Dictated by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to his son, the document blends reflections on death with advice for governing a fragile, divided republic. Some joked it would turn out to be a recipe for a sponge cake, while others expected it might reveal the Slovak origins of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Historians confirmed that the five-page letter is authentic, written in Jan Masaryk’s own hand. After a brief examination, historian Dagmar Hájková suggested that the text was not written on Masaryk’s deathbed, as previously assumed, but rather around 1934. “The document records Masaryk’s words at a time when he was unwell and thought he was leaving his country,” she explained.