The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Seven

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/4)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 4/Final)

President Beneš of Czechoslovakia was afraid that if his government ceded the Sudeten German territories of his country to Germany, Czechoslovakia might well fall apart. The Slovaks would then likely want independence, or even more likely, Hungary would want control over Slovakia, as the Hungarians had ruled Slovakia in the days of Austria-Hungary. Further, Poland was already pressing for the relatively small Tesin area of Czechoslovakia, an area with a good number of Poles. In May 1938, the Czech government called up army reservists to demonstrate their willingness to resist Hitler. Calls came from Britain for a peaceful solution to the Sudeten German issue and matters lingered over the summer of 1938.

By September, Hitler gave his closing address to the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, but he did not announce military action as many had expected, although rumors of an imminent German invasion persisted. The Sudeten Nazis provoked several incidents after the speech, and negotiations between them and Beneš broke down. With war seemingly moving closer and closer, Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, flew to Germany to meet with Hitler at his mountain villa at Berchtesgaden. Hitler claimed Czech terror tactics against Germans in Czechoslovakia and he demanded the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany. Chamberlain agreed, but wanted matters to be worked out after a plebiscite determined which areas would go to Germany. The French concurred, and the reluctant Beneš, too. Chamberlain returned to Germany for another meeting with Hitler to cement the agreement, this time in Bad Godesberg along the Rhine River.* Hitler then changed the terms, demanding immediate German occupation of the Sudetenland to protect Germans he claimed were being mistreated by the Czech government, AND that Poland's and Hungary's claims for territory also be settled at the same time. Chamberlain was stunned. At a further meeting the next day, Hitler agreed to wait until October 1** to occupy the Sudetenland, to give Chamberlain time to speak with the French and Czech governments. Neither was supportive of the agreement, and Chamberlain also faced opposition from people in his own government. War seemed likely.

As the clock ticked down, a conference was called to be held in Munich (München) on September 29. The four participating nations of the conference were Britain with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, France with Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, Germany with Hitler, and Italy with Benito Mussolini. Notice, Czechoslovakia was not even invited! By the early hours of the next morning, an agreement had been reached between the four leaders ceding the Sudetenland to Germany. Beneš was urged to sign it, which he reluctantly did. The Sudetenland was to be occupied by German troops in stages, ending on October 10, 1938.

Prior to leaving Munich, Chamberlain met with Hitler one more time. He carried a piece of paper with him that essentially said that Germany and Britain would work together to always avoid war between them, and he got Hitler to sign it. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain, in a famous bit of newsreel, waved the paper in the air saying that it was,"Peace for our time."

* Bad Godesberg is now a part of the city of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

** In the previous spring, Hitler had instructed his military to prepare for an attack on Czechoslovakia by October 1.

WORD HISTORY:
Holy-Another common Germanic word, related to 'health," "heal," and "whole," and as such, it also goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo" with the meaning, "healthy, unharmed, in a sound, complete ("whole") condition." This gave Old Germanic "hailaz," and the derived "hailaga," meaning "to be healthy spiritually." This in turn gave Anglo-Saxon "halig/haleg," meaning "holy, sacred." This then later became "holi/hali," before the modern version. As for the other Germanic languages: German and Dutch have "heilig," Low German has "hillig," and some dialects "heiljich," West Frisian "hillich," Danish and Norwegian have "hellig," Swedish has "helig," and Icelandic has heilagur. All mean "holy."