Okla-homey
3/15/2007, 06:38 AM
Mar. 15, 1939: Nazis take Czechoslovakia
67 years ago, on this day, Hitler's forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia--a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact, which was a vain attempt to prevent Nazi Germany's imperial aims.
On September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/13283/2003268625100802744_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003268625100802744)
"For the second time in our history, a British prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time."
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain describing the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler.
On the same day, Winston Churchill rose in Parliament and stated:
We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat...you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi régime. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude...we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road...we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting". And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.
Although the agreement was to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudetenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. Without those resources, the Czech nation was left vulnerable to complete German domination.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/11750/2003211264385980141_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003211264385980141)
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/13655/2003247194476357732_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003247194476357732)
Before signing the Munich agreement. From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, Ciano
No matter what concessions the Czech government attempted to make to appease Hitler, whether dissolving the Communist Party or suspending all Jewish teachers in ethnic-German majority schools, rumors continued to circulate about "the incorporation of Czechoslovakia into the Reich."
In fact, as early as October 1938, Hitler made it clear that he intended to force the central Czechoslovakian government to give Slovakia its independence, which would make the "rump" Czech state "even more completely at our mercy," remarked Hermann Goering.
Slovakia indeed declared its "independence" (in fact, complete dependence on Germany) on March 14, 1939, with the threat of invasion squelching all debate within the Czech province.
Then, on March 15, 1939, during a meeting with Czech President Emil Hacha--a man considered weak, and possibly even senile--Hitler threatened a bombing raid against Prague, the Czech capital, unless he obtained from Hacha free passage for German troops into Czech borders. He got it.
That same day, German troops poured into Bohemia and Moravia. The two provinces offered no resistance, and they were quickly made a protectorate of Germany. By evening, Hitler made a triumphant entry into Prague.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/13324/2006024810651270760_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006024810651270760)
Piles of prayer shawls collected from Czech Jews as they were being processed into Auschwitz in the wake of the Nazi occupation
The Munich Pact, which according to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had purchased "peace in our time," was actually a mere negotiating ploy by the Hitler, only temporarily delaying the Fuhrer's blood and land lust.
Hitler subsequently regarded Chamberlain with utter contempt. A British diplomat in Berlin was informed that Hitler viewed Chamberlain as "an impertinent busybody who spoke the ridiculous jargon of an outmoded democracy. Also, Hitler had been heard saying: "If ever that silly old man comes interfering here again with his umbrella, I'll kick him downstairs and jump on his stomach in front of the photographers".
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/11305/2003261176480045318_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003261176480045318)
Soviet poster depicting western European leaders Chamberlain (with umbrella) and Daladier of France giving Hitler Czechoslovakia on a platter
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/10605/2003209957767747047_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003209957767747047)
67 years ago, on this day, Hitler's forces invade and occupy Czechoslovakia--a nation sacrificed on the altar of the Munich Pact, which was a vain attempt to prevent Nazi Germany's imperial aims.
On September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace.
http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/13283/2003268625100802744_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003268625100802744)
"For the second time in our history, a British prime minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time."
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain describing the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler.
On the same day, Winston Churchill rose in Parliament and stated:
We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat...you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi régime. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude...we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road...we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: "Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting". And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.
Although the agreement was to give into Hitler's hands only the Sudetenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia's coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. Without those resources, the Czech nation was left vulnerable to complete German domination.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/11750/2003211264385980141_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003211264385980141)
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/13655/2003247194476357732_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003247194476357732)
Before signing the Munich agreement. From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, Ciano
No matter what concessions the Czech government attempted to make to appease Hitler, whether dissolving the Communist Party or suspending all Jewish teachers in ethnic-German majority schools, rumors continued to circulate about "the incorporation of Czechoslovakia into the Reich."
In fact, as early as October 1938, Hitler made it clear that he intended to force the central Czechoslovakian government to give Slovakia its independence, which would make the "rump" Czech state "even more completely at our mercy," remarked Hermann Goering.
Slovakia indeed declared its "independence" (in fact, complete dependence on Germany) on March 14, 1939, with the threat of invasion squelching all debate within the Czech province.
Then, on March 15, 1939, during a meeting with Czech President Emil Hacha--a man considered weak, and possibly even senile--Hitler threatened a bombing raid against Prague, the Czech capital, unless he obtained from Hacha free passage for German troops into Czech borders. He got it.
That same day, German troops poured into Bohemia and Moravia. The two provinces offered no resistance, and they were quickly made a protectorate of Germany. By evening, Hitler made a triumphant entry into Prague.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/13324/2006024810651270760_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006024810651270760)
Piles of prayer shawls collected from Czech Jews as they were being processed into Auschwitz in the wake of the Nazi occupation
The Munich Pact, which according to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had purchased "peace in our time," was actually a mere negotiating ploy by the Hitler, only temporarily delaying the Fuhrer's blood and land lust.
Hitler subsequently regarded Chamberlain with utter contempt. A British diplomat in Berlin was informed that Hitler viewed Chamberlain as "an impertinent busybody who spoke the ridiculous jargon of an outmoded democracy. Also, Hitler had been heard saying: "If ever that silly old man comes interfering here again with his umbrella, I'll kick him downstairs and jump on his stomach in front of the photographers".
http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/11305/2003261176480045318_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003261176480045318)
Soviet poster depicting western European leaders Chamberlain (with umbrella) and Daladier of France giving Hitler Czechoslovakia on a platter
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/10605/2003209957767747047_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003209957767747047)