(Continued from p.3)
political and military position." Would that such honesty were to be heard from the American State Department Arabists in the 1990s.
From the beginning, Czechoslovakia had argued that the issue of Sudeten "self-determination" was a red herring. The real cause of the Central European crisis was the aggressive intentions of the Third Reich. Yet the democracies continued to view the conflict as a question of minority rights and self-determination. Britain and Germany held talks and issued a joint statement affirming the rights of the Sudeten Germans, with no mention at all of the security needs of Czechoslovakia. Here were forewarnings of the behavior of the General Assembly of the United Nations decades later.
In 1938, London demanded and Prague was forced to accept a British mediator, even though Czechoslovakia had always maintained that the Sudeten problem was an internal affair and no business of the world community. London appointed Lord Runciman, who was
Britain and Germany held talks and issued a statement affirming the rights of the Sudeten Germans, with no mention at all of the security needs of Czechoslovakia.
During the negotiations, Czechoslovakia
was forced to accede to demand after demand by the
Germans. Under Western pressure, Prague agreed that the
Carlsbad Eight Points would form the basis for
negotiations. After each unilateral concession by Prague,
new demands were raised by the SdP, which was under
orders from Berlin not to reach any real agreement.
German strategy called for the negotiations to fail, so
that the Reich would be forced to intervene militarily.
Heinlein was instructed that in the unlikely event of complete
capitulation by Prague to the Carlsbad program, new
demands were to be added that in effect infringed upon
the ability of Czechoslovakia to formulate its own
foreign policy, making it accede to compromising its
own sovereignty. Years later, the Arab world would
condition any settlement with Israel on its agreeing to cancel
its Law of Return and relinquish its sovereignty over
immigration policy, in addition to other concessions.
As tensions mounted along the borders, Czechoslovakia went on military alert. Like the Israel Defense Forces, the Czechoslovakian military was largely based on a system of emergency reserve mobilization. As the reserves were called up, Western pressure was exerted on Prague to demobilize, so as not to provoke Berlin. Prague persisted, and was denounced for war-mongering by some in the West. Most of the ethnic-German reservists failed to report. During the mobilization, two German citizens were killed by Czechoslovakian guards, and Hitler roared against the Czech aggressors.
Eventually, Czechoslovakia agreed to a settlement that was essentially a complete capitulation to the Carlsbad program. On September 13, 1938, before the SdP could formally respond, an intifada-style revolt broke out in the Sudetenland. Organized by the SdP, the rioters attacked Jews, Czechs, and democrats, and fired on many Czechoslovakian policemen. The Czechoslovakian army restored order and established martial law, as the SdP leadership fled to Germany. Pressure increased on Czechoslovakia and the Sudeten Germans sensed victory. On September 19, Britain and France proposed to transfer to Germany all parts of Czechoslovakia in which the population was more than half German. In exchange, they offered Czechoslovakia an international guarantee for its new boundaries after partition. In fact, no such formal guarantee was ever received. Earlier, of course, the same Western powers had pledged to defend Czechoslovakia's sovereignty over its entire territory.
* * *
On September 29, 1938, the leaders of Europe met in Munich and sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia. There were no Czechoslovakian representatives present. On October 1, the German Wehrmacht entered the Sudetenland. Parts of Czechoslovakia were also awarded to Poland and Hungary. Most of the Czechoslovakian fortifications were located in the Czech "West Bank" that was ceded to Hitler.
The Germans immediately instituted their program of Gleichschaltung, suppressing the Czech and Slovak languages, confiscating Czechoslovakian property, and forcing Czechoslovakians--three quarters of a million of whom had remained in the territories ceded-- to emigrate at bayonet point. At the same time, German propaganda continued to clamor about the denial of national and human rights to the Germans who still remained within the territory of the rump Czechoslovakian state. Germany demanded recognition of their rights to
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Outpost - 4 - May 1998