



Dismemberment of Czechoslovakia

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseAlthough Sudetenland in northwestern Czechoslovakia had been occupied by the Germans through diplomatic means during Sep and Oct 1938, it was actually a misstep by Adolf Hitler. He had unreasonably demanded Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, believing that it was likely to be rejected, thus he would have the excuse to move his troops into the whole of Czechoslovakia. The acts of appeasement by the United Kingdom and France, therefore, provided Germany only part of what Hitler ultimately wanted. In the first week of Oct, even prior to the occupation of Sudetenland being complete, Hitler was already conferring with his top military commanders to prepare a new plan for the invasion given the new circumstances. In the mean time, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop actively engaged in the funding of various groups in Czechoslovakia to stir sentiments against the ruling government based in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Slovakia and Ruthenia, for example, were among those receiving covert support.

ww2dbaseIn Mar 1939, Czechoslovakian President Emil Hácha decided to clamp down on the nationalist sentiments to consolidate power. On 6 Mar, he suspected the Ruthenian local government, followed by a similar move on 9 Mar in Slovakia. On 10 Mar, he ordered Slovakian nationalist Jozef Tiso arrested. These moves forced Germany to move up the timetable. Arthur Seyß-Inquart was immediately dispatched to demand Slovakian leaders to proclaim independence immediately, while Emil Hácha was asked to allow German troops to occupy Bohemia and Moravia. Hácha traveled by train to Berlin, Germany during the night of 14 Mar 1939 in an attempt to dissuade German aggression, but instead faced what amounted to as bullying by Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Keitel, Hermann Göring, and Joachim von Ribbentrop, who told him that German troops were marching across the border at 0600 hours on 15 Mar regardless of what Hácha might decide to do, but if Hácha chose to peacefully accept German entrance, Prague would be saved from devastating aerial bombing and many of his countrymen's lives would be saved. Even while the meeting was taking place, German SS troops already infiltrated the Moravian Ostrau strip to safeguard the modern steel mill at Witkowitz against potential Polish interference should a war between Germany and Czechoslovakia break out the next day. During the heated discussions, Hácha fainted twice, and both times Dr. Theodor Morell, Hitler's personal physician, revived him with injections to continue the negotiations. Hácha gave in at 0355 hours and signed the documents to allow German occupation, and telephoned his troops to stand down. After daybreak on 15 Mar 1939, German troops marched under a cold wintry sky into Czechoslovakia, taking control of Prague before the end of the day. Hitler entered Prague later on the same day, parading through Prague streets in his open-top Mercedes, few stiff-armed salutes were seen from the onlookers.

ww2dbaseOn 16 Mar, Hitler received the Czech government's official surrender in Prague, with Hácha (who had been brought back to Prague by a special train arranged by the Germans) at the head of the surrendering delegation; Hitler also installed Konstantin von Neurath as the head of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. On 17 Mar, Hitler and his entourage reached Vienna, Austria, where they he installed Jozef Tiso as the head of the puppet government of the Slovak Republic; that puppet state occupied the southeastern half of Czechoslovakia. Ruthenia, which had previously been encouraged to declare independence, was betrayed; less than a day after the region had proclaimed the independent nation of Carpatho-Ukraine, Germany allowed Hungary to occupy and annex the region.

ww2dbaseAlthough the Czech army was relatively small, it was highly modernized and was backed by a large industry base producing machine guns, tanks, and artillery. With this annexation, the German Army gained immediate access to these troops and the industrial capabilities. Some of the munitions plants were literally picked up and moved to Austria during the course of the occupation due to Hitler's distrust for the Czechs.

ww2dbaseThe United Kingdom and France, who had failed to act to save fellow ally Czechoslovakia, failed to even lodge a formal protest until 18 Mar 1939. Nevertheless, anti-appeasement sentiments finally began to be influential within the two western powers. After the war, Lord Boothby noted how Britain's appeasement policy damned Europe to war.

From 1935 to 1939 I watched the political leaders of Britain, in Government and in Opposition, at pretty close quarters; and I reached the conclusion, which I have no since changed, that with only two exceptions, Winston Churchill and Leopold Amery, they were all frightened men. On four occasions Hitler and his gang of bloody murderers could have been brought down, and a second world war averted, by an ultimatum.... Every time we failed to do it. And four times is a lot. The reasons for it, I am afraid, can only be ascribed to a squalid combination of cowardice and greed; and the British ministers responsible, instead of being promoted, should have been impeached.

ww2dbaseAs Germany publicized a peaceful annexation, the Czechs knew the real truth behind the propaganda. 250,000 Czechs were killed within the next month, with half of them being Jews. Young Jewish males were forced to register, and Nazi thugs used the registers to track down Jewish businesses to harass, vandalize, and sometimes destroy. One of Churchill's anonymous informants in Czechoslovakia reported, with purposeful dark humor, that Czech Nazi Party members wished to watch the Nazi propaganda film "Olympia" at the Capitol Cinema, but only to be disappointedly turned back because the Jewish-owned business was being boycotted by a Nazi picket. "There was no blinking the fact that this time Hitler had acted not as the champion of Germans living in a neighboring country but as a Genghis Khan bent upon pillage, enslavement, slaughter, and destruction", wrote William Manchester.

ww2dbaseBeneš, who resigned and left Czechoslovakia in Oct 1938, established a government-in-exile in London, England, United Kingdom as the central rallying point of resistance against the German occupation.

ww2dbaseSources:

Wilhelm Keitel, In the Service of the Reich

William Manchester, The Last Lion

William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Wikipedia



Last Major Update: Jun 2006

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