Figure 1.--Hitler's Munich Diktat created Europe's first non-Jewish refugee crisis. Some 150,000 terrified Czechs, anti-NAZI Fermans, and the small Jewish population fled the advancing Germany Army with only a few day's notice. This image appeared in American newspapers. British newspaper said little about the refugees. 'The Times' and other British newspapers focused on NAZI celebrations, taking the editorial decision to down play Britain's abandonment of the Czechs--as Primeminister Chamberlain phrased it, 'people of which we know little'. The photograph was taken in Labem Melnic, across the new border, 35 km north of Prague. American newspapers did not try to hide the disaster. The wire service photo read, "The Other Side of the NAZI Triumph in Sudetenland: While the German army marches in ???????? the Sudetenland zones handed to Germany by the Munich conferees, thousands of terror-strricken Czechs, Jews and anti-Nazi Germans fled across the new frintiers of the shrunken nation, leaving behind them their homes and possessions accumulated suring aife time of lbor. Rough refugee camps have been established in a ???? ??? and near the large cities and here the refugees wait hopelessly for something to be done about their plight. The picture shows a young mother, Mme. Bensung, comforting her son as they lay in the straw in a camp near Lamem Melnic." Bensung looks like a German name, so this refugee appears to be anong the anti-NAZI Grmans. We do not know what happened to her husbnd. The photogrph was taken October 12, 1938.

The Munich Conference had immediate results. Even after the British and French capitulated at Munich, many Czechs still wanted to resist. There was some sentiment for this among both political and military leaders. Mass meetings in Prague protested the Munich Accord. Many demanded that the Government resist. Both the nationalist and Communists wanted the Government to resist. Workers came out in force. The Czech Army had been mobilized and was ready to fight. President Beneš decided to accept the terms of the Munich accords. He looked on the bloodletting that would have resulted. The power of the Luftwaffe was undoubtedly a major factor. The Wehrmacht as agreed to in the Munich Agreement began moving into the Sudetenland (October 1). They were received with jubilation. Hitler followed (October 3). Wenzel Jaksch who was the leader of the Sudeten Social Democrats flew to London hoping to arrange for refugee status for leaders of his party. The German Security Services and Gestapo followed the Wehrmacht and began arresting political opponents. The Times in London published accounts of the junilation of the Sudebten Germans along with photographs showing the cascade of flowers greeting the German soldiers. The Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, rejected photograhs of those fleeing the NAZIs. Capitulation to the NAZIs is not what the Czechs in the Sudetenland or beyond had expected. They thought the Czech Army aided by the Allies would resist. Thus the Czechs in the Sudetenlnd stayed put and few made plans to leave. Nir did the Czech Government make plans to care for refugees. As a result, when the Czechs announced compliance with the terms of the Munich Conference , the Czechs were surprises. And the Czechs in the Sudetenland had few options. They poured across the border with barely the shirts on their backs. They left homes, shops, and farms where their familes had lived for centuries. And along with them came Jews and anti-NAZI Germans having few illusions about what awaited them. Some 115,000 Czechs and 30,000 Germans fled across the border into what was left of Czech Bohemia. It was not just the Sydetenland that was lost. The rest of the country began to unravel. Poland took advantage of the situation to annex the Tesin region in the north of Czechoslovakia. Tesin had a Polish minority of 75,000. Polish leaders do not seem to have understood that they were next. Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia/Carpatho-Ukraine demanded autonomy.

Munich Conference (September 1938)

Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister mused how terrible it was that war should be threatened by a "... quarel in a far away country by people of which we know little." A prominent member of the British parliament displayed even more ignoramce when he told the press, "Why should we bother with those gypsies in the Balkans?", meaning the Czechs who were of course not located in the Balkans. It looked in September as if war was imminent. Chamberlain appealed to Hitler for a conference in a last minute effort to prevent war (September 28, 1938). The conference was held at Berchegarten, Hitler's mountain top refuge. Hitler and his ally Mussolini met with Primeminister Chmberlain and Premier Daladier. The Czechoslovak government was neither invited nor consulted about the discussions. The British and French gave in to Hitler's demands. The result was the Munich Agreement which was signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain (September 29). The Czechoslovak government, deserted by its allies, capitulated the following day and agreed to abide by the agreement forced upon (September 30). Chamberlain flew back to London and stepping off the plane waved the agreement signed by Herr Hitler which he assured the waiting repoters guaranteed "Peace in our time." Churchill was apauled. The British and French people were releaved. One European leader, Soviet Marshall Stalin, who was not invited to attend the conference drew the inescapable conclusion that the British and French could not be trusted as potential allies against Hitler.

President Beneš Decides Not to Resist

Even after the British and French capitulated at Munich, many Czechs still wanted to resist. There was some sentiment for this among both political and military leaders. Mass meetings in Prague protested the Munich Accord. Many demanded that the Government resist. Both the nationalist and Communists wanted the Government to resist. Workers came out in force. The Czech Army had been mobilized and was ready to fight. President Beneš decided to accept the terms of the Munich accords. He looked on the bloodletting that would have resulted. The power of the Luftwaffe was undoubtedly a major factor. Czech historians today debate what Beneš should have done. Churchill argued that the Czechs should have resisted. He believes that a German invasion would have affected British opinion. The French also may have come to the Czech's assustnce. Premiere Daladier himself had favored supporting the Czechs, although his Government narrowly voted to go along with Chamberlain. Given the Allies failure to support Poland a year later, it seems unlikely that real military assistance was likely.

Germans Occupy the Sudetenland (October 1938)

The Wehrmacht as agreed to in the Munich Agreement began moving into the Sudetenland (October 1). They were received with jubilation. Hitler followed (October 3). Wenzel Jaksch who was the leader of the Sudeten Social Democrats flew to London hoping to arrange for refugee status for leaders of his party. The German Security Services and Gestapo followed the Wehrmacht and began arresting political opponents. The Times in London published accounts of the junilation of the Sudebten Germans along with photographs showing the cascade of flowers greeting the German soldiers. The Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, rejected photograhs of those fleeing the NAZIs. The British offered no visas to Jaksch's colleagues. Many were arrested by the Gestpo. Others who manage to hide out in Czechoslovakia were at the demand of the German Government arrested and turned over to the NAZIs by the new Prague regime. [Fest, p. 567-68.] The Sudentland was incoporated into the Reich. One has to be careful how to assess the images of cheering Sudenten Germans welcoming the NAZIs. To us the NAZIs and the swastica represent the Holocaust, unimaginable attrocities, and the murder of millions. This is of course not what these peoples are cheering about. The jubilation is largely one an outburst of nationalism and patriotism. The people in the images saw themselves being liberated and finally united with the German Reich. One of the Sudenten Germans impressed with the NAZIs was a young Oskar Schindler. He came from a Catholic family in the Sudetenland and welcomed the NAZIs. Schindler joined the NAZI Party shortly after the German annexation of the Sudetenland. After Schindler went to Poland he began to see just what the NAZIs program entailed.

Refugess

Capitulation to the NAZIs is not what the Czechs in the Sudetenland or beyond had expected. They thought the Czech Army aided by the Allies would resist. Thus the Czechs in the Sudetenlnd stayed put and few made plans to leave. Nor did the Czech Government make plans to care for refugees. As a result, when the Czechs announced compliance with the terms of the Munich Diktat, the Czechs were surprised. And the Czechs in the Sudetenland had few options. They poured across the border with barely the shirts on their backs (fugure 1). They left homes, shops, and farms where their families had lived for centuries. And along with them came Jews and anti-NAZI Germans having few illusions about what awaited them. Some 115,000 Czechs and 30,000 Germans fled across the border into what was left of Czech Bohemia. As there had been no preparation for this exodus, they were in a poor state and the Government had nothing prepared to deal with their needs. The Institute for Refugee Assistance struggled to care for them. The Times and other British newspaers prominately featured the jubilation with which the Sudetenlanders received the German Army. Virtually nothing was said about the Czech and German refugees. The anti-NAZI Germans only briefly escaped the consequences of their opposition to Hitler. The SS had their names and the German Government began demanding that the Czechs turn them over immediately after the Sudetenland had been secured. The number of Jews ws relativeky small, but was virtully the entite Sudeten Jewish community. A few more refugees would come. The final count according to Czech authorities before the Germans seized what was left of the Czech state was 150,000 refugees. [Czech Institute for Refugee Assistance] When the Germans entered Prague (March 1939), many of the refugees has not yet been resettled.

Anti-NAZI Sudetenlanders

In the wake of the Wehrmacht as it poured into the Sudentland were the SD and Gestapo with lists of anti-NAZI Sudentenlanders. Wenzel Jaksch, head of the Sudenten German Social Democrats flew to London. He pleaded with the British Government to issue visas for his associates and other anti-NAZI Sudentenlanders. Lord Runciman pledged assiatance, telling Jaksch that the mayor of London was setting up a fund. The London Times published photographs of cheering Sudentlanders greeting the Wehrmacht. There were no images or articles about those fleeing the NAZIs. The British never issued the visas that Jaksch sought. Anti-NAZI Sudentlanders attempted to hide out in what remained of Czechoslovakia. When the NAZIs demanded that they be handed over, the terrified Czech Government meekly complied. [Fest, pp. 569-70.] This was also supressed by the Times.

Poland Seizes Tesin (October 1938)

Poland took advantage of the situation to annex the Tesin region in the north of Czechoslovakia. Tesin had a Polish minority of 75,000. Polish leaders do not seem to have understood that they were next.

Eastern Czechosolovakia

Carpathian Ruthenia/Carpatho-Ukraine was before World War I an area of northeastern Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It had a large Ukranian population. (The Austro-Hungarioan Empire used the term Ruthenian for Ukranian.) The Paris Peace Conference assigned the region go Czechoslovakia (1919). It was claimed by the soviet Union, the Ukraine, Romania, and Hungary. Czechoslovakia was the only realistic alternative. The Ukraine was unstable and would be absorbed by the Soviet Union. The Soviets were focused on their war with Poland. Armnsere run to the Poles through the region. Hungarian Magarization campaigns had made the Hyngarians very unpopular in the region. The region was very poor and underdeveloped. Under Czech rule it enjoyed a degree of autonmy and was the receipents of major efforts to improve the infrastructyure and education. Unlike neighboring countries, the Ukranian language was not suopressed. And by remaining separate from the Ukraine, the region escaped Stalins colectivization and famine in the Ukraine ityself (early-1930s). Immediately after the implementation of the Munich Agreement (September 29, 1938) stripping Czechoslovakia of its western border regions, Carpathian Ruthenia and Slovakia declared their autonomy within Czechoslovakia, which Prague accepted fearing German intervention. The autonomous Carpathian Ruthenia (Subcarpathian Ruthenia) changed its name to Carpatho-Ukraine (November 1938). Under the terms of the First Vienna Award flowing from the the Munich agreement, Nazi Germany and Italy pressured Czechoslovakia to cede the southern third of Slovakia and southern Carpatho-Ukraine to Hungary (November 1938). Hungary moved troops to the border, but because of the strength of the Czech Army did not invade to seize the area. We are not entirely sure of Hitler's motives here, but it served Hitler's purposes in a variety of ways. First it weakened Czechoslovakia further, a country that was desposed to the Allies and which Hitler hated with a passion. Second, it helped reduce the view of Munich Conference as veiled German agression by involving another country, namely Hungary. Third, it helped bring Hungary further into the NAZI orbit by providing territory that the Hungarians had coveted. The Second Vienna Award (August 1940) affected Romania. Hitler then invaded and seized most of what was left of the Czech Lands (March 1939). At this time, Slovenia and Carpatho-Ukraine declared independence. With the Czech Army stood down, the Hungarians invaded. Iregular Carpatho-Ukraine forces were unable to reist. The province was primarily Ukranian, but there was a Hungarian minority. One source suggests a population of 0.7 million Hungrians. The area remained a part of Hungary until the Germans seized control of their former Hungarian ally (early-1944). The Germans just before the arrival of the Soviets rounded up Jews in the province and transsported them to Auschwitz where they were murdered. The Red Army occupied the province (late-1944). After the War it was annexed by the Soviet Union as psrt of the Ukraine.

NAZI Gains

Munich was a great victory for Hitler and the NAZIs. Perhaps the greatest gain was in the domestic prestige it brought him. The Sudetenland was not an industrial area, but it was significant in many respects. It fulfilled the principal promise he had made to the German people--to resore the presige and honor of Germany. After Munich, Hitler was un assailable domestically. Opposition plotting in the Army collpsed. In practical terms, the annexation of the Sudetenland gave Germany the Czech border fortifications and renderdered Czecheslovalia defenseless. The Allies lost a potential ally willing and capable of fighting. And it mean that the Germans could simply march ito Prague 6 months later (March 1939). Germany would greatly enhance its armaments industry with Czech industry--especially the Skoda factory complex. Czecheslovakia also offered natural resources, including uranium mines--a resource Germany lacked. and the seizure of Czechoslovkia would provide new bases from which Poland could be invaded when Hitler and Stalin launced World War II (September 1939). It is unclear just what Hitler's time frame was. There is little doubt, however, that the failure of the Allies to match the pace of NAZI military spending and the resulting failure of Britain and France to forcibly contront him, caused Hitler to advance his timetable. One has to think about the beautiful Beatles song--'Give peace a chance'. (Judy Collins exress imilar setiments in 'The Patriot Game'.) Britain and France did as suggested- give peace a chnce. The result was a war that cost 50 million lives and the near destruction of Western Civilization.

Sources

Czech Institute for Refugee Assistance.

Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage Books, New York, 1974), 844p.

Created: 3:46 AM 3/14/2016
Last updated: 3:46 AM 3/14/2016