Sunday, November 9, 2008
Goebbels speaks at Bürgerbräukeller
The night was set aside for all the Nazis to celebrate this event in the formation of the party. Chancellor Hitler was in attendance and was expected to speak as has been the tradition for numerous years. He was seen discussing a matter with associates and then abruptly left the event.
This left Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to carry on with the event. Goebbels, though in charge of propaganda, lacks the fiery and passionate rhetoric and charisma of the Chancellor. He also has been seen as something of a failure due to his tepid performance during the Sudeten Crisis. Goebbels told those in attendance that "the Führer has decided that… demonstrations should not be prepared or organised by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered." Which seemed to say that if violence against Jews began in retaliation for the death of Ernst vom Rath, the Nazi Party would not interfere.
Ernst vom Rath dead from wounds
Polish Jew Herschel Grynszpan claimed it was in retaliation for 12,000 Polish Jews being treated extremely poorly in the Polish border town of Zbąszyń. The Polish Jews are in Zbąszyń and the German-Polish border due to a decision by the Polish Government to end the citizenship of Poles living outside Poland for longer than five years.
Grynszpan is still in French custody. He has made accusations that the deceased was a homosexual.
The Nazi Party has reacted harshly to the events in Paris.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
German diplomat shot in Paris

The perpetrator was a Polish Jew, Herschel Grynszpan. The 17-year-old used a gun to shoot vom Rath five times in the abdomen. At the time of the shooting, he claimed it was for 12,000 Jews stranded on the German-Polish Border town of Zbąszyń.
The victim is still alive. He is in the hospital and in critical condition.
Friday, October 31, 2008
War of the Worlds
People throughout the United States were panicked the night of October 30th during a strange broadcast of the Mercury Theater on CBS Radio.Many Americans were confused by the format of the hour-long broadcast. It used the format of narrative mixed with planned interruptions that were fake news flashes.
Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the Air program have been criticized by many newspapers. The radio play also used a real location with Grovers Mill, New Jersey rather than England in the original novel by H.G. Wells. This and the heightened tension many Americans feel following the recently resolved Sudeten crisis led many to a state of panic.
Some people called the local CBS Radio to see what was really going on particularly in the areas of New York and New Jersey.
Jack Paar was doing the announcing duties that night for Cleveland CBS affiliate WGAR when the phone lines to the studio started to light up with panicking listeners calling in, Paar attempted to calm them on the phone and on-air by saying, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?" When the frightened listeners started charging Paar with 'covering up the truth', he then called WGAR's station manager for help. Oblivious to the situation, the manager advised Paar to calm down, saying it was "all a tempest in a teapot".
CBS informed officials that listeners were reminded throughout the broadcast that it was a performance.
The program was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and CBS itself. For this reason, there was no need for commercial interruption. The expected commercial interruptions would have helped listeners distinguish between fact and fiction. The resulting mass hysteria could have been averted.
Polish Jews at the German-Polish Border
Reports have surfaced that there is not enough to feed the 12,000 Jews in the border town of Zbąszyń. Some are forced to sleep in horse stables still filthy with horse dung.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Polish Jews deported to German-Polish Border
The German Government, remembering full well the results of the Évian Conference when no nation stepped up to take Jewish populations, is anxious to get rid of these Polish Jews. With their citizenship set to expire due to a Polish stipulation on passports and length of time outside Poland, they would become stateless and Germany's responsibility.
Regardless of Poland's refusal, the Germany gathered the Jews and have forced them to leave their homes in Germany. The trains are taking many thousands of them to Zbąszyń, a village on the frontier and also the village of Beuthen.
Polish passports must be revalidated by October 29th, today, for the Jews to be allowed to re-enter their homeland.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Polish Jews arrested in Germany
Since Poland is unwilling to take them, an order went out from Berlin last night to arrest all Polish Jews within 48 hours. It is unclear where the Polish Jews will go.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Lipski leaves Bertesgaden
The Free City of Danzig is administered by the League of Nations in accordance with the stipulation in Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versaille in 1919. Citizens of Danzig opposed this at the time.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Lipski meeting with Ribbentrop
The Free City of Danzig, a Baltic Sea port, was created on 10 January 1920, against the wishes of the local population but in accordance with the terms of Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919.
The Free City includes the city of Danzig and over two hundred nearby towns, villages, and settlements, all of which had been a part of the former German Empire. As the League of Nations decreed, the region is to remain separate from the nation of Germany, as well as the newly-resurrected nation of Poland. The Free City is not autonomous; it is under League of Nations "protection" and put into a binding customs union with Poland.
Poland also has other, special utilization rights towards the city. A peninsula, Westerplatte, is a munitions dumping ground as well as a military post. Poland also has a Post Office there and other support services.
Yesterday, October 24 is also the 17th anniversary of the Treaty of Warsaw.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Beneš Returns to Europe
This is also the place where his predecessor Tomáš Masaryk saught refuge. It was there that he was encouraged to create a Government-in-Exile.He went to Paris but then travelled on to London when it appeared the French Government was lukewarm about hosting a Government-in-Exile. In London, he and his wife Hana were more warmly received. Yesterday, the President formally established a Government-in-Exile in Putney, London. His residence is believed to be on Gwendolen Avenue.
He has yet to name other members of the government.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Communist Party banned in Czecho-Slovakia
Jews in Czecho-Slovakia are also beginning to have the same treatment that Germans and Austrians have. A systemic persecution is beginning to take shape there.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Crown Jewels of Holy Roman Empire go to Germany
The Crown Jewels and the Holy Lance were taken from Vienna where they have rested for years. The Imperial Regalia was transported by heavy guard to Nuremberg.
No New Businesses
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Czechoslovakia complies
Newly installed Prime Minister General Jan Syrový said in a nationwide broadcast "As soldier and as Premier ... I am passing through the saddest moment of my life, for I am fulfilling a most painful duty, a duty which for me is worse than death. . . . We were confronted with a choice between desperate and hopeless defense, which would have meant the sacrifice of our whole younger generation, their children and their wives, and acceptance of the conditions imposed on us under pressure and without war, which in their mercilessness are unexampled in history. There are smaller states than ours that lead healthy existences. . . . We shall be within narrow frontiers, but we shall be all together in one family! . . . Our army will stand guard over the nation as before. . . . Trust us!"
The soldiers, as they withdrew, gave bystanders dark scowls and muttered oaths, the Czech officers avoided meeting civilian eyes, discharged their bitter duty with compressed lips. Nazi folk of the Sudeten town of Cesky Krumlov were the first Germans to dishonor themselves by opening dastardly fire upon the retreating Czech soldiers' backs. These Sudetens were also the first to smash windows and pillage shops and homes owned by Czechs, Jews and non-Nazi Sudetens such as Communists, Socialists and Social Democrats. Such outrages were not typical but exceptional, according to latest dispatches. The German army entered those parts of Czechoslovakia which it is to take over progressively by October 10 in the same peaceful fashion as it entered Austria, was cheered last week by civilians.
The German troops, ordered to swing across the frontier at three different points between Helfenberg and Finsterau at 2 PM. precisely, had set their legs in motion on German soil at 1:58 PM by the wrist watch of their commander, Colonel General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. They entered first that part of the Bohemian Forest in which Schiller laid his play The Robbers. Since in these rustic parts there were no accommodations deemed suitable for high officers, these, on the first night, left their German troops sleeping in tents or peasant huts, themselves returned to sleep in hotels in Germany, hurried back next morning into Sudetenland.
Fifty-eight hours after the German Army, Dictator Hitler entered Czechoslovakia under a drizzling rain this week. Every German car on this road which might possibly have contained the Führer had been wildly cheered by Sudetens for hours beforehand, and when Adolf Hitler finally reached Eger, "The Sudeten Capital," its throngs were both hoarse and hysterical. It was less than seven months since Austrians had similarly welcomed "our Deliverer," and the Führer seemed much moved as he made what was for him an exceptionally humble speech: "In this hour I want to thank the Almighty for having blessed us in the past, and to pray that He may also bless us in the future. . . . Germany is happy! . . . All are comrades ready to stake their lives for each other. . . . Over this greater German Reich is laid a German shield protecting it and a German sword defending it!"
"Vote for the Fatherland!" In Prague, although the sweeping catastrophe was obvious, editors took up the task of putting as bright an aspect on the situation as they could. The optimistic vigor of President Beneš remained dauntless. As the Chief Executive, he at once turned on every organ of propaganda and reassurance to persuade Czech refugees from areas in which plebiscites are to be held to return to the homes from which they fled under Nazi threats and "Vote for the Fatherland!"
Everywhere food was still plentiful in the land, much more so than in Germany, and there was no break in the amazing Czech morale, which endured nearly 400 years of oppression under Habsburg masters. With backhanded cheerfulness, the Narodni Listy reminded its readers: ''The history of the Czechs is almost an uninterrupted tragedy!"
Friday, October 10, 2008
Japanese close in on Wuhan
Thursday, October 9, 2008
What of Germans outside Sudeten?
Hungary and Poland take land
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Details of Munich Agreement hashed out
Slovakia has been given a far-reaching autonomy, but one which falls short of independence (which seemed likely earlier in the week). The Hungarian ultimatum expired yesterday, but the Czechs say they can’t respond to it due to the change in foreign ministers.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
House of Commons backs Chamberlain
Winston Churchill, one of Chamberlain's own Conservative Party, has never been on the same page as the Prime Minister. He has been the leader of a group called the Churchill Group which consistes of himself and two other members, Duncan Sandys and Brendan Bracken. They are also referred to as "The Old Guard". These MPs are largely anti-appeasers and favor a stronger foreign policy.
Churchill, as expected, was one of those who gave a speech in condemnation of the agreement.
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.He also declared this of Neville Chamberlain and his agreement with Hitler:
You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.Not all are as vocal as Churchill. Anthony Eden, another Conservative, was believed to be a rallying point for many MPs who opposed Chamberlain's actions, has kept quiet and avoided confrontation. He even abstained from the vote.
However, the vote was held and the Prime Minister won handedly with a final tally of 366 to 144. With a margin of 222, there is little chance the Prime Minister is going anywhere anytime soon.
Regardless of recent events, rearmament of Great Britain continues on the same pace it has been.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Poland revokes passports
Nazis revoke Jewish Passports
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Beneš Resigns

The Celebrations continue in Sudeten.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Hitler in the Sudeten
There have been anecdotal stories of Sudeten Germans needing to restrained by Nazi troops barely able to contain the celebratory mobs.
The ecstasy continues as many Sudetens claim this to be a liberation. The area had been for 400 years under Hapsburg Imperial control but was taken by Germans during the Great War. Many regions within the Sudetenland are heavily populated with German nationals.
Hitler's arrival in Eger increased the joy and happiness beyond what many would have believed possible. It is as if Christ had been walking the streets of Eger.
Many Sudeten Germans saluted the German Chancellor in the customary Nazi salute. He was greeted with flowers and the proverbial baby to kiss and bless.Before arriving in the political hot spot of Eger, Chancellor Hitler also visited the border town of Asch. He and his entourage also stopped in the spa town of Franzensbad where he and Heinrich Himmler sampled some of the water from the Francis Spring thought to have curative powers.
Japanese capture Xinzhi
In response, the 101st division was ordered to support the beleaguered 106th. They crossed the lake on August 20th and breached the defensive lines of the Chinese 25th army. In addition, they were also able to capture Xinzhi.
Sudeten Germans welcome Nazis & Wehrmacht
After the Munich Agreement on September 30th, the already mobilized German Army began moving into the country. One of the first towns taken has been Eger, the site of much fighting in late September between Czechoslovakian troops and Nazi sympathizers.The Czech people have much to be sad about. They lose 3.5 million citizens but also has lost 70% of its iron and steel, 70% of its electrical power and the famous Škoda Works. Even the very name of the young state has been changed: Czecho-Slovakia.
President Benes has had the the military print the march orders for his army and put the press on standby for a declaration of war. The nation is not giving in quite as easily as the major European powers would like.
Sudeten Germans have been jubilant and celebratory since the Munich Agreement was
announced. Seemingly from nowhere Nazi flags and banners bearing the red, black and white colors and Swastika appeared in windows, on homes, businesses and on streetpoles. Children have notably been excited and have not been in schools since the announcement.Two days ago Hitler marched unopposed into the Sudetenland. He said that it was the start of a 1000-year German Reich.
Polish troops continue to occupy Teschen as well.
Czechoslovakian Anger

The people of Prague gathered to protest the sacrifice of their lands, economy and people for Appeasement.
Friday, October 3, 2008
British Politics in the wake of the Munich Agreement
Chamberlain is still "The Man of the Hour". The new Westminster Hospital has been endowed with £1,000 for a bed, to be named ‘The Neville Chamberlain Bed’, ‘in perpetual remembrance of great efforts made by the Prime Minister in the cause of European peace’. Lucio, in the Manchester Guardian quotes some of the more fulsome paeans of praise from the press, for example this one from James Douglas in Saturday’s Daily Express:
God has raised up in Neville Chamberlain a deliverer. Are we going to waste him? Are we as great as he is? Are we as noble? Are we as pure in heart? Beware of the old evil that is lurking within us, thirsting to destroy us.More prosaically, there is speculation that if the House of Commons is hostile to Chamberlain’s report on Munich today, then he may take the country to a general election to capitalise on his popularity among the people. (An election isn’t due until 1940.) Chamberlain has already lost one minister over Munich, Duff Cooper, the First Lord of the Admiralty. His resignation speech, if fiery enough, could spark a revolt among those backbenchers who think too high a price has been paid for peace. Certainly Labour will be critical: one prominent Labour MP, Harold Nicolson, spoke in Manchester on Saturday and said
We have betrayed a valiant little country and a great democratic idea. There are many people who feel that in so doing we have achieved peace for a generation. They are wholly mistaken. We have not achieved peace for a generation: we have achieved it only for eight months.And the ‘Peace Pact’ which Chamberlain signed with Hitler was "not worth the paper it is written on".
The preparations for war are winding down. But there are still political activities after the Agreement. Sydney King-Farlow, in a letter to the editor of The Times, describes the disaster which has been averted:
He asks if this is not an opportune moment to try to reach an international agreement to prohibit the bombing of architectural and historical treasures in the great cities?Had war come upon us, and it was hanging on a hair, it would have begun with repeated attacks by fleets of aircraft which speedily would have converted the capital cities of Europe into heaps of smoking rubble. The noblest works of man which belong not only to particular countries but to the whole world would have disappeared for ever and the destruction of human life would have been appalling.
Germany begins taking the Sudeten
So, after all those weeks of mounting tension over the fate of the Sudetens, it’s finally being resolved: German troops have begun occupying the Sudetenland. Polish troops have also moved into Teschen, and the Czech government has agreed to let a mixed commission decide the fate of the territory claimed by Hungary. The dismemberment of Czechoslovakia has begun.
House of Commons on the Munich Agreement
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Secretary Hull responds to the Munich Agreement
"As to immediate peace results, it is unnecessary to say that the afford a universal sense of relief. I am not undertaking to pass upon the merits of the differences to which the Four-Power Pact signed Munich on yesterday related. It is hoped that in any event the forces which stand for the principles governing peaceful and orderly international relations and their proper application should not relax, but redouble, their efforts to maintain these principles of order under law resting on a sound economic foundation."
Reactions in Great Britain to the Munich Agreement
In spite of the joy that is in the air after the momentous event, there are detractors. The First Lord of the Admiralty Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich has resigned from his position due to the Munich Agreement. He criticised the Prime Minister for employing an Appeasement policy which is just as a effective as losing a war.
The King has accepted the resignation and noted that despite his acceptance of the resignation that he had enormous respect for Lord Cooper for standing by his convictions but that he is unable to agree with them.
It might seem churlish to express any doubts about the Munich agreement, given this tremendous outpouring of gratitude and relief. But doubts there are. Of course, having accepted, under enormous pressure, the terms of an agreement dismembering their country that they were not party to, the Czechs are none too happy about it: there have been massive protests in the streets of Prague. (The authorities had to blackout the streets in order to get them to disperse).
In Britain, Sir Norman Angell calls the agreement a ‘disgraceful sacrifice of innocent third parties’ and Robert Boothby, Conservative MP, calls it a victory for force. Sinclair, leader of the Liberals, says that ‘if war has been averted, peace has not yet been established’. For Leo Amery, the respite from war might be only brief, and should be used to bring in national service at once. The leader-writer of the Manchester Guardian admits that even if a war had been fought, there was no way that Czechoslovakia’s borders could remain as they were. But it remains to be seen whether Hitler is sincere in his desire for peaceful territorial revisions. And nobody who reads the terms carefully ‘can feel other than unhappy’, so harsh are they.
The London correspondent says that ‘At first it seemed like Armistice Day. The resemblance soon passed, but it is peace, however high the price and whoever has had to pay it’. The ARP and defence measures already taken are to remain in place, but nothing further will be done for now. Boxes for gas masks are to be procured and distributed, however! And Poland still wants Teschen, and it seems Czechoslovakia is unwilling to give it up.
Mussolini has also extended an invitation to Chamberlain to visit Rome. It is believed that similar accords can be made between the British Empire and the Fascist Italian State.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
"It is Peace for our Time"
...the settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine (waves paper to the crowd).Later, he also had to speak to people outside his residence at No. 10 Downing Street.Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you. "We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.
Many of the Prime Minister's colleagues have registered their pleasure at the resolution reached earlier today. Cabinet members whooped and hollered when the Prime Minister was accorded an honor never given to a Prime Minister in British History. He was asked to Buckingham Palace and appeared at the balcony usually occupied by the monarchy.
My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.
Before arriving at Buckingham Palace, King George VI sent the Prime Minister a letter telling the statesman of the Empire's gratitude for the deals brokered by the Prime Minister. The King also told the British People
After the magnificent efforts of the Prime Minister in the cause of peace, it is my fervent hope that a new era of friendship and prosperity may be dawning among the peoples of the world.Reaction has already started to pour in throughout the country and the world and it is largely positive.
New Riots against Jews in Poland
Agreement in Munich
An agreement has been made by the leaders of the four powers who met in Munich on September 28th. Today, in the early hours, all four signed the agreement ceding the Sudetenland to the German nation. Also resolved are the territorial cessions to Poland and Hungary. Despite the loss to Czechoslovakia, War has been averted!What follows is the agreement as signed by the four countries. It is still protested by the USSR's Joseph Stalin due Czechoslovakia's absence.
GERMANY, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfilment:
(1) The evacuation will begin on 1st October.
(2) The United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall be completed by the 10th October, without any existing installations having been destroyed, and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the evacuation without damage to the said installations.
(3) The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia.
(4) The occupation by stages of the predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on 1st October. The four territories marked on the attached map will be occupied by German troops in the following order:
The territory marked No. I on the 1st and 2nd of October; the territory marked No. II on the 2nd and 3rd of October; the territory marked No. III on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October; the territory marked No. IV on the 6th and 7th of October. The remaining territory of preponderantly German character will be ascertained by the aforesaid international commission forthwith and be occupied by German troops by the 10th of October.
(5) The international commission referred to in paragraph 3 will determine the territories in which a plebiscite is to be held. These territories will be occupied by international bodies until the plebiscite has been completed. The same commission will fix the conditions in which the plebiscite is to be held, taking as a basis the conditions of the Saar plebiscite. The commission will also fix a date, not later than the end of November, on which the plebiscite will be held.
(6) The final determination of the frontiers will be carried out by the international commission. The commission will also be entitled to recommend to the four Powers, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, in certain exceptional cases, minor modifications in the strictly ethnographical determination of the zones which are to be transferred without plebiscite.
(7) There will be a right of option into and out of the transferred territories, the option to be exercised within six months from the date of this agreement. A German-Czechoslovak commission shall determine the details of the option, consider ways of facilitating the transfer of population and settle questions of principle arising out of the said transfer.
(8) The Czechoslovak Government will within a period of four weeks from the date of this agreement release from their military and police forces any Sudeten Germans who may wish to be released, and the Czechoslovak Government will within the same period release Sudeten German prisoners who are serving terms of imprisonment for political offences.
ADOLF HITLER,
NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN,
EDOUARD DALADIER,
BENITO MUSSOLINI.
The agreement was signed at 1.30 this morning and the terms of the agreement were issued an hour later.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Munich Conference
Despite the location of the problem being Czechoslovakia, it is not represented at a conference to decide it's fate. Joseph Stalin, premier of the USSR has voiced anger at this exclusion.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Jews barred from Legal Practices
It should surprise few that the Nazi Party would take this away. At this point, it would be indecent for Jews who are not accorded the same rights under the law to practicing law.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
"A Last Effort"
Then Hitler made an announcement that he would meet with France, Great Britain and Italy in Munich to discuss and resolve the conflict.
Friday, September 26, 2008
World War?
Great Britain assured France and Czechoslovakia that should Germany invade, it would stand by France in its agreements. The USSR also made similar statements to that effect. French and British Governments discussed military plans today.
Adolf Hitler also took the day to make speeches on the situation. He told the German people that once this situation is resolved, there will be no more territorial problems for the Germans. He also alluded to a severe relocation program that will likely occur in the Czech lands. Hitler even said "it is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe, but it is the claim from which I will not recede."
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chamberlain leaves Bad Godesberg
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Mobilization
It seems the war many of Europe's powers were hoping to avoid may indeed be upon us.In the Sudetenland itself, the land that started this whole debacle, violence broke out. On the Czechoslovakian-German border there has been fighting back and forth. The Czechoslovakian troops took Eger back from the Sudeten Germans.
German troops continue to increase in number.
Talks continue between Hitler and Chamberlain at Bad Godesberg.
Strasbourg Riots against Jews
Jews have found an uneasy life in Strasbourg throughout history. In the 14th Century, many were burned alive. There were laws in 1308 that forbid beards and male circumcision. There have also been infrequent pogroms against the Jews.
No Jewish Doctors in Danzig
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
New Czechoslovakian Government
In response to Hitler's demands on September 22nd, a new cabinet has been installed in the Czechoslovakian government. President Beneš installed General Jan Syrový as Prime Minister after the resignation of Milan Hodza. He has also ordered a mobilization.Monday, September 22, 2008
Hodza Resigns
Hitler's New Demands are Rejected
Hitler makes new Demands
Czechoslovakia Capitulates
Despite this, crowds of Czechs gathered in Prague demanding Czechoslovakian troops remain in the Sudetenland. This seems all for not since the presence of German troops on the border and a promise of invasion would bring a very swift war.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Soviet Union talks War
Litvinoff included in his speech that the Soviet War Department was ready to discuss military plans with France. The Soviet Union it seems is ready to back up its ally Czechoslovakia.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The Czechoslovakian Response
At the same time, Prime Minister Chamberlain travelled for his second meeting with Hitler in BadGodesburg. A joint declaration has been issued by both the French and British governments telling Czechoslovakia to capitulate to the German demands in 24 hours else face invasion.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Details of the Agreement
This would effectively end the Czechoslovakian nation as we know it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Hodza talks tough
Earlier today, the Premier of Czechoslovakia Milan Hodza announced on Czechoslovakian radio that if a plebiscite were agreed between Germany and Great Britain, it would be unacceptable to his government. He also said that if it did indeed come down to it, Czechoslovakia would go alone against Hitler and the Nazis.Italy's own Benito Mussolini also chimed in that if there were to be a plebiscite there should be one for all races within Czechoslovakia.
At that time, Chamberlain had returned from Bertesgaden meeting with Hitler. Many assume there was a plebiscite agreed upon between Hitler and Chamberlain. Chamberlain is now discussing the situation with French Prime Minister Deladier in London.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Lord Runciman returns from Prague
The situation in the Sudetenland remains as untenable as possible.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Chamberlain visits with Hitler; Henlein's Flight
But not before all talks between Henlein and the Czechoslovakian Government completely end. Sudeten
Party leader Konrad Helein had laid out an ultimatum to rescind Martial Law, recall the reserves to their barracks, withdraw the state police from the territory, and accept this by midnight or all negotiations would be called off. When his demands were not met, he fled to Germany. With all this continuing to worsen, Nazi radio and Czechoslovakian radio transmissions have been having their own war of words. Even Hungary has joined in and reiterated Germany's narrative on events. Czechoslovakian radio continues to refute the claims made by Germany.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Martial Law in Sudetenland
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Hitler rattles more sabres
the Nazi Party at Nuremberg that the Czechoslovakian Government was using all of its means possible to annihilate the 3.5 million Sudeten Germans. He claimed that these people were being deprived of their rights, for example, they were not permitted to sing German songs or to wear white stockings. If indeed they went through with any of these crimes they were brutally struck down. Although the tone was ferociously threatening, he gave no examples of atrocities, perhaps because there are none. "The misery of the Sudeten Germans is without end," he declared. He then went on to promise that Germany would take care of her own and put an end to the continued oppression of 3.5 million Germans. "I hope that the foreign statesman will be convinced that these are not mere words," he added ominously.Hitler has demanded the direct annexation of the Sudetenland by the Reich, hinting that if necessary, he would resort to war. He also has said that the Sudentenland is an internal matter for Germans, and supposedly Central Europeans. It is no place for international statesmen, no doubt referring to Prime Minister Chamberlain.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Pope Pius XI speaks
"Mark well that in the Catholic Mass, Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather. Anti-Semitism is incompatible with the lofty thought which that fact expresses. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no, I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in anti-Semitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually, we [Christians] are all Semites".
The Pope has been published in Mit brennender Sorge a German Catholic encyclical last year condemning Nazi Party policies against the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism.
Beneš appeals to the World for Peace
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Changes in the German Army Command
Among all the events of this crisis, there has been a change in the command structure of the German Army. General Ludwig Beck was Oberkommando des Heeres, otherwise known as the Chief of the General Staff of the Army. He seemingly is not any longer after August 27.General Franz Halder has now become the new Oberkommando des Heeres. He began this post on September 1st. These events are just now being noticed due in part because of the tension in the Sudetenland.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Impasse!
Monday, September 8, 2008
German Sudetens protest
Plan No. 4 adds both financial and political concessions such as "states rights to minorities in Sudeten. President Beneš offered to lend a billion Czechoslovak koruny ($35,000,000) "on the most favorable terms" to stimulate industry in Czechoslovak districts now suffering from unemployment, with 700,000,000 koruny earmarked for Sudeten districts. Britain and France stood ready to lend this money to Czechoslovakia, it was understood in Prague, and Dr. Beneš clearly hoped many observers of the Sudeten Germans had been right in reporting recently that what they want is a return to prosperity, not Germany.
Plan No. 4 went further than Plan No. 3 in offering Sudeten Germans and other minority peoples State jobs (including "irremovable judgeships") in the same proportion as their numbers bear to the total population of Czechoslovakia. Moreover, each ministry of the Czechoslovak Cabinet would have a separate "section" corresponding to each minority, and each section would be headed by a member of that minority to guard its interests. As the most fateful concession of Plan No. 4, Dr. Beneš offered that in each minority canton the preservation of order should be "divided" between Federal gendarmerie in the countryside and town police of the Sudeten German or other minority faction.
In Germany, every paper printed atrocity stories describing how a Sudeten German Nazi Deputy had been "horsewhipped" by a Czech mounted policeman at the industrial town of Moravská Ostrava. Mounted police had tried to disperse a Sudeten German crowd which had gathered to demand immediate release from jail of 82 persons arrested for possessing arms smuggled from Germany. The prisoners were charged with preparing to organize an attack from the rear upon troops defending the Czechoslovak frontier in case of war. One blow from a riding crop was afterward proved to have struck, without injuring, a man who turned out to be a Sudeten Deputy. Next day the Czech mounted policeman responsible and two others were withheld from duty by Police Chief Baca, who then suspended himself for good measure. But by this time, German papers were well started on a flood of stories under such scareheads as SAVAGE HORSEWHIPPING OF SUDETEN DEPUTY BY BESTIAL CZECH OFFICER.
The No. 1 Sudeten, Konrad Henlein, was at Nürnberg with Hitler, but in Prague the No. 2 Sudeten, Ernst Kundt, tersely announced that "satisfactory amends" had been made at Moravská Ostrava and he then withdrew the Sudeten Party's previous refusal to negotiate on the basis of Plan No. 4. Obviously they were tempted by the 700,000,000 koruny—for there are only 3,500,000 Sudeten Germans.
Smart Dr. Beneš, although relying on money to do some talking in a situation basically desperate, fully realized that Plan No. 4 impressed millions of Czechoslovaks, apart from the Sudeten Germans, as offering such extreme concessions that it imperiled the State. If accepted, Plan No. 4 risks turning every Cabinet ministry into a debating club of minority groups. How democratic Czech gendarmes and totalitarian Nazi police can "divide" responsibility for keeping of order in Sudeten cantons was an unanswered question. In an impossible situation, under crushing British pressure to concede without limit, President Beneš had conceded so much that he realized some of his own people were becoming scared. To reassure the nation, Dr. Beneš went on the air with a calm, firm and tactful broadcast, only a few minutes after he learned that in a speech at Nuremberg General Göring had just gone out of his way to abuse the culture and traditions of the Czechoslovak Republic.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Plan No. 4
Roughly, the plan would accede the Sudeten to Germany due to the high amount of Germans in the region. Czechoslovakia has said that ceding this land would cripple the country economically and would put the nation effectively under German control.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Plan No. 3
The danger of war was not acute enough to keep Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in London. With his fishing rods and guns sticking ostentatiously out of his limousine, Mr. Chamberlain left for Scotland to play trout streams and shoot grouse with King George. Lloyd's pointed out in London last week that, although they stopped writing war-risk insurance on British property some months ago, and although they have been unwilling to cover either the risk of war breaking out in Europe or of Franklin Roosevelt announcing he will seek a Third Term, they were still quoting cargo insurance at far below "wartime rates." Thus, although the rate on South African copper shipped to Germany was raised last week from .025% to .125% the latter figure spells "Peace" in comparison with the 42% premium charged on shipments bound for war-torn Spain.
Up and down Europe a new factor working for peace was sighted by anxious millions in the behavior last week of U. S. Ambassadors. In London, after the British Cabinet had reviewed the Czechoslovak situation for nearly three hours, U. S. Ambassador Joseph Patrick Kennedy was invited in for an hour's conference. Next day Mr. Kennedy was back in Downing Street, conferring this time with Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax, and red-ink London placards shrieked this as good news. Mr. Kennedy, interviewed by transatlantic telephone, told the Hearst Boston American, ''No war is going to break out during the rest of 1938."
Frank Trelawny Arthur Aston-Gwatkin, Lord Runciman's Man Friday. It was taken by Sudeten German Führer Konrad Henlein to Berchtesgaden last week and there laid before the German Führer. Details were kept secret but it was understood that Plan No. 3 embodied these main points: 1) a three-month truce to be declared, to give time for much further negotiation between the Sudeten Germans, the Czechoslovak Government and other interested parties; 2) Czechoslovakia to become after these negotiations a Federal State composed of Gaue or "Cantons" modeled on the Swiss Federal State, whose structure has often been compared to that of the U. S. The Sudetens complain this would give their Gaue only a rough equivalent to American States' rights, whereas they have demanded "autonomy" comparable to British dominion status.
Viscount Runciman's entourage began complaining fortnight ago that they have found Konrad Henlein nothing but a "straw man," and last week the Sudeten Führer went to Berchtesgaden only to take the orders of his boss, Führer Hitler—for the fourth time this year.
Present with the No. 1 Nazi were No. 2 Nazi Göring, No. 3 Nazi Goebbels and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who arrived from Berlin with what was said to be a personal piece of advice to Adolf Hitler from Neville Chamberlain.
This had been verbally delivered in Berlin by the British Ambassador, Sir Nevile Henderson, who brought it by air from London. As Sir Nevile was leaving Croydon, he added an E. Phillips Oppenheim touch by portentously remarking to cameramen : "You had better be quick—this is the last chance you'll get."
Henlein, after four hours' conference with Hitler, returned to his home in the village of As. Three days later one fact seemed obvious: the "strawman" had been instructed to reject Plan No. 3, to compromise on nothing, to hold out for full, unqualified Sudeten autonomy. The Czech Cabinet then met with President Benes and drafted its "last" offer to which a response was expected from Dictator Hitler this week in one of his numerous speeches at the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg.
Meanwhile, local bigwigs of the Sudeten German Party were reported from Czechoslovakia as be ginning to show signs of fear lest they be thrust aside by Nazis from Germany, much as in Vienna the Austrian Nazis have lost all the biggest plums to German Nazis. Supplementing cables to this effect was a statement by pro-Czech Chairman George Boochever of the American-Czechoslovak Chamber of Commerce, who stepped off the Dutch liner Nieuw Amster dam in Manhattan. "In my talks with Sudeten Germans," said Mr. Boochever, "I gained the impression that they had no real wish to be annexed to Germany. . . . I think Henlein is but the mouthpiece for Hitler's views and if it were not for the propaganda and subsidies from Germany received by Henlein and his group there would be no agitation. . . ."
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Another Nazi Measure against Jews
The law goes into effect on January 1, 1939.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Lord Runciman meets Konrad Henlein
Prince Max, although ardently pro-German, keeps his fingers crossed, has a passport which makes him a subject of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Last week he mobilized his villagers, his gamekeepers, his servants and his toddling infants, all of whom gave the Nazi salute as Lord Runciman arrived in formal black jacket, wing collar and black bat tie. Herr Henlein turned up in brown tweed coat, grey flannel slacks and white shoes. Present was the German agent known as "Princess Steffi," who generally operates in London. There she has been hostess to Herr Henlein and to Adolf Hitler's personal agent, Captain Wiedemann (TIME, Aug. 1). From the castle windows the conferees could see the Sudeten Mountains and the German frontier, patrolled unceasingly before their eyes by fighting planes of Czechoslovakia and the Reich. The meeting lasted from 12:30 to 5:45.
Diplomatic rumor had it that "Henlein showed himself most intransigent." But shortly thereafter Herr Henlein assembled his lieutenants in the Hotel Veimar in Marienbad. There he outlined the Sudeten demands anew, clarified along lines suggested by Lord Runciman. Meanwhile, to make the clamorous Henlein minority perhaps less intransigent, Premier Hodza soon after announced he would give choice political plums to Sudeten Germans by appointing them to seven large postmasterships, a district public works superintendency, two district governorships, more jobs in the railroad administration.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Main Synagogue of Nuremberg Destroyed
August 10th, there was a gathering of many Nazis in front of the grand synagogue. The Mayor attended and took part in the rally as well as the Gauleiter Julius Streicher. The rally then turned into a demolition and the synagogue was heavily burned and damaged.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Lord Runciman meets with German Sudeten Party members
On the third day the British mediator uncorked his first proposal. He declared that before he could attempt to advise he must understand the problems of Czechoslovakia, must study them for at least a fortnight. Therefore, he proposed that the Government and the Sudetens stop negotiating while he studied.
To this provisional Pax Runciman they agreed. Instead of discussing the disputed Minorities Statute, the Czechoslovak Parliament met for only 20 minutes—its first meeting since the war crisis was averted on May 21 —then meekly adjourned indefinitely.Meanwhile, tourist travel to Prague picked up magically overnight. Tourists wolfed tasty Prager ham and downed it with Pilsner beer, convinced that they were safe so long as The Man With the Wrinkled Brow continues his studies.
When U. S. Ambassador to Germany Hugh Wilson, an ace career diplomat, suddenly flew to Prague on what he carefully described as "just a holiday visit" to his friend U. S. Minister to Czechoslovakia Wilbur J. Carr, Czechs were delighted.
They thought his coming was a friendly gesture by President Roosevelt and the State Department, a nudging reminder from Washington to London that the bulk of U. S. public opinion would not be favorable to a Runciman Report so couched as to sell Czechoslovakia down the river. Private Person Wilson was soon received by President Beneš and Premier Hodza, had a talk with Private Person Runciman, insisted he was only vacationing.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Lord Runciman remains in Prague
While Viscount Runciman’s staff continues to work in close contact with the Henlein party leaders, the British negotiator in the Czech-Sudeten German dispute confined himself today to purely formal visits.
In the morning he received Premier Milan Hodza and Foreign Minister Kamil Krofta, who were returning the calls he paid on them yesterday. At noon he and Lady Runciman lunched with President Eduard Benes and his wife at Hradschin palace. At Lord Runciman’s wish the luncheon was entirely private.
In the afternoon Lord Runciman received a deputation of German Activists – who support the republic – consisting of Wenzel Jakach, Herr Taub and Herr Rehward. The interview lasted only half an hour, in contrast with the hour and a half the Henleinist leaders spent with Lord Runciman yesterday, followed by a late night conference with his staff.
These meetings were held at the Alcron Hotel. Tomorrow the Henleinist leaders again will have long conferences with Lord Runciman’s staff.
Last night they put forward the sensational demands advanced by Konrad Henlein in his Karlsbad speech April 24, when he proclaimed himself and his movement purely Nazi. The Henleinist delegates further explained to Lord Runciman’s staff the meaning of the party’s memorandum embodying most of the Karlsbad demands that was presented to the government June 7.
Incidentally, it is reported that the Committee of Political Ministers is drawing up an answer to the Henlein party’s memorandum.
The German Activist representatives deliberately refrained from bombarding Lord Runciman with documentary propaganda. They left it entirely to the British negotiator to say whether or not he wished further contact with them and advice from them. They told him that if he wished to hear the democratic German viewpoint they would be glad to draw up a memorandum next week and he requested that they do so.
They further offered to show him any industrial center in the Sudeten area that he wished to see, to enable him to “see for himself that the Sudeten Germans can do a good day’s hard work as well as conduct political agitation.”
Lord Runciman thanked them and said that he would consider their suggestion when he drew up his program of visits.
Lord Runciman is leaving Prague for a week-end in the Sudeten area and it is understood that he will pay a personal visit to a big German landowner. His staff refused all information tonight as to whom he would visit.
The German press and radio propaganda campaign in connection with the flight of two Czech planes over Glatz in German territory Wednesday is described as the most violent of all those launched against this country, not excepting the campaign in the days preceding May 21, when Czechoslovakia called reserves to the border.
The press reminds Germany that there have been many cases of German pilots flying as far as Pilsen without any Czech press campaign being launched against Germany. It is a fact the there are constant violations of the Czech frontier by German planes, which it is thought wiser here not to make the subject of protests nor even to allow mentioned [sic] in the press.
The extraordinary violence of the present German campaign gives rise to suspicions that there is truth in reports of large military concentrations around Glatz that have been received here in the last week.
Glatz is situated in a German “peninsula” almost entirely surrounded by Czechoslovak territory and it is quite conceivable that pilots flying over Czechoslovakia could make a mistake and cross the German line there.
The Prague radio replied to the German propaganda tonight in the form of an official communiqué giving three cases in which German pilots, giving the same excuse as the Germans refused to accept in the Galtz case – poor visibility – actually landed in Czechoslovak reserved military areas during the last two months.
Monday, August 4, 2008
England sends Lord Runciman to Prague
His first day has so far involved a meeting with the Czechoslovakian President. He will be meeting with German Sudetens and other involved parties before returning to England and the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Italy cracks down on Jews
Japanese & Soviet conflict resolved
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Conflict at Broad Drum Peak
Monday, July 28, 2008
Street names changed in Germany
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
ID cards for Jews
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Évian Conference Concludes
After nine days, the Évian Conference wraps up in southeastern France. No resolution was passed. There was a great deal of official statements of sympathy by nations for the stateless Jews.Most of attending nations were reluctant to shoulder the burden of the Jewish refugees.
The Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic did offer safe harbor to the refugees. The so-called Sosua Project would have 100,000 Jews settling in the Dominican Republic with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee paying the nation millions of dollars. Costa Rica is also offering the same resolution.
The American delegate noted that the United States has immigration quotas and would be making the German and Austrian quotas fully available. France also claimed it had met "the extreme point of saturation as regards admission of refugees."
The British delegation did not remind the conference attendees of its Palestinian mandate where Jewish settlements have been forming for decades. This may, in fact, have been intentional since there were even Jewish observers from Palestine at the conference such as Mrs. Golda Meyerson. Mrs. Meyerson is Ukrainian-born Jew who was reared and educated in the United States before emigrating to Palestine. She remarked to the press after conference ended, "There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore."
An Australian delegate even noted "as we [Australia] have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one."
Yesterday, a Nazi newspaper published an article with a headline stating “JEWS FOR SALE AT A BARGAIN PRICE--WHO WANTS THEM? NO ONE.”
Saturday, July 12, 2008
France makes decrees
Second, Monsieur Daladier declared that France is recommitting itself to Czechoslovakian independence. This continues the line that France and Britain have maintained since demands from Hitler have come down for possession of the Sudetenland in April.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Secretary Hull meets with German Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff
The Secretary said that there was only one alternative course: the course of force, militarism, and territorial aggression with all the accompanying hurtful and destructive practices.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Conference on Jewish Refugees
Representatives from thirty-two nations and twenty-four volunteer organizations are gathering today in Évian-les-Bains, France. Here on the western banks of Lake Geneva and in the picturesque Rhône-Alpes area of southeastern France, these delegates will discuss a solution to the refugees coming out of central Europe.
In the past few years, laws have been passed down in Germany that have made Jews in that country stateless. With other oppressive laws taking business and property from German Jews, many have left the nation looking elsewhere for hope and prosperity.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Austria takes Jews into custody
State of United States Forces
Monday, June 23, 2008
Guerillas in the Fields
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Sinti & Roma elements in Germany & Austria
The German Government took many rights from the Gypsies with "Protection of Blood and Honour" law passed in 1935. This law strips many non-Aryan groups in Germany and, since Anschluss earlier this year, Austria, of civic rights.
Gypsies have historically been nomadic groups all over Europe. The areas of largest populations are in Central and Eastern Europe. Some have countered that the Gypsies are also Aryan, the supposed race of German people.
Dr. Hans F. K. Günther of the University of Berlin has written on the subject in his 1927 book The Racial Elements of European History. Within its pages he discusses Gypsy Aryan origins that corruptions that have occurred dur to breeding with lower classes. All of this is of course the writings of German racialism and has not been wholly substantiated by other learned men.
Other authorities have noted the asocialism and community hygiene problems that the Gypsies present to the Nazi Government.
Many Gypsies have historically been distrusted due to their refusal to live sedentary lifestyles. Gypsies live a nomadic pattern using their skills in crafts and performance to earn money for food. Gypsies are often referred to as criminals, deceivers and thieves.
It is unclear where the Gypsies are going in this relocation.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Japanese land at Anqing
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Flooding of the Yellow River
This flood is certainly coming at a bad time for the Japanese. This will impede their efforts at taking control of China.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Latvia and Estonia sign pact with Germany
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Famed Psychologist leaves Austria
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Hungary limits Jewish economics
Friday, May 30, 2008
Hitler announces that he will take Czechoslovakia
Hitler has announced that he will "smash Czechoslovakia" before October 1st. It is unclear what the League of Nations will do in response, if anything can be done. Great Britain and France have not responded to Hitler's latest declaration.
Japan arrests Communists
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Germany increases building
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Nuremberg Laws in effect in Austria
Of particular interest in Austria, any books written by Jews are going to be removed, likely destroyed. In addition, any anti-Nazi literature is meeting the same fate.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Czechoslovakia stirs
In reponse, Great Britain and France have rejected these demands. Germany has begun to build up its military installations along its shared border with Czechoslovakia. This apparent aggression has alarmed many with the Chezhoslovakian government. They are now mobilizing in an effort for defense should that need arise.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
US Congress votes for rearmament
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Chemical Weapons Ban
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Viennese Jews
99.5% of Austrian Jews live in Vienna. Many have already had to endure humiliation at the hands of the Nazis and their fellow countrymen.
Jews were forced to scrub Schuschnigg's political slogans off the sidewalks in Vienna.Both Jews and Gypsies have had their Austrian citizenships revoked since Anschluss.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
London Conference Concludes
City of Wuhan suffers more bombing
The Chinese though seem to be quite prepared and have been bringing Japanese planes down. The Battle continues.
Friday, April 25, 2008
More changes for Jews
In addition, yesterday it was decreed that Jews are now being required to register their property and wealth with the Government.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Sudetengermans
Sudetendeutsche Partei represents many of these Sudetengermans. They have been accorded less rights than other ethnicities in the Sudetenland. Today, the party released the Karlsbader Programm which outlines an 8-point plan to bring equality to Sudetengermans.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
British-Italian Accord
The two nations have agreed to conflict with each other in that region, at least. In the agreement, Britain recognized Italy's conquest of Ethiopia. Also. Italy promised to withdraw her troops from Spain should that country's bloody and brutal Civil War conclude.

