The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-Five

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part One
"War Comes To Europe"

Unlike the well trained and equipped Czechoslovak military, the Polish military lagged behind in the development of modern armaments and military tactics. The German forces became famous for their use of air power to strike quickly at enemy air units, whose planes often were destroyed in great numbers while still on the ground, and to hit military targets near the front lines, but also to bomb targets like railways, supply areas, and industrial complexes far behind the lines. The fast charging tanks (the Panzers), motorized infantry and mobile artillery developed breakthroughs, which were then consolidated by well trained German infantry. The Polish army lacked significant armor, although they had purchased some tanks from both France and Britain. As was often the case for many armies at that particular moment, the Poles tended to disperse the tanks to support their infantry (again, the Germans tended to use their tanks in large formations to batter their way through enemy lines and into rear command and supply areas, sowing chaos as they went). The Poles also had some fine horse cavalry units, but they were outmatched by modern tactics and weaponry.*

The Germans had been "claiming" abuse of German minorities in Poland, and that Polish troops had been raiding German border areas. I can't tell you that all of this was 100% nonsense, but much of it was just that. Further, to give "cover" for their invasion of Poland, concentration camp inmates were dressed in Polish uniforms, killed, and left around German border installations to make it look as if Polish troops had attacked across the border. Germans, also in Polish uniforms, fired some rounds to make things seem real, and in one place, a German radio station was "captured" and a message broadcast in Polish. While people in other countries were skeptical of German claims of breeches of their border by Poland, you must remember that most Germans had only one source of information, Nazi leader Josef Goebbels' propaganda machine.

So during the early hours of September 1, 1939 German forces crossed the border into Poland. German units in Danzig seized most of the areas of the city. Hitler summoned the Reichstag into emergency session to give a speech dealing with why he sent troops into Poland. Essentially the speech was a declaration of war on Poland, and Hitler appeared at the Reichstag in a military jacket, claiming to be "the first soldier of the German Reich." Thereafter, Hitler always wore a military jacket for all public appearances. During the speech, he made the claims about mistreatment of Germans living in Poland and about how Polish troops had fired on German soil. He attempted to make the whole matter appear to be a large German counterattack, rather than an invasion, even saying in reference to Polish gunfire on German territory, "Since 5:45 (a.m.) we have returned fire; and from now on, bomb will be met by bomb."** The last part of the speech was an attempt to rally the German public to war.*** After Hitler finished, the delegates formally voted to make Danzig a part of Germany, not that the vote was ever in question.

What would Britain and France do now?

* True horse cavalry units were not dead by World War Two, but many countries were converting cavalry units to light mechanized forces, with light tanks and armored cars. There was a tendency to keep the term "cavalry," and the associated "dragoons," "lancers," or hussars," for the sake of tradition in many units, and that is still true today. Horse cavalry were still around during World War Two, and some military forces, like the Red Army of the Soviet Union, made great use of them. The Germans had a full division of cavalry when the war started, but they later converted that division to an armored unit. They later formed a variety of cavalry units, although often they were a mixture of horse cavalry and light mechanized units.

** "Seit 5 Uhr 45 wird jetzt zurückgeschossen; und von jetzt ab wird Bombe mit Bombe vergolten."

*** As during the crisis over the Sudetenland, there were many foreign press people in Germany, especially in Berlin, at this time. Reports say the German public was depressed about the possibility of war, and Hitler was very disappointed in public reaction to reports of the outbreak of war, especially as he drove to the Reichstag to give his war speech, as there were no cheering crowds to greet him.

WORD HISTORY:
Cavalry-The ultimate origin of this word's ancestor is unknown. It is not uncommon for some (especially Americans?) to mistakenly pronounce it as if it were spelled "cal-vary," as in Mount Calvary. It was borrowed into English around the mid 1500s from French "cavalerie," a word they got from Italian "cavalleria, " which meant "force of mounted troops." This in turn came from "cavaliere," which meant "mounted soldier, horseman." This is the source of English "cavalier," which was likewise borrowed into English during the 1500s, and which came to mean more than just "horseman" in English, but rather "a mounted noble or knight." The Italian form went back to Latin "caballarius," which too meant "horseman, mounted soldier," and it was derived from Latin "caballus," which simply meant "horse" (modern Italian has "cavallo" and Spanish has "caballo," for example, as their words for "horse"). Latin "possibly" got the word from Greek, which had "kaballes," meaning "nag," but where Greek got that word is unknown. German, too, borrowed the word for cavalry from French as "Kavallerie," and for those studying German, it is feminine; thus, "die Kavallerie."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty-One

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" Part Nine
"Toward War Over Danzig"

In April 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt communicated to Hitler a number of his concerns about events in Europe. Up until this point, "isolationist" America had largely stayed out of the developing situation in Europe. Hitler summoned the Reichstag into session as a platform to give a public answer to Roosevelt and to publicly lay out his proposals to Poland to deal with issues of the former German territories lost to Poland as a result of post-World War One border adjustments.*

The issues between Germany and Poland were over the city of Danzig and the area known as "the Polish Corridor." When Poland was re-established after World War One, the country needed an outlet to the Baltic Sea for trade. The territories along that part of the Baltic all belonged to just defeated Germany. These areas had been under German rule for quite some time, but still, the population of certain areas was mixed, with actual Polish majorities in many places.** An area was carved out to provide Poland with access to the sea, and this area came to be known as "the Polish Corridor." It was a "corridor," because it divided the largest part of Germany from its eastern province, East Prussia. Also in the eastern area of this corridor lay the port city of Danzig, a city with between 90-95% German population. Poland needed a port, but with the city so overwhelmingly German, it was decided to remove Danzig from German rule, make it a "free city," and place it under a League of Nations commissioner; Poland, however, was given special rights in Danzig to guarantee Polish use of its port facilities, and all routes in and out of the city, both by rail and roadway, were under Polish control.

In his speech to the Reichstag, Hitler told of the proposal he had made to the Polish government about Danzig:
-Danzig would return to German rule, but Germany would recognize and acknowledge Polish economic rights in Danzig
-Germany would build and control a rail line through the (Polish) corridor, as a sort of corridor through the corridor, to have direct land connection to her territories in Danzig/East Prussia
-Germany would then "accept the borders between Germany and Poland as final"
-Germany and Poland would sign a "non-aggression pact" of 25 year duration.

This proposal is actually quite astounding to me. Hitler was giving up any claim on the Polish Corridor territories, which had been a sore spot for many Germans (of course, what were they going to do, protest to Hitler?). He wanted Danzig returned to Germany, but he would then guarantee Polish economic rights there.*** Why the Polish government refused the offer is puzzling (although just how the "corridor through the corridor" would have worked, I'm not sure), except that they had seen Hitler deal with Czechoslovakia recently, and they had decided the safest deal with Hitler was no deal.****

Prominent, but controversial, British historian, A.J. P. Taylor believed Hitler was willing to put such an offer on the table to Poland, because he wanted Poland as an ally in a war against the Soviet Union. I tend to agree with Taylor on this point, as there was no love lost between Poland and the Soviet Union; the former Russia. Taylor argued that Hitler needed an area with a fairly large common border with the Soviet Union, and Poland certainly qualified for that. By having Poland as an ally in such a war, Hitler would have been able to send troops and supplies for those troops through Poland, without having to worry about occupying and garrisoning the country, which would have been necessary, if he were to take it over by force; thus creating an adversary in the rear of his armies fighting the Soviet Union. Whatever Hitler's reason(s), the Polish rejection of the proposal caused rising tensions in Europe over the summer of 1939.

Hitler's speech of that day, April 28, 1939, is perhaps his most famous, and its best remembered segment had to do with one of his answers to Roosevelt. Who advised Roosevelt to send such a letter to Hitler, worded as it was, must have been under the influence of some strange substance. Roosevelt asked for the assurance that Germany would not invade any of the countries enumerated in Roosevelt's question. Hitler, on friendly grounds in the German Reichstag, and with a huge radio audience in Europe and elsewhere, turned the question into a belittlement of Roosevelt by sarcastically reading off the names of the individual countries, ALL 30 OF THEM. The German delegates broke into laughter as the list went on and on (American correspondent and writer William L. Shirer mistakenly says in his book, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," that Hitler left out Poland from the list, but that is not true. I've seen the clip of that part of the speech numerous times, and Hitler did indeed mention Poland, which in German is "Polen"). Hitler then also turned the question on Roosevelt, by asking by whose authority the American president was asking for assurances for these countries. Further, by noting that Roosevelt had mentioned "Ireland" as one of the countries, Hitler said that he checked with Irish officials to determine whether they felt threatened by Germany, and he had received the answer that they were far more fearful of Britain, than Germany.***** He noted too that some countries mentioned in Roosevelt's list were not independent countries at all, but under "occupation" by British or French forces. It was quite an embarrassment for Roosevelt and his foreign policy people.

* Hitler had already communicated his proposals to Poland, but the Polish government, with Jozef Beck as Foreign Minister, had rejected them, although the Poles agreed to ponder some of the proposals. I've given the essentials of Hitler's proposal in the text above.

** After these areas became part of Poland, large numbers of Germans moved over the border, in one direction or the other, into Germany over the following years, but by 1939, there was still a German minority there, but much reduced in size.

*** Poland had been developing her own port at Gdynia, not far from Danzig, but that only lessened the importance of Danzig to Poland somewhat.

**** The Polish government also had claims against Czechoslovakia, as I noted in the earlier articles about the Czech crisis, so they weren't exactly innocent in the dismemberment of that country.

***** Of course, in case you did not already know, Ireland and Britain had very bitter feelings between them, something that has settled down somewhat, but not completely, even in our own time.

WORD HISTORY:
Rathskeller-Some of you may live in an area where you have a bar and restaurant with the name "Rathskeller," so I thought I'd keep the tie in with this series on Germany by doing this compound word, borrowed into English from German, although English also has forms of both parts of this compound on its own. Since it is a compound, first the "rath" part, which is NOT related to our word "rat," the rodent ("rat, the animal, IS, however, related to the first part of "rodent")." Since we're at the part of German history about Hitler, I think I will do the history of "rat," the animal, next, as it is appropriate. German "Rat(h)," is closely related to English "read" and the archaic "rede" (advise/council/counsel), although since these are verbs, the actual related German verb is "raten." It goes back to Indo European "re(i)," with the general meaning of "to reason," and thus, "to consider." This gave the Old Germanic spinoff "raedaz," with the notion of "consider, interpret, advise" (all tied to "reason"). Modern German "Rat," a noun, means "advice, counsel," and was originally "rad," in Old High German. By the way, German "Rathaus" is not a "rat house," but rather "city hall," or "town council house." The modern meaning of its English relative, the verb "read," came from the notion of "interpreting a text." The "Keller" part, as does English "cellar," goes back to Indo European "kel," which had the idea of "conceal, cover;" thus by extension "save, protect." This gave Latin "cella," which meant "storage room, storeroom." This then produced "cellarium," a word for "pantry, storeroom." Old French inherited the word from Latin as "celier," and it meant an underground storage room" (people kept many things in underground storage to keep them cool). English then borrowed the word, probably from Norman French (the Normans would have brought their form of the word with them to England), as "celer," and then the modern spelling. German also borrowed the word from French "cellier," as "chellari," which then became "kellari," before the modern spelling. "Rathskeller" developed from the practice of selling beer from the cellar of town halls, where is was kept cool before refrigeration was available.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Nine

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" Part Seven
"A Possible Turning Point; Hitler Takes Czechs Into The Reich"

NOTE: I forgot to mention that during the "Sudeten German crisis," the German public was highly apprehensive about going to war, according to the many correspondents there. The hysterical crowds at the 1938 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg and at a Hitler speech in Berlin* just prior to the Munich Conference were not really representative of the average German (from what is known). While there were no actual public opinion polls, there were many foreign reporters in Germany during that era, including Americans, and virtually all noted the downbeat mood of the German public about the possibility of war.

So now Czechoslovakia was much smaller in size,** but still with problems, primarily now from the Slovaks, who wanted total independence. Hungary had received some territory with substantial Hungarian population as part of a separate agreement made at Vienna the month after the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany, but the Hungarians still harbored ill feelings toward the peace treaties and border adjustments made after World War One, especially as they applied to the rest of Slovakia, which they ruled prior to the end of the war. By March 1939, the Czechs sent troops into Slovakia and Slovak leaders were removed from their positions. The Slovaks declared independence (with Hitler's support and insistence). President Hacha went to meet Hitler in Berlin, where he was told the capital of Prague would be bombed unless he cooperated with Germany. Hacha gave in and German troops crossed into his country later that morning, and Hitler himself followed a bit later. The Czech territories were occupied by Germany and declared the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia," and Slovakia was independent, although with foreign policy tied to Germany (as a satellite country, in other words).

During the Sudeten crisis the previous year, Hitler had said Germany wanted "no Czechs." Further, he made the statement that the Sudetenland was his "last territorial demand in Europe."*** These two things and Hitler's signing of Chamberlain's "peace for our time" agreement were not forgotten in other countries, and Hitler, by taking Czechs into Germany, lost any credibility for just being a German patriot who wanted to unite Germans. Other European governments now began to reassess their policies toward Hitler and about how to deal with him.

* In a much anticipated speech given to 20,000 at the Berliner Sportpalast (Berlin Sport Palace), Joseph Goebbels whipped the faithful into a frenzy as he introduced Hitler. The speech was given on September 26, just three days before the Munich Conference, and I believe it was carried on radio throughout various parts of the world. No question in my mind that Goebbels, the propaganda genius, arranged everything to demonstrate German public support for Hitler's demands made on the Czech leaders. Twenty thousand Nazi Party members, however, were not the same as millions of average Germans, but in times of crisis, humans don't always think of such things, and the effect of the speech as it came across on radio with the hysterical crowd shouting "Führer befiehl, wir folgen" ("Führer command, we follow"), served Goebbels' purpose of making the world believe Germans were totally committed to Hitler's policy (although even if they weren't committed, there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do about it in a totalitarian police state).

** Technically, the official name of the country became "Czecho-Slovakia," to indicate the Slovaks had declared self government in the Slovak region, under Jozef Tiso. Edvard Beneš resigned as president of the country and went to England. He was replaced by Emil Hacha.

*** It is hard to believe that others from those times would have accepted this statement about territorial demands, as there were still several contentious issues of Germans living under non-German rule; especially, the city of Danzig, where the population was more than 90% German, and under a League of Nations Commissioner, the Polish Corridor and parts of Silesia where more than a million Germans lived under Polish rule, and in Memel and environs, where a substantial German majority lived under Lithuanian rule.

WORD HISTORY:
Hail-This is not related to "hail"=ice pellets, rather this word is used as a verb, an adjective and an interjection. This is the word used as an old greeting. It is closely related to "health," and indeed, that was the basic meaning lying behind its use as a greeting; that is, "health (to you)." Like its relatives, "health, heal and whole," it goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the general meaning "healthy, unharmed, in a sound, complete ("whole") condition." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," also with the same meaning. It "seems" Old English "hal" was then influenced in extended meaning by Old Norse "heill," or more specifically by the Norse expression "ves heill," which meant "be healthy, have good health." This expression gave Old English "wæs hæil," with the same meaning, and it eventually was contracted into "wassail;" that is, "a toast to someone's health," that later came to also be applied to a specific drink used for such a toast. The general idea, however, remained just in the word "haeil," which came to be used as a greeting, and was later spelled "hail." The same idea lies behind the closely related German word "heil," which the Nazis used in greetings "Heil Hitler" and "Sieg heil," the latter meaning "hail to victory." By the way, before English borrowed the word "victory," English had "sige," obviously a close relative to German "Sieg."