1937 20 koruna Czech Republic T G Masaryk

1937 20 koruna Czech Republic

1 koruna = 100 halura

In honor of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, principal founder and first president of the republic of Czechoslovakia (1918-1935). Soon after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Masaryk began to advocate the idea of an independent state for Czechs and Slovaks. In 1918 Masaryk traveled around the United States to gain American support for the establishment of a Czechoslovak republic.In 1918 World War I ended, Austria-Hungary collapsed, and an independent Czechoslovak republic was established. The new republic included Bohemia and Moravia, part of Silesia, and Slovakia; the eastern region of Ruthenia became part of Czechoslovakia the following year. Masaryk returned to Prague in late 1918 to become Czechoslovakia's first president.

With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the early 1930s, Masaryk came to feel that his country should have a younger leader. He resigned in December 1935, and retired to a country estate at Lány that the republic had presented to him, where he lived out the remaining two years of his life.

The official coat of arms of the Czech Republic is based on the arms of the lands of the Czech crown in the middle ages. The emblem of Bohemia proper is a lion with two tails. The two eagles represent Moravia and Silesia.