1939: Czechoslovakia

Dismemberment; the Hacha Government.

The year 1939 saw the disappearance of Czechoslovakia. The pact of Munich at the end of September 1938 had reduced the territory and the number of inhabitants of the former Czechoslovak republic, as created on Oct. 28, 1918, by about one-third. It had replaced its formerly staunch democratic régime, which had relied upon the western democracies, by a pro-Fascist régime which tried to cooperate with National Socialist Germany and to coordinate its domestic and foreign policies with those of the powerful neighbor. At the same time the country was transformed into a federation consisting of three parts, of which the western part, consisting of the remnant of Bohemia and Moravia formed the most advanced and largest element; whereas the eastern parts, Slovakia and the Carpathian Ukraine, reorganized their administrations under outright Fascist clerical governments.

The new government in Prague under President Dr. Emil Hacha and Premier Rudolf Beran tried very hard to revive the economic life of the country, which had been completely destroyed by its dismemberment. By the various territorial concessions Czechoslovakia had lost about one-third of her industries. Of what remained, about 80 per cent were concentrated in Bohemia and Moravia, about 16 per cent in Slovakia and about 3 per cent in the Carpathian Ukraine. The Ministry of Transportation worked hard on the enlargement and readaptation of the country's communication network to the new frontiers: a program involving the expenditure of nearly $50,000,000 was earmarked for the replacement of tracks and stations affected by the frontier changes. Whereas formerly Czechoslovakia had been a country largely exporting coal, her coal supply was now cut by the new frontiers from about 3,000,000 tons monthly output to about 900,000 tons monthly output, and she had become dependent upon large importations of coal from her former mines now found in foreign territory.

It soon became apparent that the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia on alleged ethnographic lines had destroyed a unity which had existed for many centuries and which was based on the strongest economic and strategic considerations. It became clear that the Sudetenland, with its preponderantly German-speaking population, was absolutely necessary to Czechoslovakia if she wished at all to survive as an independent nation, if she wished at all to lead her own economic life and to feel strategically secure against aggression and interference.

German Interference.

The racially more homogeneous character of the new Czechoslovakia did not shield the Czechs from constant interference by Germany. The tiny scattered German minority left in Czechoslovakia continued to claim not only an autonomous organization as a state within a state, but also the right to influence decisively Czech political and cultural life. In the eastern parts of Czechoslovakia, the Germans supported actively the disintegrating influences of Slovak extremists who wished to undermine the new state. A Slovak extremist leader, Tuka, became the head of a Slovak-German association and was appointed honorary chief of the Hlinka Guard which was organized in Slovakia after the plan of the Nazi S.A. and S.S. The Czechoslovak citizens who were of German descent were exempted from military service, were allowed to fly the swastika and received the right to organize a complete state within a state.

But even the greatest concessions on the part of the Czechoslovak government, and its willingness to transform the national life entirely in accordance with Nazi principles and demands, did not help to preserve the remnant of Czech independence. In view of its coming plans of expansion into Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the German government had made up its mind to incorporate Czechoslovakia entirely within the orbit of Germany so that all the strategic and economic resources of the country would be at its disposal for the purposes of the coming wars. See also GERMANY.

Revolutionary Movements; Slovakia Proclaims Independence.

The German government took the initiative by fomenting a revolutionary movement in Czechoslovakia. Autonomy had left Slovakia, with its lack of economic resources, in very strained financial circumstances and had cut off the financial support which it formerly got from the richer western parts. Some ambitious Slovak politicians tried to instigate an independence movement with National Socialist support. Under these circumstances the Prague government decided to take a strong stand. On the morning of March 10 it reestablished its authority by arresting a number of Slovaks who were plotting to overthrow the new constitution, among them Dr. Tuka and the Slovak propaganda minister, Sano Mach. The Slovak Premier, Joseph Tiso, was put under house arrest. A similar action had been taken a week before in Carpathian Ukraine where the Minister of Transportation, Julian Revay, was dismissed and General Prchala was appointed as Minister of the Interior. Both actions aimed at maintaining the unity of the new state, as created at Munich, and to prevent the degeneration of autonomy into treason.

But this time the central government did not succeed because the Slovaks immediately found the support of Berlin. A last minute effort to create a new Slovak ministry under Karol Sidor as Prime Minister, and with other members of the younger Slovak generation, did not materialize. The official German radio broadcast reports of Czech troop movements along Germany's border, and from March 12 on, the Viennese broadcasting station openly took the side of the Slovak independence group against the Prague government. The Czech effort to consolidate the new state and to insure Slovak loyalty failed through German intervention. The Slovak leader, Dr. Durchansky, broadcast from Vienna an appeal to the Slovaks to prepare for the historic hour which might come at any moment. The official press in Germany started a vehement campaign against Czech 'atrocities.' On March 12, it was generally expected that the German troops would march into Czechoslovakia. On March 13, the former Slovak Prime Minister, Tiso, visited Chancellor Hitler in Germany. The press campaign against the Czechs grew hourly in intensity; on March 14, the Slovak parliament met and declared the complete independence and the severance of all connections with Czechoslovakia. Dr. Joseph Tiso, backed by a promise of military aid from Chancellor Hitler, was elected Prime Minister, with Dr. Bela Tuka as Vice Premier and Dr. Ferdinand Durchansky as Foreign Minister.

Final Liquidation of Czechoslovakia.

On the evening of the same day Dr. Hacha, President of the second Czechoslovakian republic, arrived in Berlin and in the early morning hours of March 15 he signed an agreement according to which Germany effected a protectorate over Bohemia and Moravia and incorporated them as an autonomous part of Greater Germany. Meanwhile German troops had already crossed the Czech borders and proceeded with greatest haste to complete military occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. At the same time Hungarian troops crossed into the Carpathian Ukraine and occupied this most eastern part of the former Czechoslovak republic. On March 15, Chancellor Hitler himself arrived in Prague and spent the night in the ancient residence of the Bohemian kings. The liquidation of Czechoslovakia was accomplished by Germany, contrary to her promises and agreement at Munich, with the utmost speed, showing the careful preparation with which this coup had been plotted. With one stroke and without any great expense Chancellor Hitler had acquired the economic resources and the excellent military equipment of Czechoslovakia.

Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate.

A decree published on March 16 declared Bohemia and Moravia a protectorate within the German Reich. German inhabitants of the protectorate became German citizens and were put under the jurisdiction of German laws and courts. The protectorate was put under a supreme head of the protectorate who must enjoy the confidence of the German Fuehrer. Dr. Hacha continued in this function. He was surrounded by a government whose members were in office subject to the will of the Reichs Protector, a new office created by Germany. This Protector, who resides in Prague, is the guardian of the Reich's interests and has to see to it that the protectorate follows in every detail the policy laid down by the German Chancellor. He may override at any moment decisions by the Czech government and can issue his own orders. The foreign affairs of the Czechs were entirely taken over by Germany; the Czech army was disbanded; Germany maintained garrisons and military establishments in the protectorate, which, however, may organize for safeguarding domestic order its own formations, the organization and strength of which are determined by the German government. Bohemia and Moravia became a part of the customs territory of the German Reich, their communications and postal telegraph and telephone services were put under German supervision, and generally the German government was empowered to take over any part of the administration and to put into effect any measures deemed necessary for its interests. The Protectorate preserves some autonomy, but only on sufferance and for as long as it pleases the Reich. The whole economic and cultural life is entirely subordinated to German requirements.

The fate of Czechoslovakia caused a profound change in the attitude of Great Britain and France who, after having gone to greatest lengths to preserve peace, became now determined to resist any further attempts at aggression in Europe. Meanwhile on the eastern border of former Czechoslovakia clashes occurred between the Hungarians who had occupied Carpathian Ukraine and the new Slovak army. Polish troops had occupied a few villages at the Polish-Slovakian border. The definite frontier between Slovakia and Hungary was fixed on April 3, 1939. By this agreement about forty villages were ceded to Hungary.

The new political units, carved out of former Czechoslovakia — the German Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and the nominally independent state of Slovakia — began in April to lay the foundations for their new existence. The Czech people organized themselves into a newly founded party of National Unity which accepted all male Czechs of over twenty years. On April 27, the first government of the German Protectorate was constituted with General Alois Eliash as Premier. Baron Constantin von Neurath, who had been German Foreign Minister until February 1938, was named Reichs Protector for the Protectorate; and the former Sudeten German leader, Karl Hermann Frank, became Secretary to the Protector and concentrated all real power in his hands.

Meanwhile Czech resistance abroad against the new status of Bohemia and Moravia was organized. The democratic governments of the world did not recognize the German occupation of former Czechoslovakia, and the Czech diplomatic representatives continued in their offices in Washington, London and Paris. One of the leading Czech Generals, Leo Prchala, escaped to Poland where he started to organize Czech legions, and a former cabinet member and leader of the Catholic Party in Bohemia, Monsignor Jan Sramek, succeeded in going abroad, where meanwhile Czech resistance had organized around Dr. Eduard Benes, the former President of Czechoslovakia, who at that time was teaching in America and, later in the summer, went to Great Britain and France.

Slovakia.

In Slovakia the new state was built on Fascist authoritarian principles. The new constitution adopted on July 21 provided for a Parliament of eighty members elected for five years, which in turn elects the President of the Republic for a seven-year term. The whole political life of the country is concentrated in the hands of the only party admitted, the Slovak People's Party, founded by Father Andrew Hlinka. The population is organized after the model of the corporate state in seven vocational associations. A far-reaching autonomy is granted to the German and the Hungarian minorities. The flag of the new state is a Tricolor of white, light blue and red in even stripes. Its coat of arms is a shield showing on red ground three mountain peaks in light blue, the central peak crowned with the double cross of Saints Cyril and Methodius. On Oct. 26, Rev. Joseph Tiso was elected first President of the Slovak Republic. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by Dr. Bela Tuka, the leader of the radical pro-Nazi wing of the People's Party. Dr. Ferdinand Durchansky, another pro-Nazi extremist, became Foreign Minister and Minister of the Interior. By a military agreement made on Aug. 18 between Germany and Slovakia, the whole Slovak army was put at German disposal, and the German army received the right of military operations along Slovakia's border with Poland. Germany was entitled to keep a number of garrisons in certain parts of Slovakia. These new measures were motivated with the alleged danger of a Polish aggression against Slovakia.

Meanwhile the economic and financial position of the new country underwent a fast and profound deterioration. Slovakia's trade balance became most unfavorable. Lack of raw material brought about the closing of many industries. The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia destroyed, at least for the time being, the prosperity of Slovakia, and made her entirely dependent upon Germany for economic and financial assistance. Some resistance to the growing German influence in the Slovak puppet state found its expression in the rise of an opposition group under the leadership of Karel Sidor who had been one of the most prominent younger followers of Father Hlinka. But Sidor was named Minister to the Vatican, and several leading members of the opposition were arrested. President Tiso defined the aim of the Slovak government as the creation of a special type of National Socialism in closest collaboration with the German Reich, but also in conformity with the Roman Catholic Church to which the large majority of the Slovak population is most devoted.

Germanization of Bohemia-Moravia.

The new government in Bohemia-Moravia issued in May new regulations governing prices, wages, hours of work and the status of Jews, in conformity with the principles and requirements of National Socialist Germany. The government of the Protectorate was forced by Germany into an imitation of Nazi anti-Semitism, but tried to protect the Jewish population against any violent excesses. Thus it was left to the German Protector to issue himself stringent decrees regarding Jewish property. The Protector assumed the right to alter existing Czech law or to make new laws whenever it seemed necessary to him. A number of incidents increased the growing bitter tension between the Czech population and the German authorities. Czech national monuments were removed, the names of historic market places, bearing the names of Czech heroes and leaders, were changed into Adolf Hitler or Hermann Goering Squares; the singing of national Czechs songs was forbidden; in five of the most important cities, in Brno, Ceske Budejovice, Olomouce, Moravska Ostrava, and Jihlava, the Czech mayors were replaced by German Commissars. A German policeman was killed in the mining city of Kladno, and although the investigations remained without result, stern repressive measures were taken against the Czechs. A few days later two German policemen killed a Czech policeman at Nachod. These minor incidents quickly grew into a revolutionary movement after the outbreak of the war between Germany and Poland. The discontent vented itself in great demonstrations on Oct. 28, the day of the anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1918.

Suppression of Czech Resistance; Anti-Semitic Measures.

The European war aroused the expectations of the Czech population, their hopes for a coming liberation, and their eyes turned towards the provisional government and the army which Dr. Benes set up in France. There was a small group of Fascists among the Czechs themselves, but it never gained any importance. It was a tool in the hands of the German government, but did not succeed in breaking up the Czech national unity. Anti-Semitism gained no hold on the Czech population, especially in view of the fact that all business enterprises, factories, estates and stock taken away from the Jews were acquired exclusively by Germans, and so served the purpose of the Germanization of Czech economic life. The disorders which had started on Independence Day were repeated on a larger scale in the middle of November. The disorder started on the occasion of the funeral of one of the Czech students who had been wounded seriously during the demonstrations on Independence Day. The German government took stern measures of repression. Nine Czech students were immediately executed, martial law was proclaimed, and at least twelve hundred students and intellectuals were arrested and sent to prison and to concentration camps. All Czech universities and institutes of higher learning were closed for three years, and thus Czech intellectual development was stifled. Towards the end of the year the movement of open revolt subsided, but the situation remained tense.

The process of the Germanization of the Bohemian lands progressed fast through economic and educational measures. The number of schools for the Czech population was constantly diminished. Many of the most promising teachers were dismissed. On the other hand many new German schools were opened, the three German institutions of university rank were kept open, although the number of Germans in the Protectorate did not amount to more than 240,000. German students from the Reich were sent to schools in the Protectorate, and all these German schools had to be maintained by the Protectorate government out of Czech tax money. Czech workers and peasants were sent to work in the Reich and their place was taken by German Nazis. The Jewish population of the Protectorate was to be removed to the newly created Jewish reservation in Southeastern Poland, and by the end of 1939 the first transports had already left for what was considered by many an immense concentration camp where the Jews would face starvation under the supervision of the Gestapo. All concerns in which there had been any Jewish interest were being rapidly 'aryanized' by turning over their interests to Germans — to the exclusion of the Czechs. See also FASCISM; UNITED STATES: Foreign Relations.