Tomáš Masaryk

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Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
Image:Tomáš G Masaryk1918.jpg portrait by Josef Jindřich Šechtl, 1918
1st President of Czechoslovakia
In office 14 November, 1918 – 14 December, 1935
Succeeded by	Edvard Beneš
Born	March 7 1850(1850-03-07) Hodonín, Austria-Hungary
Died	September 14 1937 (aged 87) Lány, Czechoslovakia
Spouse	Charlotte Garrigue
Profession	Philosopher

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (pronounced [ˈtomaːʃ ˈɡarɪk ˈmasarɪk]), sometimes called Thomas Masaryk in English, (March 7, 1850 - September 14, 1937) was a Czechoslovak statesman, sociologist and philosopher, who as the keenest advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the first President and founder of Czechoslovakia.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Philosophy and religion 3 Order of Masaryk 4 Memorials 5 Bibliography 6 Family Tree 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

Masaryk was born to a working-class family in the predominantly Catholic city of Hodonín, Moravia. This was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and is now in the Czech Republic. His father Jozef Masaryk, a carter, was a Slovak from the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary (nowadays Slovakia), and his mother Terezie Masaryková (née Kropáčková) was from Moravia.

As a youth he worked as a blacksmith. He studied in Brno, Vienna (1872-1876 philosophy with Franz Brentano) and Leipzig (with Wilhelm Wundt). In 1882, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the Czech part of the University of Prague. The following year he founded Athenaeum, a magazine devoted to Czech culture and science. He challenged the validity of the epic poems Rukopisy královedvorský a zelenohorský, supposedly dating from the early Middle Ages, and providing a false nationalistic basis of Czech chauvinism to which he was continuously opposed. Further enraging Czech sentiment, he fought against the old superstition of Jewish blood libel during the Hilsner Trial of 1899. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the phenomenon of suicide.

Masaryk served in the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament) from 1891 to 1893 in the Young Czech Party and again from 1907 to 1914 in the Realist Party, but he did not campaign for the independence of Czechs and Slovaks from Austria-Hungary. When the First World War broke out, he had to flee the country to avoid arrest for treason, going to Geneva, to Italy, and then to England, where he started to agitate for Czechoslovak independence. In 1915 he opened the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, where the Student Society and Junior Common Room are named after him. He became Professor of Slav Research at King's College in London lecturing on "The problem of small nations".

In 1916 he went to France to convince the French government of the necessity of disintegrating Austria-Hungary. After the February Revolution in 1917 he proceeded to Russia to help organize Slavic resistance to the Austrians, so-called Czechoslovak Legions. In 1918 he travelled to the United States, where he convinced President Woodrow Wilson of the rightness of his cause. On October 18, 1918, Masaryk, standing on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, proclaimed Czechoslovakia's independence.

With the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, the Allies recognized Masaryk as head of the Provisional Czechoslovak government, and in 1920 he was elected the first President of Czechoslovakia. He won re-election twice subsequently, and held office until December 14, 1935, when he resigned owing to bad health and Edvard Beneš succeeded him. Masaryk enjoyed almost legendary authority among the Czech and Slovak people.

Masaryk married Charlotte Garrigue, a Protestant American, from whom he took his middle name, who died near Prague in 1923 from an unspecified illness. His son, Jan Masaryk, served as Foreign Minister in the Czechoslovak government-in-exile (1940-1945) and in the governments of 1945 to 1948. Charlotte gave birth to four other children, Herbert, Alice, Anna and Olga.

Masaryk died from natural causes in 1937 at the age of 87, in Lány, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic. His funeral is pictured in the art sleeve for the American band Faith No More's final LP, Album of the Year, to portray the end of a golden age.

Masaryk wrote several books, including The Problems of Small Nations in the European Crisis (1915). The writer Karel Čapek wrote a series of articles entitled 'Hovory s TGM'(=Conversations with TGM) which were later collected as a form of autobiography.

[edit] Philosophy and religion

Masaryk's life motto was: "Nebát se a nekrást" (= Not to fear and not to steal). Masaryk as a philosopher was an outspoken rationalist and humanist. He emphasised practical ethics, reflecting the influence of Anglo-Saxon philosophers, French philosophy, and especially the work of 18th Century German philosopher, Johann Gottfried Herder, the so-called founder of nationalism. He was critical of German idealistic philosophy and Marxism. Although born Catholic, he eventually became a non-practicing Protestant, influenced in part by the declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870 and his wife, Charlotte.

[edit] Order of Masaryk

The Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, a state decoration of the Czech Republic and former Czechoslovakia (established in 1990), is awarded to to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to humanity, democracy and human rights.

[edit] Memorials

Avenida Presidente Masaryk ("President Masaryk Avenue"), Mexico City's equivalent of Fifth Avenue in New York City, takes its name from him, as do Masaryktown, Florida and Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk] in Israel (near Haifa) This kibbutz was founded largely by Czech immigrants.

There is a statue of Masaryk in Washington, DC on Massachusetts Avenue as well as in Chicago on the Midway.

[edit] Bibliography

• Základové konkretné logiky ("The foundations of concrete logic") Prague, 1885 (German translation, Versuch einer concreten Logik, Vienna, 1887)
• Otázka sociální ("The social question") Prague, 1898 (German translation, Die philosophischen und sociologischen Grundlagen des Marxismus, Vienna, 1899)
• Russland und Europa Jena, Germany, 1913 (English translation by Eden and Cedar Paul, The Spirit of Russia, London, 1919)
• Svêtová revoluce ("The world revolution") Prague, 1925 (English translation edited by H. W. Steed, The Making of a State, London, 1927)
• Hovory s T. G. Masarykem ("Conversations with T. G. Masaryk") Prague, 1931–1935) by Karel Capek (English translations by M. and R. Weatherall, President Masaryk Tells His Story, London, 1934, and Masaryk on Thought and Life, London, 1938)^[1]

[edit] Family Tree

Tomáš Masaryk

Charlotte Garrigue

Alice

Herbert

Jan Masaryk

Eleanor

Olga

Hana

[edit] References

1. ^ Donald E. Borchert, ed. (2006), "Masaryk, Tomáš Garrigue", Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 6 (Second ed.), Thomson-Gale, pp. 1, ISBN 0-02-866072-2

[edit] External links

• Who's Who: Tomas Masaryk

Image:Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg Presidents of Czechoslovakia
First Republic	Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1918-1935) • Edvard Beneš (1935-1938)
Second Republic	Emil Hácha (1938-1939)
Government in exile	Edvard Beneš (1940-1945)
Transition to Communism	Edvard Beneš (1945-1948)
Communist	Edvard Beneš (1948) • Klement Gottwald (1948-1953) • Antonín Zápotocký (1953-1957) • Antonín Novotný (1957-1968) • Ludvík Svoboda (1968-1975) • Gustáv Husák (1975-1989)
after the Velvet Revolution	Václav Havel (1989-1992)

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