personal chef. She only spoke German, as the Redlich family also conversed in German. On August 15, 1849, she married the Hungarian Slovak by the name of Josef Masarik who worked for the Redlich's as coachman. He could neither read nor write and was a full 10 years younger than Theresia. When Thomas was born on March 7, 1850, it was an open secret in the Redlich family, that Nathan Redlich was the biological father. He already had three sons with his wife: Alois, Ignaz and Adolf. All three of them became very successful. The son of Adolf, Josef Redlich, was for many years Secretary of the Treasury in Vienna. When Masaryk became President, he offered him the Ministry of Trade - respectively Finance in Czechoslovakia. Noted historians stated that Masaryk was a "child of love". It is known, that the lawyer of the Redlich family, who later became the Minister in Bruenn, Dr. Alois Prazak, paid significant subsidies to the mother of Masaryk for his education. Masaryk himself and the Redlich family were good friends all their lives, especially with Josef Redlich and his wife Alice. A Redlich was also mayor of Goeding. Masaryk hardly mentioned either his father, Josef Masarik, or his brothers Martin and Ludwig, always emphasizing his mother, to whom he felt he was indebted for everything, even though, she was German and he was a "Czech". He pursued his study in Auspitz, Bruenn, Vienna and Leipzig) studying exclusively in the German language. Still in 1879, a Czech student, Penizek, translated much for him into the Czech language. Therefore, it is understandable that many German-Bohemians saw in Masaryk a person to be trusted. He in turn felt a certain respect for the Germans, especially because of their economic achievement and culture.
       When he stood for the truth in the fight about the Koeniginhofer' and Gruenberger manuscripts, which were unmasked to have been forged, Czech hostility almost caused him to emigrate to the U.S.A. His lectures at the Czech University were in the Czech language, even though, he had a strong accent.
      The life of Masaryk was rich in dramatic events, which apparently shaped his work and his personality. One of those, for example, was his defense of the Jew, Leopold Hilson, from Kuttenberg, falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death, whom he was able to save before the man was executed. This was widely discussed in American Jewish circles. Therefore, in 1907, Justice Louis D.Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court, a good friend of Woodrow Wilson, organized a "large reception" for Masaryk with the Jewish community in New York. Large financial donations were collected for him. Many other financial contributions were made to him and in 1918, he received for the not yet existing Czechoslovakia, aloan of $ 10,000,000 from Wall Street.
      Masaryk noted for himself: "Especially in America, the Leopold Hilson case proved to be a great success."
      Politically, Masaryk made a name for himself through his writings, among others "The Czech Question" and "Russia And Europe". He further became known through his intervention in the Agramer (Zagreber) Process of 1909 against Serbian rioters, insofar as he proved the documentary evidence to be falsified.
       A stroke of luck for him was his marriage to Charlotte Garrigue on the 15th of March in 1878 in New York. The father of Charlotte (whose parents had emigrated to Denmark via Germany as French Hugenotts) was at the time in training with the publisher Brockhaus in Leipzig, from where he emigrated to America. He became wealthy and in the end owned the largest fire insurance company of the U.S.A. The family had eleven children, eight daughters and three sons. In 1870 he visited Leipzig with part of his family. Charlotte remained there for three years, studying music. In June of 1876, Charlotte returned for another visit. At that time, Masaryk resided with the Goering family, and so luck took its course. After the wedding, the newly-weds lived in Vienna in a financially modest situation. Here, on March 3, 1879, their daughter Alice wasbom.andonthefirstofMay inl880,their sonHerbert.LaterinPrague,onthel4thofSeptemberin 1886, another son Jan entered the world, and on the 25th of May in 1891, their daughter Olga. The older son Herbert died at the early age of 35 on the 15th of March in 1915. Yet, his father did not come from Switzerland to attend the funeral.
       A positive financial turn for Masaryk did not come until 1884.-A rich student, who died in Berlin, willed him his fortune. With that, the Masaryks' were able to move into a villa according to his status and to pay off his debt in Vienna. Shortly thereafter, Charlotte's parents died, so they also received a large inheritance from that side of the family.

HOW MASARYK INFLUENCED HISTORIC EVENTS

      In Prague in 1896, thanks to his connections and those of his wife's family, Masaryk made an acquaintance with the extraordinarily wealthy American industrialist and diplomat Charles Crane (18581931), with whom he established a very close friendship. Crane became a large financial donor to Masaryk and financed, in a large scale, the then Czech and Slovakian resistance against the Habsburg Monarchy in the U.S.A. Through the English man Henry W. Steed and Robert Seton-Watson, they cultivated direct contacts with governmental circles in London. In 1912, Crane financed the election campaign of Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), who, in 1913, became the American President. Crane became his Counselor in the White House. Thus, Masaryk established a very effective Czech lobby with the new administration. The son, Richard Crane (1882-1938), during World War I, was Private Secretary to the Secretary of State and later Foreign Minister of the U.S.A. From 1919-1922 Richard Crane \vas Ambassador in Prague. The other son, John Crane, became Masaryk's secretary in 1922. Jan Masaryk, the son of Thomas G. Masaryk, worked from 1907-1913 at the branches of the Firm Crane in Bridgeport, Chicago, and from 1924-1929 was married to Crane's daughter, Leatherby.
      Jan Masaryk was, from 1919-1920, Charge d'affaires at the State Department, that is Certified Counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Government and afterwards, until 1939, Czech Ambassador in London. Because England did not accept the Protectorate status in Bohemia and Moravia, he maintained his role. While at the side ofBenes, he became the Foreign Minister in exile and later from 1945 to 1948 in Prague. During the Communist take-over, he lost his life at the so called "Prague window dumping", details of which remain unclear to this day.
       In 1945, Jan Masaryk gave to his colleague Josef Koerbel, born in 1909 in Geiersberg (father of U.S. SecretaryofStateMadeleineAlbright),thevillaattheHradschinplaza No. ll,nowtherestaurant"ULabuti". Previously, the very-well-to-do German owner, the Nebrich family, had to leave their villa at a moments notice with only hand-carried belongings. In 1948, the Koerbels', who in the meantime called themselves Korbel, took with them in their escape to the U.S.A., the entire inventory, including valuable oil paintings. The German "Spiegel" commented on this (17/1999).MadeleineAlbright and her brother are thus far reftising to return the stolen property to the Nebrich sisters.
       Another important, downright fateful personality in the web of Czech-American connections built mainly by Masaryk, was Emanuel Viktor Voska. He was born in Kuttenberg (Kutna Hora) on the 4th of November in 1875 and emigrated to America in 1894. The trained stone-sculptor became a construction entrepreneur, bought several marble quarries and quickly attained considerable wealth. This man, hardly mentioned by historians, was also politically very active, intimately close to Charles Crane, and worked extensively with Czech militant Associations in America and the Wilson Government. He was the leader of the Czech "Sokol", a socialistic association, and the association of Free Thinkers. He was also a publisher of several magazines in the Czech language. In 1902 he became acquainted with Masaryk. In 1910 and 1912 he invited Masaryk and organized at his own expense, exclusive lecture tours in the U.S.A., at which time considerable sums of money were collected for Masaryk's effort to destroy the Habsburg Empire.
       During that time there were, besides Voska, Stefan Osusky, an attorney in Chicago (1889-1973), and Vojta Benes (1878-1951), who had emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1915. They were both active in the Czech resistance in the U.S.A, and were able to collect large contributions for Masaryk. In the fall of 1914, there began the close collaboration of Masaryk with the brother of Vojta, Edward Benes (1884-1948), and somewhat later with M. R. Stefanik (1880-1919). Both lived in Paris and cultivated contacts with the highest French, Italian and English circles. Thus, Paris was the European Center of the Czechoslovakian underground organization, which stood in close connection with the "Maffia" of Prague, led by KarelKramar (1860-1937).

PREPARING FOR WORLD WAR I AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE AUSTRIAN/HUNGARIAN EMPIRE

      In June 1914, Voska came to Prague to see Thomas Garrigue Masaryk and other Czech politicians to consult in the event of a possible war. On his return trip at the end of August in 1914, he traveled from Holland to London. There he gave to W. Steed of the English Secret Service, Masaryk's detailed report concerning the political situation in Austria-Hungary. After Voska's return to the U.S.A., he advanced the Czech Association of the American Czechs and Slovaks. He organized actions for the support of the Czech resistance against the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy and financed it decisively from both his own sources and also through donations from associations. In 1914/1915 he founded a courier service between the native and the foreign Czech resistance. Already instituted by Masaryk, he could skim dependable sources directly from the Viennese Court and forward this valuable, up-to-date information, to the Western Allies. For this, he was generously financed by the English Secret Service. At times, he engaged two couriers monthly, en-route between Vienna, Prague, Paris, London, Chicago and Washington. Until 1917, St. Petersburg was also included. In 1915, he founded with Czech countrymen in the U.S.A., counterespionage against the German and Austria-Hungarian espionage service.
       While in Switzerland, on the 6th of July in 1915, Masaryk declared war against Austria-Hungary in the name of the yet only aspiring Czechoslovakia. Masaryk encouraged Czech and Slovak soldiers to desert. Sometimes, even entire units up to the regimental level deserted from the Austrian/Hungarian frontlines against Russia, the Balkan and Italy. They became known as legioneers. For that, Masaiyk, Benes and some others, were sentenced to death in absentia for high treason by the Austrian court. Later they were pardoned by Emperor Karl, the successor of Franz Josef.
       After the declaration of war by the U.S.A. in the spring of 1917, Voska was called into the American Army with the rank of captain, and he became the liaison officer between the Czech legions and the U.S. Army. From April until September of 1917, he was in- Russia (at the same time as Masaryk). There he organized the American espionage service (Slaw Press Bureau). In 1918/1919 he was in charge of the Central-European espionage section of the American General Staff.
       Voska, from the beginning of the war, informed the decision- making personalities of the U.S.A. and England about the Czech resistance, and through his contact with Masaryk, also acted as personal liaison between Masaryk and President Witsond). In 1919, he became consultant for the American delegation at the Peace Conference in Paris.
       Conference partner to the Czech delegation under the leadership ofKarel Kramar was    Dr. Edvard Benes. This delegation was counted among the victorious powers. Therefore, it had in addition to this status, its direct authorities in the circle of the American President. (On June 3,1918, Czechoslovakia was recognized as an Allied power, and its frontiers were demarcated according to Masaryk's outline). The French side was led by Clemenceau, whose hatred of the German-Austrian war enemy was well known. Also the propaganda activity of the Benes Group in Paris, and the politicians of the western powers, was supported by the counsel of Masaryk, Benes, Stefanik and Voska. American politicians often were not able to differentiate between Bosnia, Bohemia, Slovenia and Slovakia. Thus, Benes especially, was able to operate with falsified maps relative to the settlement area and false statements as to the number of Sudeten-Germans and Magyars.. He useda numberofl.6Millioninsteadofthefactualfigureof 3.6 Million Sudeten-Germansandwellover

a billion other ethnic groups. The Sudeten-German representation under Rudolf Lodgman Von Auen, (1877-1962), as part of the German-Austrian delegation, was from the outset in a losing position. Thus, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, in the dictate of St Germain was destroyed, which would have been the foundation of United Europe. "The U.S. Senate never ratified the Treaties of Saint-Germain and Versailles and thus. World War II was a continuation of these conflicts.
       From 1919, Voska lived as a businessman and entrepreneur in the CSR. Politically, he was active in the Social-Democratic Party, and published several articles about the Czech resistance during World War 1. In 1936/1937 he supported the Communist Revolution in Spain. On the 16th of March in 1939 he was arrested by the Gestapo, but for "reasons of health" was soon released. In June of 1939 he was able to return to the U.S.A.
      In 1940 Voska's book "Spy and Counterspy" was published, which he had written together with W. lrwin. From 1941-1945 he was in Turkey as an American intelligence officer (colonel), returning to the CSR in 1945. He was incarcerated by the Czech communists in 1959, he died shortly after his release in 1960 and wasposthumouslyfullyrehabilitatedin 1991.
       The close and direct connection and the immediate influence of the Czech emigrants, respectively such dependable authorities as Charles Crane and Voska upon the Wilson-Govemment, obviously played a substantial role in the entry of the U.S.A. into World War I in 1917. The Czechs and their friends were interested in the total defeat of the Central Powers, especially Austria-Hungary. Due to the absence of Russia

on the battlefield following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, they saw their goal in great danger. The American Declaration of War in 1917, and the later deployment of 1.2 Milhon U.S. troops, gave Masaryk and his group new confidence. When, on the 18th of October in 1918, President Wilson declined to accept the last peace offer of the Austrian Emperor Karl, it elicited an immense jubilation among Czech Nationalists. On the same day, Masaryk proclaimed in Pittsburgh the Foundation of Czechoslovakia. This was the deathblow for the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy. Czech politicians claimed that President Wilson and the Allies in Central Europe would not have acted without the consent of Masaryk. With that, the U.S.A. attained a position of world power.
       Masaryk, through his manifold fund raising actions, meanwhile had substantial financial means at his personal disposal. Without difficulty, he was able to undertake numerous travels with his daughter Olga between America and Europe up to the Far East of Russia. In addition, he provided for the pay of his collaborators, couriers and agents, including the legionnaries. In 1923, he gave each of bis family members and also Edward Benes 2.05 Millions Kc. He bought a house in Auspitz for his legal father, and for his "stepbrother" Ludwig, he equipped a printing shop. Considerable amounts were also transferred to various friends,
publishers and foundations. In 1932, he deposited 10 Millions Kc into the Masaryk Foundation. (At that time, the country was in a depression).
      During the course of his life, Masaryk evolved from a young German-Austrian scholar, who only advocated a larger Bohemian autonomy, into a champion, intellectually and linguistically, for a Czech national state. He demanded the Czech claim for everything within the borders of the future state up to "unseren Deutschen"(our Germans). In his message on the 23rd of December in 1918, he described them as having come into the country as "Immigranten und Kolonisten"(immigrants and colonists). In an interview on the 10th of January in 1919 he indicated, one would for "diese Landesfrernden" (these strangers in the country)... perhaps create a certain modus vivendi (way of life), and should they prove to be loyal citizens, it might even be possible for our parliament to grant them, at least in the arena of public education, a certain autonomy. In areas settled by Germans he said: "Besides, I am convinced, that a very swift de-gennanization of these areas will take place". It is imaginable that he would expect for the Germans in the country, or at least for many of them, to become Czechs, as he did himself.
       As it emerges out of the memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Wilson's successor in the American Presidency, Masaryk was even willing to forgo a part of Western Bohemia, in order not to get so many Germans into the new state. He asked Hoover "to influence President Wilson to the effect that the President might oppose the integration of this area, because it would place him (Masaryk) into a difficult situation with his colleagues if he were to do it himself. Less Germans in the land would have meant, that even with a relative autonomy of the ethnic groups, the Czech majority vs. the sum of all the others would have been secured. However, in the negotiations at Saint-Gennain, the French prevailed, especially Clemenceau, who "insisted upon leaving as many Germans as possible in Czechoslovakia in order to weaken Germany". Now, Masaryk and Benes stressed especially the thesis of a Czech-Slovakian nation in order to insure the majority through the inclusion of the Slovaks. Masaryk also had the confidence ofM. R. Stefanik, the Slovak leader. Yet he, because of President Wilson's 14 points regarding the people's self-determination, was only agreeable to begin with a cantonal federation (similar to Switzerland) of states for a probationary period of ten years. Through this substantial demand in the name of his Slovakian people, he became antagonized with Edward Benes. This was "the reward" for having introduced Benes into the highest political circles in France and Italy. Also for organizing the Czech and Slovak legions who, independent of their questionable actions in Russia, served as proof for the Czech war participation and lhus, the new nation was counted as a victorious power. It became the key to the foundation of the state.
       After the conclusion of the "peace conference" of St. Germain, most of the suggestions were ignored by Benes and Masaryk. Czechoslovakia, actually should have become a non-military state with guaranteed self-determination, fashioned in the character of Switzerland. (Neutrality and cantoral authonomies.) The first demonstration of power by the Czechoslovak state was the military occupation of the Sudetenland and Slovakia by the Czech Legions, crushing all resistance by force. The national minorities had to mourn their first dead. (March 4, 1919 over 50 German demonstrators, including women and children were shut to death and many were wounded).
       The only one in opposition to be taken seriously in this matter, was the Slovak Stefanik, a French officer, and in the end a General. His deadly "accidenfon the 4th of May in 1919, eliminated him. (TTlis was most likely an assassination, like that of Jan Masaryk in 1948.)
       The bodily decline of the elderly Masaryk, who was becoming increasingly blind and senile, allowed Benes an altogether free hand, and the great tragedy took its course, making the 3.5 Million Sudeten Germans and the minorities strangers in their own homeland. Certainly not what was promissed, a country like Switzerland.

                                                            MASARYK & AMERICA - TESTIMONY OF A RELATIONSHIP
                                                                     From the Introduction of Subject book by George J. Kovtun,
                                                                                     Library of Congress, Washington 1988.

       In 1902, Masaryk traveled to America at the invitation of the philanthropic industrialist Charles R. Crane, who had established a foundation for Slavic lectures at the University of Chicago. By a happy coincidence, Crane turned out to be a friend ofWoodrow Wilson's, a fact that was to serve Masaryk well until 1918. Two yearselapsedbetweenMasaryk'sfirstandsecondjourneystoAmerica.During tliisperiod,he became a well-known figure in Czech public life. He was assigned to the new Czech university in Prague as a philosophy professor, after which he founded a periodical. Athenaeum, in which he practiced what he called "scientific criticism". He pubhshed several books on the problems of Czech history and politics, and on social and philosophical questions. In the years 1891-93 he represented the Young Czech Party in the Austrian parliament in Vienna.
      During Masaryk's second visit in the USA (which lasted three months) Masaryk made an extended tour of the Czech immigrant centers, visiting New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cedar Rapids, and other cities. He had not yet presented a political program of independence, but speaking on a variety of subjects (religion, socialism, Czech literature and history) he clearly contributed to Czech and also Slovak national aspirations.
       On his third visit, in 1907, Masaryk came to America as a Czech intellectual whose political role had received flesh impetus. He began his journey shortly after having been elected a member of the Vienna Parliament for a second term, representing the small Progressive Party, which he helped create in 1900. He arrived in New York on August 7 and stayed in America for two months. He participated in the Congress of the Religious Liberals in Boston and again visited the Czech immigrants. His appearances before the Czech-Americans culminated in a series of speeches delivered at the Association of Czech Freethinkers in Chicago.
       It was his fourth and last visit to America that made history. He came at the beginning of May 1918, as the leader of the Czechoslovak Liberation Movement, and left in November, already the first President of Czechoslovakia (without any vote by the Czech or Slovak people).     MasarykhadleftAustria-Hungary in December 1914, traveling to the then neutral Italy. From there he moved to Switzerland and to France, and in October 1915 settled down in Great Britain. He worked for the cause of a "free Czechoslovakia" in the West European Allied capitals. When the Tsarist autocracy was replaced by a provisional republican government in Petrograd in March of 1917, Masaryk went from England to Russia, where he hoped to recruit thousands of volunteers from the ranks of the Czech and Slovak prisoners and deserters of war for his army. In Russia he succeeded in organizing the largest Czechoslovak volunteer army (other Czechoslovak armies were built in France and Italy). Masaryk and his representatives concluded several agreements concerning the neutrality of the Czechoslovak army in Russian domestic conflicts, and its later transfer to France, where reinforcements were sorely needed against the German onslaught. (Contrary to these agreements, Czech legions robbed and even destroyed Russian villages).
      Recognizing the growing importance of the United States, which finally declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917, Masaryk traveled to America. He crossed European Russia and Siberia in a train. After a brief stay in Japan, he sailed from Yokohama to Vancouver, and arrived in Chicago on May 5,1918.
       His political aims become evident in the second section of the book, ("Lobbying for an Independent State"), consisting mainly of documents which show the American Czechs and Slovaks campaigning for a program of self-determination and independence, as well as Masaryk's own explanation of his goals. In the third section of the book, ("Masaryk in the Spotlight") Masaryk, now on his fourth and most important visit in America, is clearly in focus. Newspaper reports and diplomatic memoranda remind us how he was viewed by contemporary witnesses and how he acted on the political scene. In the next two sections ("Masaryk and American ideals" and "Masaryk and Wilson") we see from Masaryk's declarations, statements, and letters how he valued the American democratic tradition, and Woodrow Wilson as the interpreter of this tradition. Clever as he was, he became the mastermind behind Wilson's Fourteen Points of Self-determination for Europe, which was in direct contradiction to Wilson's " melting pot" ideology in the United States.
       Masaryk owed his invitation to lecture at Chicago University in 1902 to the recommendation of the French Slavist Louis Leger and to his knowledge of English. Before his second trip to the United States he was visited by one of the founders of Slavic studies in America, Leo Wiener who wrote the first report about Masaryk for the American press.
       During his last visit in the United States before the First World War in 1907, Masaryk earned the special attention of the Association ofGalician and Bukovinian Jews which held a public gathering in his honor.
       Before returning to the United States in September of 1914, Voska offered himself to Masaryk as a courier for his contacts with the Western countries.
ln March of l915, most of the scattered Czech groups were united in the Bohemian National Alliance (BNA). In October of the same year, the BNA formally entered into an agreement with the Slovak organization, the Slovak League of America, to pursue jointly the aim of political independence under the banner of self-determination.
       Before the Czech and Slovak immigrants could develop their anti-Habsburg propaganda effectively, Masaryk sought assistance from individual American sympathizers, among whom Charles R. Crane was the key person. Masaryk informed Crane in a letter written on February 3, 1915, from Geneva, that the Czechoslovak revolutionaries "prepare the extreme steps a nation can and must do to get her independence", and asked for financial help. Crane furnished material assistance and arranged for the first interview by an American correspondent with Masaryk during the war.
       Not all the people who were willing to recommend Masaryk to Wilson's attention believed in the feasibility and success of Masaryk's aim. The American journalist Norman Hapgood, a friend of Wilson's, sent a copy of one of Masaryk's memoranda from London to the White House on January 29, 1917, but said in his accompanying letter: "I myself am not for an independent Bohemia, but I think Professor Masaryk deserves a hearing".
       The first recognition of Masaryk's idea was given by France in the time of the premiership of Briand, who promised assistance to the Czech people. When President Wilson sent his inquiry to the Allies concerning their program, their response included, among other things, the independence of the Czechoslovak nation. That was solemnly promised by the Allies.

MASARYK IN THE SPOTLIGHT

       Officially Washington received Masaryk as an expert on Russia who, it was hoped, would throw some new light on the enigmatic developments in that disorganized country. His idea of psychological warfare, which made use of the antagonism between the Slavic peoples of Austria and the German-oriented government was, however, not always understood by the diplomats.
       When Breckinridge Long (Third Assistant Secretary of State) on September 17,1918 wrote his second memorandum dealing with Masaryk, the United States had already recognized Masaryk's movement as the de facto government of Czechoslovakia. The subjects of the conversation between Long and Masaryk included economic assistance and the situation of the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia. Masaryk used the opportunity to reemphasize his concept of the independence of small nations as a necessary and useful principle of international order, which he did not actually plan to implement in Czechoslovakia, though in America he did not admit to this.
       In October 1918, Masaryk prepared the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, which was clearly inspired by the American Declaration of 1776. (What a propaganda scheme it was). The Czechoslovak Declaration (whose official version is in English), was drafted by Masaryk, edited with the assistance of several American friends, and released by Masaryk on October in 1918, as the final solemn act of his revolutionary movement.

MASARYK AND WILSON

       The first message, addressed by Masaryk directly to Wilson, arrived in Washington on December 13, 1917. Masaryk sent a telegram from Kiev after he had heard the United States declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. He was convinced that America's full participation in the war against the Central Powers was the logical conclusion of a necessary development. (Now, the United States supports the creation of a European Union, which existed, in a small way, during the time of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, which had to be destroyed in 1919).
       The first meeting between Masaryk and Wilson is described in two documents. Shortly after his visit to the White House on June 19, 1918, Masaryk wrote a hasty note in Czech, summarizing the main points of the conversation. The note was published in a Czech collection of documents in Prague in 1953. For his own record and to inform his friends, Masaryk also wrote, or dictated an English note on his meeting with Wilson. One copy of the note was handed to Richard Crane, the son of Charles R. Crane and private secretary to Robert Lansing.
       After it had become obvious that the Czechoslovak soldiers in Russia were entangled in a conflict with Bolshevik units (because they were robbing peasants), Masaryk asked the American Government for assistance. Wilson, while maintaining his negative view concerning a military intervention in Russia, was finally impressed by the appeals of France and Britain and agreed to dispatch several thousand American troops to the area of Vladivostok, not to intervene in Russian affairs, but to safeguard "the country to the rear of the westward-moving Czecho-Slovak Legionnaires." Masaryk was thankful for the decision.
      When Masaryk came to see Wilson on September 11,1918, the question under discussion included assistance for the Czechoslovak Army in Russia, the recent agreement between the Czechoslovak National Council and the British government, and the possibility of a Japanese supreme command over foreign troops in Siberia. (Mostly Czech and Slovak legionnaires).
      ln0ctoberl918, MasarykbecametheheadoftheMid-EuropeanUmon,ag,roupofCentralEuropean representatives, residing in the United States. On October 26, 1918, the Mid-European Union, convening in Philadelphia, issued a "democratic" manifesto called the "Declaration of Common Aims". Masaryk used the opportunity to send the declaration to Wilson to explain his concept of European reconstruction (Wilson's Fourteen Points).
     ThelastmeetingbetweenMasarykandWilsontookplaceonNovember 15,1918.Masaryk,fearing a loss of prestige for the American President, advised Wilson against becoming personally involved in the detailed European questions at the peace conference. His apprehension is shown in a Czech note written in his hand and published in facsimile in Jan Herben's biography, T.G.Masaryk. (Wilson, in poor health, had became a liability in the upcoming dictates of peace).
       From Masaryk's book Svetova Revoluce (The Making of a State): "I begun my personal relations with President Wilson relatively late. I arrived in Washington on May 9, 1918, and met Wilson for the first time on June 19, the invitation being conveyed by Mr. Charles R. Crane. In all mv political campaigns abroad it has been mv method to try to influence statesmen through public declarations, articles, and interviews. And before I saw the President. I spoke with people with whom he was in contact and who had a certain influence on him". (This, in his own words, was the corrupt nature of Masaryk).

THE NEW EUROPE

       In his work, Masaryk expressed the need to explain why he had begun his revolutionary activity. At the heart of The New Europe lies Masaryk's demand to create an independent Czechoslovak State. This, however, was not an isolated goal. Masaryk also demanded an independent Poland and Yugoslavia, and an entire zone of independent nations between Germany and Russia. The political reconstruction of Eastern Europe was considered by him "the principal problem in the aftermath of the war". He invokes the principle of national self-determination, but he also sees, that in many territories with mixed population, the borderlines between the states could not be based on ethnographic factors (A total contradiction to self determination). The new states in which the "small oppressed Slavic" nations will exercise their political freedom will be created within historical and natural borders. Inevitably, these states will include national minorities which will be guaranteed their civil rights by an international agreement, and possibly by an international arbitration tribunal for national questions. (This he never permitted and certainly did not plan).
       Twenty years later. World War II broke out, as a direct consequence of the stupidity and injustice at Versailles and Saint Germain. Czechoslovakia broke apart twice, first in 1938/39 and then in 1992. Three and a half Million Sudeten Germans were made homeless in 1945/46, over 240 thousand killed and the rest expelledmadditiontoafewhunderthousandfromSIovakia.Between 1948and 1989, CzechsandSlovaks had to endure self-inflicted tyranny by Communists. Now, extremely poor nations are not willing to accept U.S. House Resolution No. 562 of October 13, 1989 to permit the return or compensation of those expelled. Yet, they eagerly wanted to join NATO and now the European Union, the very constellation, which existed in a small way, in the Habsburg Empire, which Masaryk, with the help of the Western Allies, in 1919 destroyed.
       In this essay, we cannot expand deeper reviewing the situation in Poland and Yugoslavia. Especially the latter has become a land of hostilities with no real peace and harmony in sight. When will the Government of the United States stop reconstructing the world by supporting revolutionaries and terrorists? In view of September 11,2001, this would be the only way to protect our people from such "Freedom Fighters", or better terrorists.
       Had World War I ended differently, the Bolshevik Revolution would have not likely succeeded, and World War II would have been prevented. The tyranny, which Stalin forced on Eastern Europe after World War II, for over forty years, would have not taken place. Not to mention the Cold War, the ten trillion dollars, which the American taxpayers had to pay and the twenty six additional wars, which Americans had to fight, just to mention Korea and Vietnam and the problems in the Middle East and Africa. If we had stayed neutral, as our Founding Fathers intended, and certainly did not envision this kind of foreign policy, we would not have become the target of international terrorism. Will we learn from the history, or will we continue the course of "reconstructing and policing''the world? Can we win the war against terrorism if we continue to support terrorists as was Masaryk?

Bibliography:
1. Dr. Ferdinand D. Katzer: "Was ueber T.G.Masaryk und Boehmen oft im Dunkein bleibt", Sudetendeutsche Zeitung, November 24, 2000.
2. Prof. Dr. Josef Kalvoda: "The Genesis of Czechoslovakia", New York 1986. 3. George J. Kovtun: "Masaryk & America", Library of Congress, Washington 1988. 4. Charles Richard Crane, the National Encyclopedia of American Biography, page 221-222. 5. Woodrow Wilson, the National Encyclopedia of American Biography, page 169-170. 6. Edith Boiling Gait Wilson, the National Encyclopedia of American Biography. 7. "Bohemia", Deutsche Zeitung, "Die erste Botschaft Masaryks" (Masaryk's first message), 23. December 1919.
8. Emanuel Victor Voska and Will irwin: "Spy and Counterspy", Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc., New York, 1940.
9. David F.Houston: "Eight years with Wilson's Cabinet 1913 to 1920", Doubleday, Page & Company, New York 1923.
Prepared for presentation at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Symposium of the Society for GermanAmerican Studies,AmanaColonies,lowa,April 18-21,2002.

Recognition:

The author appreciates and recognizes the important library research ofTitanila Strbova, including translations from Czech language into English and transcription of the manuscript and the translation from German into English by Hans-Jochan Holz.

Karl Hausner 28 Concord Drive Oak Brook, IL 60523-1767 Fax: (630)543-2102 E-mail address: medical@elmed.com