The German Question, Part One Hundred Thirty

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" Part Eight
"Memel Rejoins Germany"

Hitler used the "unification of Germans" as a potent issue, and I'm sure he essentially believed in it himself, given his history going back to his younger days among German nationalists in Austria.* It was not only a potent issue with Germans, but with many non-Germans, who sympathized with his attempts to put Germans living adjacent to, or near, Germany, under Germany's rule. This issue was, in my opinion, one of the reasons Britain and France did not act against him, up to that point;** they did not feel comfortable in risking war over issues where Hitler held sort of a "moral high ground." In the case of the occupation of the true Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia (German: Böhmen und Mähren; Czech: Čechy) by Hitler, he no longer held that moral high ground, as he could NOT justify it by saying he was just taking in Germans. In this case, he used the "historical connection" between these lands and Germany, as these territories had belonged to the Old German Empire, and later, as a possession of the Habsburgs, to the German Confederation in the 1800s. This position was far less defensible, and world opinion now took a serious turn against Hitler.

Just days after Germany occupied the Czech territory, the city of Memel (called "Klaipeda" by Lithuanians) and its environs entered the picture. The area had been detached from Germany and put under the League of Nations after World War One, but it had been taken over by Lithuania a couple of years later. The area had a population of about 140-150,000, about 27% of whom were Lithuanians, with the rest being German and "Germanized" Lithuanians, and it had been under some form of German rule for centuries (Prussia, German Empire, Weimar Republic). As Hitler's rule in Germany continued, pro-German unification elements increased their representation in elections to the local Memel legislative body to nearly 90%. These elements planned to vote for unification with Germany in a meeting in late March 1939. A Lithuanian representative met with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who verbally threatened Germany would militarily enter the region. The British and French, still stung by Hitler's move into Bohemia and Moravia, could offer no help to far off Lithuania and Lithuania signed an agreement ceding the region to Germany on March 23 and German troops entered, followed by Hitler, who came by ship.

* I say "he essentially believed in it," because he was first and foremost a politician. Being a politician obviously means he was subject to changes of opinion when it suited him.

** The Great Depression had caused many nations, including the United States, to turn inward in an attempt to solve their own economic problems. The German areas, those then outside of the German boundaries, were an exception. As Germany's unemployment dropped under Hitler, these Germans were drawn even more in their desires, beyond just being "Germans," to become a part of Germany. The British and French leaders, perhaps more in an effort to justify inaction against Hitler, also said they needed extensive rearmament programs before they could consider risking war to oppose Hitler. The problem was, early on in Hitler's aggressiveness, the German military was NOT all that strong, although the British and French "seemed" to have misjudged German strength, believing Hitler's "claims" of German military might. Certainly as time passed, the German military continued to strengthen, making British and French beliefs in German might closer to reality.

WORD HISTORY:
Horse-You would think this word is common in many Indo European languages, since the "horse" has been so important to humans. Well the forms of this word are not common, except in the Germanic languages, and even some of those languages do not use those forms any longer as their primary word for "horse." It goes back to Indo European "kers," with the meaning "run," a word base befitting of "horse," and which makes it related to "hurry." This then gave Old Germanic "(k)hursaz," or perhaps "(k)hrusaz," which meant "horse." No matter which form, some Germanic dialects transposed the "r" and vowel sounds. This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hors" (ah...no snickers!), before the modern spelling. German has "Ross" (obviously with the "h" sound gone), and with the more specific meaning "steed." In more modern times, German uses the word less and less, as they borrowed a word from Latin for their every day word for horse, that being "Pferd" (pronounced like 'pfairt'). West Frisian has "hoars," Dutch has "ros," Icelandic has "hross." The other Germanic languages, or dialects (from further back) had forms of the word, too, but they have either died out, or they are seldom used anymore.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/1)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 1)

First a little background:
Czechoslovakia was formed after World War One from parts of the former "Austria-Hungary." The western areas, usually referred to as "Bohemia and Moravia," were Czech majority, and the eastern areas were Slovak majority. When Austria and Hungary agreed to share power in 1867, Hungary had ruled the Slovak areas and Austria had ruled Bohemia and Moravia. The significant thing was, the outer border areas of Bohemia and Moravia (sort of a semi-circle and much of it mountainous or hilly) were populated by Germans, some settlements dating back hundreds of years, and indeed, the area was part of the Old German Empire, and specifically became a Habsburg family possession in the 1500s. Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenians also formed smaller minorities within the nation's boundaries. When the Old German Empire was dissolved, these lands remained under Habsburg control, and thus became part of what was then called, the Austrian Empire, which later became Austria-Hungary, as noted above. When Czechoslovakia was formed, the Czechs essentially dominated the government, and although closely related to the Slovaks, both ethnically and linguistically, the two peoples did not always get along well together. The German population was upset that it then found itself as a distinct minority, with somewhat less than 25% of the population.* Later, when the Great Depression struck, the German areas were heavily hit by unemployment, which only caused further discontent. When Hitler came to power in Germany, and German nationalism surged, the German population of Czechoslovakia began to stir, and the situation was eventually set for Hitler to make claims against Czechoslovakia.

* It should be noted that some Germans also lived in the "interior" parts of the Czech lands, and also, but to a lesser degree, in the Slovak areas, but the vast majority lived in the outer edges of the Czech lands. This outer boundary area came to be called the "Sudentenland" by Germans, after the Sudeten Mountains in the area.

WORD HISTORY:
Whole-This word goes back to Indo European "koilas/kailo," which seems to have meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," with the same meanings, but the meaning "complete" eventually began to dominate. That meaning comes from the notion, if you are "unharmed, healthy," you are "complete." Later it was spelled "hool" and then "hole," but by the late 1400s or early 1500s, the "w" was added to differentiate it from the word of the same spelling, but meaning "opening, orifice, or perforation." In northern England and parts of Scotland it came to be pronounced and spelled "hale," where it also retained the meaning, "healthy," and indeed, "whole" and "hale" are closely related to "health and healthy." Numerous forms are common in the other Germanic languages, although with variations in exact meaning, but all generally centering around "healthy" and "unharmed," and some even with a similar meaning to English "whole;" that is "complete:" German has "heil," Low German has both "heel" and "heil," Dutch has "heel," West Frisian has "hiel," Norwegian has "heil," Swedish and Danish have "hel," and Icelandic has "heill."