Editing Jan Masaryk (section)

== Wartime ==
During the war he regularly made broadcasts over the [[BBC]] to occupied Czechoslovakia starting in September 1939 and ending in April 1945.<ref>{{cite book | url = http://www.plunkettlakepress.com/speakingtomycountry.aspx | first = Jan | last = Masaryk | title = Speaking to My Country | year = 2011 | publisher = Plunkett Lake Press | location = Lexington MA | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120316023944/http://www.plunkettlakepress.com/speakingtomycountry.aspx | archive-date = 2012-03-16 }} Foreword by [[Madeleine Albright]].</ref> Masaryk's speeches on the BBC's Czech language station made him into a national hero.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=82}} It was illegal to listen to the BBC in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, but that did not stop people from tuning in to the BBC every Wednesday night  to hear him speak on a radio program entitled ''Volá Londýn'' (''London Calling'').{{sfn|Zeman|1976|p=180}} On 8 September 1939, Masaryk gave his first radio broadcast on  the ''Volá Londýn'' show, where he called for "a free Czechoslovakia in a free Europe".{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=335}} During the war, the ''Volá Londýn'' radio show was the most popular radio program in Czechoslovakia and Masaryk was the most popular speaker on the show.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=335}}

In an article published in ''Central European Observer'' on 1 February 1940, Masaryk declared his war aims as: "My conviction is that our little country is not going to be saved by any of these grand 'isms'-neither Fascism nor Bolshevism, Pan-Germanism or Pan-Slavism...I am definitely a Slav, but I hope an European first. I am convinced that the fate of our people cannot be separated from that of other Central European and Danubian peoples, whether they are Slavs or not...Narrow nationalism should disappear...An equal partnership in the cause of an European ''Risorgimento'', a breakaway from isms of every kind. A Free Germany in a Free Europe; and besides her the Czechoslovakia of [[Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia|St. Wenceslas]], [[Jan Hus|Hus]], [[John Amos Comenius|Comenius]], [[František Palacký|Palacký]], [[Bedřich Smetana|Smetana]], Masaryk and [[Brothers Čapek|Čapek]]...A Free Czechoslovakia in a Free Europe".{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=341}}

When a [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]] was established in Britain in July 1940, Masaryk was appointed [[Cabinet of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile|Foreign Minister]].{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=335}}  He had a flat at Westminster Gardens, Marsham Street in London but often stayed at the Czechoslovak Chancellery residence at [[Wingrave]] or with President Beneš at [[Aston Abbotts]], both near Aylesbury in [[Buckinghamshire]].{{sfn|Zeman|1976|p=179}} With the launch of [[Operation Barbarossa]] on 22 June 1941, Beneš had an unlimited faith in the potential of the Soviet Union, believing that Germany would be defeated by the spring of 1942 at the latest.{{sfn|Bryant|2009|p=129}} Masaryk told the other cabinet members: "he [Beneš] now only has Russia on his mind. We must hold him, so that he won’t fly off to the sky".{{sfn|Bryant|2009|p=129}}  In 1942 Masaryk received an [[Doctor of Laws|LL.D.]] from [[Bates College]].{{sfn|Sviták|1990|p=269}} Beneš had lived in France for much of his life, and was described as someone who "knew France" well, but in contrast, he found the British to be something of a "mystery".{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=335-336}} Masaryk who lived in London for so long often made suggestions to appeal to a British audience.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=336}} Powell wrote: "An understanding of human psychology was not one of the President's outstanding achievements, nor was his knowledge of languages. Masaryk made up for these deficiencies".{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=336}}

Beneš's main interest as president of a government-in-exile to have the British agree to abrogate the Munich Agreement and accept that after the war the Sudetenland was to become part of Czechoslovakia again, a war aim that the British were initially opposed to as the British position until August 1942 was that the Munich Agreement was still in effect.{{sfn|Smetana|2008|p=36}} In a letter to Eden, who was again serving as Foreign Secretary, on 25 August 1941, Masaryk expressed much concern that the Atlantic Charter would mean that the Sudetenland would remain a part of Germany.{{sfn|Smetana|2008|p=238}} Masaryk argued to Eden that Czechoslovakia and the other neighbors of Germany needed a situation after the war that "would enable them to defend peace for themselves and for the world against any future attempts by aggression by Germany", which in turn required a defensible frontier (i.e. returning the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia).{{sfn|Smetana|2008|p=238}} Masaryk as foreign minister was regarded by the Foreign Office as the more reasonable than Beneš who was viewed as obstinate on the Sudetenland issue.{{sfn|Smetana|2008|p=301}}

In a 1943 speech on the ''Volá Londýn'' radio show to celebrate the Jewish new year, Masaryk urged people in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia to assist the Jewish community, saying it was incumbent to extend a helping hand to the "most wretched of the wretched" as he called the Jews of the protectorate, saying that he wanted ordinary Czechs to be able say after the war that "we remained decent people".{{sfn|Rothkirchen|2006|p=184}} A supporter of Zionism, Masaryk was a friend of Dr. [[Chaim Weizmann]].{{sfn|Rothkirchen|2006|p=184}}   

In June 1943, Masaryk spoke with Philip Nichols of the Foreign Office and expressed much doubt about a proposed treaty to create a military alliance between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union that was being energetically championed by [[Zdeněk Fierlinger]], the Czechoslovak ambassador in Moscow.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} Through Masaryk did not oppose the proposed treaty outright, he hinted to Nichols that he preferred that after the war that Czechoslovakia move closer to Poland rather than the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} Between 17 October 1943 – 10 February 1944, Masaryk went on a lengthy speaking tour of the United States, which removed him from the meetings of the Czechoslovak cabinet.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} In December 1943, Beneš went to Moscow to sign a treaty creating a 25-year military alliance between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} Upon his return to London, Masaryk was forced to accept the ''fait accompli''.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} In a radio speech on 16 February 1944, Masaryk stated that the Soviet-Czechoslovak alliance "was approved of in America", though "there were a few reactionaries who hide their own selfish interests behind the pretense of the fear of Bolshevism".{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}} Masaryk added that "we should get used to calling it the Soviet empire. Because it will be the Soviet empire which will play the most important role on the continent".{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=83}}

In an unauthorised act, Fierlinger in July 1944 sent out a public telegram to [[Edward Osóbka-Morawski]], celebrating the entry of the Polish People's Army onto Polish soil, which led Beneš to rebuke Fierlinger for an act that implied support for the Soviet puppet [[Polish Committee of National Liberation|Lublin government]].{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=68}} Masaryk wanted to fire Fierlinger for that letter, complaining he was no longer representing Czechoslovakia in Moscow in any meaningful sense of the term.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=68}} On 28 July 1944, the entire Czechoslovak cabinet recommended to Beneš that he sack Fierlinger as ambassador in Moscow and appoint a new ambassador who would represent the interests of the government-in-exile instead of the Soviet Union, advice that Beneš refused to accept.{{sfn|Zeman|Karlsch|2008|p=68}}

In April 1945, Beneš and Masaryk travelled to Moscow to meet Stalin, where it was agreed that the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia would be aligned with the Soviet Union, but that Czechoslovakia would retain its independence and democracy.{{sfn|Powell|1950|p=336}}