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."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Six

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/3)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 3)

The leader of the Sudeten German Nazis was Konrad Henlein. Henlein and his associates were essentially instructed by Hitler to keep the pressure on the Czech government, but to avoid agreeing to any solution to German grievances. In the meantime, Hitler instructed the German military to prepare a plan for an attack on Czechoslovakia. There has been some debate by historians whether Hitler ever really intended to launch an invasion of Czechoslovakia, or whether he simply intended to threaten to use force to achieve his aims. I go with the latter. Again, this is not an attempt to "whitewash" Hitler, for while he was evil, he wasn't always stupid. The Czechoslovak military was seen as potentially very good, and given their defensive system and the mountainous terrain, there's no question in my mind that Czechoslovakia would have been one tough nut for Hitler to crack, especially since it is doubtful that Britain and France would have stood by idly, if indeed Hitler had launched an attack. With the German military not fully prepared for war at that point, I can't imagine how they would have successfully fought a war on two fronts; against the French and British in the west, and against the Czechs in the east.* Czechoslovakia also had an alliance with the Soviet Union, but the Czechs looked "westward," especially given that the Soviets were communist, and they didn't completely pursue getting the Soviets involved in this crisis. If, however, you add in the "potential" of intervention by the Soviet Union, there is just no way that Germany could have prevailed. Hitler's plans, however, rattled the German generals, some of whom feared he was going to bring about Germany's destruction if he attacked Czechoslovakia. Some of the less inhibited generals began to plot to remove Hitler from power. This is significant, because it marked the beginning of a limited, but true, and more organized "resistance" to Hitler within Germany.

The problem for Czechoslovakia was public opinion; that is, public opinion in other countries, especially in Britain (and also America), where people tended to favor the German point of view that Germans in the Sudetenland belonged in Germany. The President of Czechoslovakia was Edvard Beneš, and he was a pretty smart man. He believed Hitler wanted not only the German population of the Sudetenland, but Czechoslovakia as a satellite country. Hitler often looked to the German past (fascists often look to the past), and the Czech areas, Bohemia and Moravia, had been a part of the old German Empire, which ended in 1806. Beneš hoped to show the world that Hitler and the Sudeten Germans were not really interested in reaching an agreement.

* France had an alliance with Czechoslovakia, but Britain did not; however, I certainly believe the British would have sent troops to reinforce the French, if Hitler had attacked Czechoslovakia.

WORD HISTORY:
Heal-Like its close relatives "health" and "whole," this goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the idea of "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hailjan(an)," a verb form meaning "to make whole, to make sound, to save." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "healan," with the same basic meaning. Later it became "helen," before the modern spelling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "heilen," Low German has both "helen" and "heele," depending upon dialect, Dutch has "helen," West Frisian has "hielje," Swedish has "hela," Danish has "leles," Norwegian has "helbrede." Icelandic no longer uses a form of the word.