The association will build a monument to Josef Mašín and the resistance in Lošany

Lošany - The Mašín Family Farm Association - a memorial for three resistances wants to build a memorial in Lošany in the Kolín region dedicated to the resistance and anti-Nazi resistor, Major General Josef Mašín. It will be established at Mašín's birthplace, which his family regained from the state about two years ago, said Petr Blažek, the vice-chairman of the association, to ČTK. Construction is expected to begin next year, and it could be completed within two to three years. The costs will be around ten million crowns. However, if the association realizes all its plans, the costs will be significantly higher.

The farm will be modified during the construction of the memorial. In one part of it, only the outer walls will remain, and a tree will be planted between them, symbolizing the indomitable strength of the Mašín family and the fragility of human lives. In the farm building, the main visitor room is to be created with information about the first, second, and third resistances. The project is divided into several phases depending on financial availability.

The authors of the proposal are students from the Czech Technical University (ČVUT). Architect and ČVUT teacher Tomáš Hradečný offered cooperation to the association. "He offered Ms. Mašínová that the ČVUT students would take it as their year project, and she would choose the best design with other members of the association. The construction documentation is currently being prepared with students in the studio, which would allow construction to start next year," Blažek said.

The association aims to raise money for the memorial's construction through a public fundraising campaign that has already been established. A transparent account has also been set up so that the public can monitor the flow of money. The official announcement of the public fundraising campaign will take place on Monday, August 26, the day of the celebration of what would have been Josef Mašín's 123rd birthday. According to Blažek, there is a great chance that the entire amount needed for construction can be raised from the public. Many people, he says, contributed even before the official start of the fundraising campaign.

The Mašín family lived on the farm for centuries. In 1940, anti-Nazi resistor Josef Mašín had it transferred to his three minor children. Later, the state seized the farm. After November 1989, Zdena Mašínová obtained two-eighths of the farm, while the rest remained with the state because brothers Ctirad and Josef Mašín did not return to the Czech Republic from the United States.

Since 2012, Mašínová has been challenging in court the contract that Josef Mašín signed to transfer the farm to his children. She claims that her father signed the contract under duress and that he was the actual owner at the time of his death. The District Court in Kolín, however, dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds because Mašínová was the only one of several heirs to request the determination of ownership. The verdict was upheld by the Regional Court in Prague and the Supreme Court.

It wasn't until the Constitutional Court in 2015 returned the decision to the Kolín court that, according to the judges, initially acted too formalistically by not instructing Mašínová about the obligation to act in coordination with other heirs. Her brother Josef, who had previously refused to have anything to do with the Czech judiciary, later joined Mašínová's lawsuit. The heirs of Ctirad Mašín, who died in 2011, also agreed to the lawsuit. Ultimately, in spring 2017, the Kolín court ruled that Mašín indeed signed the contract under duress, thus nullifying it. This allowed Mašínová to request a new inheritance proceeding. The family officially became the owners of the farm at the end of 2017.