13.5.1923 Charlotta Garrigue-Masaryk died

When President T. G. Masaryk learned that his wife had died, he fell to his knees and wept. He said that without her, he wouldn't have understood the meaning of life. Charlotte died on May 13, 1923, after suffering a stroke.

Charlotte Masaryk had already suffered a stroke on May 1, 1923. She became paralysed on her right side, could not move or speak and could only communicate with her loved ones with her eyes. Although she was under constant medical supervision, the attacks of the disease recurred and gradually paralysed her entire organism. She remained conscious until the next attack on 12 May. She died the next day, and although her family expected the worst, it was a heavy blow.

When T. G. Masaryk heard the sad news, he fell to his knees and wept. "He was unable to suppress such a strong personal pain. A being whom he not only loved deeply, but on whom he could rely in everything and who had been his faithful companion and advisor for many years, had passed away. She was seventy-two years old and the seventy-three-year-old Czechoslovak President became a widower," writesVladimír Liška writes in his book Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk - Known and Unknown.

Although T. G. Masaryk outlived his wife by fourteen years, no other woman could replace her. He did not remove his wedding ring from his hand until his death. He often visited her grave in the Lány cemetery, where he contemplated and remembered the moments they had spent together. "Without her, I would not have clarified the meaning of life and my political task," Masaryk said of his wife.

Charlotte's place was taken by Alice Masaryk, who was similar to her mother and inherited some of her character traits such as moral firmness, courage and care for her widowed father. Alice adored her father, he was an unquestioned authority figure to whom she looked up with respect, and after her mother's death she was theshe was the one person in the family who did her best to protect the President from people and influences she considered inappropriate or even harmful. The mistress of the house was chiefly at Lany, where she became the nurse in her father's private home.

She was also a great support to the President in the late summer of 1935, when Masaryk suffered several more minor strokes, after which he had difficulty walking, speech difficulties, could not write and found it difficult to concentrate on reading. "He confused Czech words with English ones and depended on the help of his loved ones, especially his daughter Alice. Although the political representation urged Masaryk to stay in office, he refused. He knew that he would only become a puppet in the hands of others," Liška describes the events of that time.

Masaryk died in Lány in September 1937 after another stroke. He was buried alongside his wife Charlotte in a newly built tomb in the Lány cemetery, where his tragically deceased son and then Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk was also laid to rest.

Vladimír Liška: Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk - known and unknown, Richard Sobotka: Charlotta Garrigue Masaryková, Vladimír Liška: Presidents