The Sudetenland

Essay submitted by Unknown

On January 30, 1933, the Nazis acquired mastery of Germany when Adolf Hitler was

appointed chancellor. That evening Hitler stood triumphantly in the window of the Reich

Chancellery waving to thousands of storm troopers who staged parades throughout the

streets of Berlin. The Nazis proclaimed that their Third Reich would be the greatest

civilization in history and would last for thousands of years. But the meteoric rise of

Hitler and national socialism was followed by an almost equally rapid defeat; the Third

Reich survived for a mere twelve years. But one of the main causes of World War II

was Hitler's public justification for the dismemberment of the Czech state through either

war or diplomacy was the plight of the 3.5 million ethnic Germans the Treaty of

Versailles had left inside Czechoslovakia. The main land that Hitler wanted to annex to

Germany was that of the Sudetenland, where most of the people living there were of

German origin. The land also bordered Germany to the South East, and Germany was

prepared to conquer this land at all cost.

"And now before us stands the last problem that must be solved and will be solved It

(the Sudetenland) is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe, but it is

the claim from which I will not recede..." - Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin, September

26 1938, just prior to the Munich conference.

Most of the German minorities live in Sudetenland, an economically valuable and

strategically important area along the Czech border with Germany and Austria. The

grievances of the Sudeten Germans against the Czech state had led to the rise of a

strong German nationalist movement in the Sudetenland. By the mid -1930's, this

movement had the support of almost 70 percent of the Sudeten German population.

Their leader, the pro-Nazi Konrad Heinlen, began demanding autonomy for this region

Both the real and contrived problems of the Sudeten Germans added credibility to

Hitler's charge that they were denied the right of self-determination and lived as an

oppressed minority, which he was obligated to defend In the spring of 1938, Heinlein

was directed by Hitler to make demands that the Czechs could not accept, thereby

giving Germany a reason to intervene. The Czech situation soon turned into an

international crisis that dominated the European scene for the rest of that current

year.

The weekend which began on Friday, May 20, 1938, developed into a critical one and

would later be remembered as the "May crisis." During the ensuing forty-eight hours,

the Governments in London, Paris, Prague and Moscow were panicked into the belief

that Europe stood nearer to war than it had at any time since the summer of 1914.

This may have been largely due to the possibility that new plans for a German attack

on Czechoslovakia called "Case Green" which were drawn up for him, got leaked out.

Hitler had begun to prepare an attack on the Sudetenland. The target date was the

beginning of October. He was prepared to employ an army of ninety-six divisions. The

Czechoslovak Government, aware of Hitler's intentions but uncertain when the blow

would fall, ordered a partial mobilization on May 21. Hitler was outraged, explaining to

his generals that he had offered no threat and was being treated with contempt. He

had been humiliated, and no one yet humiliated him with impunity. His rage against

Czechoslovakia increased, and on May 30 he issued a secret directive to his high

command: "It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in

the near future."

All through the summer Britain, France and the Soviet Union were aware that Hitler

planned to strike at the Sudetenland and perhaps the whole of Czechoslovakia. The

Czechoslovaks had an excellent intelligence system with Germany and knew from day to

day what Hitler was planning. Germany also had an excellent intelligence system, and in

addition it had in Konrad Henlein, the National Socialist leader in the Sudetenland, a

man who would stop at nothing to produce an insurrection or an act of deliberate

provocation against the Czechoslovak Government. The German newspapers were filled

with accounts of mass arrests of innocent men and women in the Sudetenland, and

there were the inevitable circumstantial stories "by our correspondent." Nonexistent

people in nonexistent villages were being slaughtered. The Czechoslovak Government

attempted to refute some of these stories but gave up in despair. Hitler ordered a

massive propaganda barrage against Czechoslovakia to prepare the German people for

the October invasion.

On September 12th at Nuremberg, Hitler went as close to declaring war against

Czechoslovakia as possible without actually signing the order to his troops to advance

into enemy territory. He cried out that the Czechoslovak Government was using all of

its means possible to annihilate the 3.5 million Sudeten Germans. He claimed that these

people were being deprived of their rights, for example, they were not permitted to sing

German songs or to wear white stockings. If indeed they went through with any of

these crimes they were brutally struck down. Although the tone was ferociously

threatening, he gave no examples of atrocities, perhaps because there were none. "The

misery of the Sudeten Germans is without end," he declared. He then went on to

promise that Germany would take care of her own and put an end to the continued

oppression of 3.5 million Germans. "I hope that the foreign statesman will be convinced

that these are not mere words," he added ominously.

This incredible declaration caused all of Europe to scramble and mobilize its respective

armies. Hitler was demanding the direct annexation of the Sudetenland by the Reich,

hinting that if necessary, he would resort to war. The Prime Minister of Britain, Neville

Chamberlain was particularly distressed by the reports coming out of Germany. Feeling

that quick action was necessary, he sent off a seven-line telegram to Hitler:

Having regard to the increasingly critical situation, I propose to visit you immediately in

order to make an attempt to find a peaceful solution. I come to you by air and am

ready to leave tomorrow. Please inform me of the earliest time you can receive me, and

tell me the place of meeting. I should be grateful for a very early reply.

Neville Chamberlain

Hitler accepted Chamberlain and following an entire days talks with Hitler, an exhausted

Chamberlain flew back to London to consult with his colleagues. Over the next week,

Chamberlain met many more times with Hitler. However, there was still a discrepancy

over the exact date when the evacuation would begin. On September 29th, 1938 the

Munich Conference was held. It was attended by representatives of France, Italy,

Germany and Britain. During the course of this conference a pact was drawn up and

signed by all the representatives of the respective countries.

Secret Reich Affairs

Agreement reached between Germany the United Kingdom France and Italy, in Munich

on 29 September 1938 Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into

consideration the agreement, which has already been reached in principle for the

cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following

terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon,

and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary

to secure its fulfillment:-

1. The evacuation will begin on the 1st October.

2. The United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall

be completed by October 10th, without any existing installations having been destroyed

and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the

evacuation without damage to the said installations.

7. There shall be the right of option into and out of the transferred territories, the

option to be exercised within six months from the date of this agreement. A

German-Czechoslovak commission shall determine the details of the option, consider

ways of facilitating the transfer of population and settle questions of principle arising

out of the said transfer.

8.The Czechoslovak Government will within a period of 4 weeks from the date of this

agreement release from their military and police forces any Sudeten Germans who may

wish to be released, and the Czechoslovak Government will within the same period

release Sudeten German prisoners who are serving terms of imprisonment for political

offenses.

Munich, September 29, 1938

ADOLF HITLER

ED. DALADIER MUSSOLINI

NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN

The date set in the pact for the beginning of Czechoslovakian evacuation of the

territory was October 1st 1938, and German occupation of four specified districts was

to take place in successive stages between October 1 and 7. Additional territories of

predominantly German population were to be specified by an international commission

composed of delegates from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Czechoslovakia,

and those territories were to be occupied by Germany by October 10th. The

international commission was also to determine and occupy areas in which plebiscites

were to be held and fix a date for such plebiscites no later than the end of November.

The plebiscites, however, were never held. It was also agreed that if the claims of

Hungarian and Polish minorities in Czechoslovakia were not settled in three months, a

new conference was to be convened. Great Britain and France agreed, in an annex to

the pact, to guarantee the new boundaries of Czechoslovakia against aggression, as

did Germany.

The night of the Munich conference Chamberlain slept in Munich, and in the morning he

called on Hitler to sign the Anglo-German agreement. After all that Chamberlain had

done for Hitler he felt that the least he could demand of Hitler was a declaration of

peaceful intentions toward England. Hitler signed the document without any particular

show of interest, since for him the "method of consultation" was totally meaningless.

Chamberlain returned to England in triumph, waving the letter to cheerful crowds,

believing that the peace of Europe was assured for a generation. The belief was not

shared by Hitler who despised Chamberlain as a weakling. "Our enemies are little

worms," he said a year later. "I saw them at Munich."

In conclusion, Hitler's victory was complete: the Sudetenland was his. While there were

still a few minor details to sort out, Adolf Hilter had gotten what he had come for.

However, in March 1939, the Munich pact was nullified when the Germans invaded

Czecho-Slovakia and subsequently made most of the country a German protectorate.

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