February 19, 1945 Jewish News Archive - Arne Laurin, Influential Czech Jewish Journalist, Dies in New York; Was 56 New York, Feb. 18 (JTA) "Arne Laurin, prominent Czech journalist and a close collaborator of Thomas Masaryk, first President of Czechoslovakia, and of Dr. Edward Benes, died here last night. He was 56. Mr. Laurin, who was Jewish, came to the United States in 1939 after the Munich Pact, which, he foresaw, meant the end of an independent Czechoslovakia. He was in charge of the archives of the Czechoslovak consulate here. As editor of the Prager Presse, official spokesman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Office. Mr. Laurin worked closely with both Masaryk and Benes and was an influential behind-the-scenes figure in Czechoslovakia from its inception. He was born in Huncire, near Prague, in 1889."
