FUNERAL OF JAN MASARYK; CZECH MOURNING

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 March 1948, Page 6

FUNERAL OF JAN MASARYK; CZECH MOURNING

LONDON, March 13. Policemen stood 100* y ard . s along almost the whole 30-mile rou e of Mr Jan Masaryk’s funeral from the Pantheon, where a ceremony was held in Prague, to his grave,, dug at the right of his father’s in the village of Lany. , , Church bells tolled throughout Prague and crowds packed the streets. Some people wept softly, and there was a strange hush as a gun-can lage bore the coffin past the mourners. Lany had an influx of tens of thousands of visitors for the burial ceremony. Nearly every home in the village displayed a black-banded photograph of Mr Masaryk. People standing'behind their fences threw flowers at the procession. The service at the graveside was held at dusk.

“Not Exactly Joyful” The Deputy-Foreign Minister (Mr Clementis) said at the burial service that Mr Masaryk had known how to combine service to his country with service to mankind. “He left us in times not exactly joyful for such heralds of international understanding. He was a born concilliator and a tireless seeker of agreement.”

Thirty minutes after the coffin left the Pantheon, marchers were still lined far up the hill waiting to join the procession. The crowd in the streets easily numbered 1,000,000. There were hundreds of wreaths in the Pantheon. A wreath from the President (Dr Benes) was laid at the catafalque, and the national flag, on which were placed flowers from Mr Masaryk’s sister, Alice, covered the coffin. The hall of the Pantheon was draped in black and hung with flags. It was lit by six flames. Soldiers, war veterans, and members of the Sokol (the Communist-controlled gymnastics organisation) stood guard. Dr Benes Breaks Down

Dr Benes, who was making his first public appearance since the Government crisis on February 21, maintained his composure till a children’s choir sang the favourite folk song of President Masaryk. Then he broke into tears.

After' the ceremony the Prime Minister (Mr Gottwald) hesitatingly extended his hand, and Dr Benes took it in a brief handshake. Dr Benes then turned to the Speaker of Parliament (Mr Josef David) and gripped his hand firmly. Mr Gottwald, in a personal tribute beside Mr Masaryk’s bier, said: “I can prove it myself that from the first days of the Government crisis Mr Masaryk kept away from those who plotted the crisis. The press of the West began an organised campaign against Mr Masaryk. Whoever knew his character knew how sensitive he was toward personal attacks and must understand how difficult this

concentrated attack on his deepest feelings must have been. “These attacks, together with Mr Masaryk’s illness, provided the circumstances that drove him to his tragic end.

“I can prove that Mr Masaryk clearly and without compromise agreed with the action programme of the new Government and had already began to fulfil this programme within his sphere of influence. I can prove that Mr Masaryk, who decided to go with the people when he stood on the crossroad of our nation’s fate, meant what he said. “We who are staying here have taken a lesson from your bequest—that one should always go with the people. We, dear Honza (Mr Masaryk’s nickname), shall always be with the people and go forward with the people. This is our promise to you.”

“Tragic Victim Of The West”

The New York Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker, in a leading article on Mr Masaryk, says: “He was not, as newspapers so cynically ' proclaim over his dead body, ‘a hero of the West.’ He was, instead, a tragic victim of this ‘West,’ which is only another name for the capitalist money lords and their faithful followers in the upper class of society.” Under the headline, “Masaryk— Victim of Marshall Plan,” an article in the paper says: “It was the terror of the Marshall planners, manufactured and generated from here, which Masaryk was not strong enough to endure and defeat.”