Hovory s T. G. Masarykem – Čapek Karel (2023)

When looking at Czech society in recent years, it seems as if Masaryk, whose hallmark was nobility and whose fundamental demand was morality, was never a part of our past. During times of oppression, he was silenced, yet the Czech nation experienced another period that undermined everything positive it had lived by until then. Just a year after Masaryk's death, a cesspool of decaying poison spilled out in the mutilated post-Munich state, which must have been circulating in the national veins for decades prior. Many believed that the previous direction of society was misguided and labeled its protagonists as national traitors. Let us pause today in some bustling place and look around at the passersby: are these gloomy crowds really the heirs of the times of the First Czechoslovak Republic, gloriously risen from the ashes of the Great War? Where does the spirit of the era reside, in which citizens offered gifts to the public under slogans like DEDICATED TO THE CZECH NATION, TO SCIENCE AND WORK? How accurate is historical memory? Or has someone thrown a shroud of death over our heads? Is Masaryk's conviction still with us, and are we not alone? Or could we at least borrow Masaryk for our days? "NEVER GIVE IN, THAT'S ALL!"