Claire Sterling (1919–1995)

1697 The Masaryk Case, by Claire Sterling (read 2 Mar 1982) In September 1981 I went to Czechoslovakia and so I decided to read this book. It is about the fall of Jan Masaryk on March 20, 1948, from a window in the Czernin Palace in Prague. The guide we had in Prague had known Masaryk and said he was a nice fellow--the guide also said the window was closed behind him. This book does not make a point of that, but concludes Masaryk was smothered with a pillow and then pushed out of the bathroom window. But it is just a thesis. I have no doubt it was murder, but it would not appear it can be proved. This book is "well-written," reminding me of the style of The Reporter--a magazine I subscribed to during its life 30 years ago. But the book is rather discursive, and with no footnotes it has a polemical sound at times. And I suppose I am naive but it seems awfully loaded with murder--and my trip to Czechoslovaks did not make me that scared. But the brutality of Stalin and his operatives is beyond question and 1948 was a Stalin operation in Czechoslovakia.… (mere)