Lukes on Radio Prague: The Curious Death of Jan Masaryk
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, says a book published at the end of last year has sparked new debate on the death of former Czechoslovak foreign minister Jan Masaryk, who was found dead in his pajamas in the street outside the foreign ministry in 1948. His death was explained as a suicide.
Lukes was quoted in a February 20, 2016 segment on Radio Prague entitled, “Book Sparks Fresh Debate Over Suspicious Death of Jan Masaryk.“
From the segment:
“Well, I think the main breakthrough of the book is that it has jump-started the conversation. For many decades since the event in 1948, people have been trying to approach it from one or another direction. They have come with one or another interpretation. But essentially all these attempts fizzled out and we end up knowing pretty much as much as when we knew nothing. So I think the main achievement of this book is that it has restarted the conversation. It has renewed the interest. And it indicated that the field of inquiry simply needs to be enlarged for us to have any chance at all, ever some time in the future to come up with some plausible answer.”
You can listen to the entire segment here.
Igor Lukes writes primarily about Central Europe. His publications deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary developments in East Central Europe and Russia. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997 Lukes won the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching at Boston University.