Body of former Czechoslovak foreign minister exhumed in Czech Republic after 80 years

**Former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Exhumed in Czech Republic 80 Years Ago**

Czech police announced on September 2 that they had begun exhuming the remains of former Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, in a bid to shed light on his mysterious death nearly 80 years ago.

The police said in a statement on social media that the remains, which were buried in Prague's Olšany cemetery, will be examined using the most modern forensic methods.

"We believe that today's actions will bring us closer to clarifying the circumstances leading to Jan Masaryk's death," the statement said.

**What happened to the former diplomat?**

Masaryk was found dead on March 10, 1948. His body was found in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry, under the window of his bathroom. His mysterious death, at the height of the Cold War, has been the subject of much speculation for decades.

At the time, the Interior Ministry claimed he had committed suicide. Others have dismissed his fall as an accident or believed he was murdered by Soviet agents.

**Who was Jan Masaryk?**

Masaryk was born in Prague on September 14, 1886. He was the son of the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garíg Masaryk.

He served as the country's chief diplomat from 1940 to 1948, first in the government-in-exile during World War II and then in the post-war coalition government.

After the communist coup in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, he refused to resign and remained as foreign minister.

The case of his death has been re-examined several times since the fall of communism in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The country was later divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Earlier, Russia had reportedly summoned the Lithuanian ambassador after the bodies of Soviet soldiers were exhumed. Moscow condemned the exhumation as barbarity and desecration of war graves. The exhumation was linked to the law "On the Renunciation of Sovietization".