[1] However, his time in politics was short lived and he resigned in 1893 after martial law was imposed in Prague when protests broke out in 1893.
Leopold Hilsner, a Jewish vagrant, was accused of murdering Anežka Hrůzová, a Czech Catholic girl, even though there was little substantial evidence proving his guilt.
Much of the nationalist press began to portray the murder as a ritual killing in order to create anti-Semitic feeling throughout the country.
His defense led Emperor Francis Joseph to change Hilsner’s sentence from execution to lifelong imprisonment.
However, Masaryk has also been accused of showing slight totalitarian leanings, as he believed that one interpretation of history and vision of the future should be imposed.