Silver medal T.G. Masaryk 85th anniversary of his birth 1935

RAZITKO_POSTOVNE_ZDARMA_NENI

T.G. Masaryk 1935

Silver commemorative medal issued in Czechoslovakia in 1935 on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the birth of T.G. Masaryk. These coins are very rarely acquired and are therefore highly sought after by collectors and investors. Certificate of authenticity is not included.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (abbreviated T. G. M. i TGM, 7 March 1850 Hodonín - 14 September 1937 Lány) was a statesman, politician, philosopher and educator, the first President of the Czechoslovak Republic. For his services to the state, the Parliament awarded him the title "President Liberator" and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seventeen times.

He came from a poor family. His father, originally Slovak, was a coachman, his mother worked as a cook. After studying in Strážnice, Brno and Vienna, he graduated in 1876 with a philosophical work on Plato. While studying in Leipzig, he met his future wife, the American Charlotte Garrigue, in 1877 and married her in New York in 1878. The following year he habilitated in Vienna with a sociological thesis on suicide. After the establishment of the Czech University in Prague in 1882 he was appointed professor of philosophy. He founded and edited the monthly Athenaeum, initiated Otto's Dictionary of Learning and entered public life by criticizing the so-called Manuscripts. He led his students to be critical and scientific in the spirit of Auguste Comte, and his program of "realism" centered around the weekly journal Time.

In 1890 he joined the Young Czech Party with friends and the following year was elected a member of the Reichstag. He defended both the greater autonomy of the Czech lands and the interests of the South Slavic peoples, but resigned in 1893 due to disputes with the radical party leadership. In an effort to cultivate Czech political thought, Masaryk began to study history. He built on František Palacký's concept and reflected on the historical mission of the Czech nation. He considered the Czech Reformation and national revival as expressions of humanity to have a broader, universal meaning. At the same time, however, Masaryk was also concerned with social issues, supporting the eight-hour working day and universal suffrage. In 1899 he spoke out against anti-Semitic superstitions and demanded a review of the Hilsner trial (the so-called Hilsneriad). In 1900 he founded the Czech Progressive Party, for which he was re-elected (its only) Reich deputy in 1907 and 1911. On the basis of his long study and numerous visits to Russia, he published in German from 1913 his most extensive and world-famous work "Russia and Europe", translated into several languages.

Masaryk made ample use of his contacts, knowledge and experience when he travelled to the West in 1914 and, through R. W. Seton-Watson and others, introduced Czech demands to world politicians. In 1915 he was unable to return because a warrant was issued for his arrest and his wife was imprisoned. Edvard Benes and other friends were then the liaison with home. He contacted Czech compatriots around the world, won their support, and in June 1915 in Geneva he publicly declared the demand for an independent state for the first time. The same year he went to London, where he became a professor at King's College, while tirelessly publishing and persuading. In 1916, M. R. Štefánik arranged for him to be received by the French Prime Minister Briand in Paris, where the Czechoslovak National Council was also established.

In February 1917, when the Great Powers recognised the then formulated Czechoslovak demand, Masaryk went to Russia to gather troops in order to give more weight to his programme. The Czechoslovak legions gradually numbered up to 50,000 men and operated mainly in Russia, but were subordinated to the National Council and incorporated as allies in the French army. Masaryk himself directed the organisation of the legions. After the October Revolution and Russia's separate peace with Germany, he went across Siberia to Japan to arrange for the legions to be transported to France. He arrived in the USA in April 1918. He lectured, wrote, and agitated, especially among his countrymen, and the great successes of the Legionnaires to date were his strong argument. Masaryk's book "New Europe" contributed to President Wilson's rejection of Austrian proposals for the federalization of the monarchy and his support for self-determination for Slavic and other nations.

News of the revolution in Prague and the creation of Czechoslovakia on 28 October 1918 reached Masaryk while he was still in America, as did news of his election as president. On his way home, he visited England, France and Italy and the Czech legionnaires, and on 21 December 1918 he was triumphantly welcomed in Prague. Immediately after the 1920 election he was re-elected, although he won only about 65% of the vote, and similarly in the next election in 1927. It was not until the third election in 1934, which the constitution allowed President Liberator and which was held as a demonstration for democracy, that he won 73% of the vote. Communists and Slovak nationalists never voted for Masaryk. At the end of 1935 Masaryk abdicated for health reasons and died on 14 September 1937. His funeral was a great national rally for freedom and democracy.