Reichskristallnacht

Totals from the destructive progoms against German and Austrian Jews are now known. These may be adjusted slightly but all indications are that these are the figures. Some have been released by Minister Reinhard Heydrich and so come from the Nazi authority.

According to Minister Heydrich, 191 Synagogues were destroyed (constituting nearly all Germany had), with 76 completely demolished; 100,000 Jews were arrested; three foreigners were arrested; 174 people were arrested for looting Jewish shops; and 815 Jewish businesses were destroyed.

It is believed that 7500 Jewish stores and businesses were destroyed by violent Germans. The event has begun to be called Kristallnacht, Reichskristallnacht or Reichspogromnacht.

At this time there may have been a total of 91 deaths due to mob violence. It is unclear how many of these were Jews but it is believed to be all. Many Jews were beaten to death with other Jews being forced to watch on.

Synagogues were not merely damaged and burned but also looted with much of ceremonial treasures stolen and destroyed. Many Temples even had their mezuzot taken from the doorways.

Jewish cemeteries were not spared violence. Tombstones were uprooted and graves violated. Fires were lit, and prayer books, scrolls, artwork and philosophy texts were thrown upon them, and precious buildings were either burned or smashed until unrecognisable. Even the ancestors and the dead were not spared violence and the peace of being dearly departed.

Goebbels ascribed the events to the "healthy instincts" of the German people. He went on to explain: "The German people are anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race."

Events in only recently annexed Austria were no less horrendous. Of the entire Kristallnacht only the pogrom in Vienna was completely successful. Most of Vienna's 94 synagogues and prayer-houses were partially or totally destroyed. People were subjected to all manner of humiliations, including being forced to scrub the pavements whilst being tormented by their fellow Austrians, some of whom had been their friends and neighbors.

Thousands were arrested throughout the riots with no word on what the charges are (many were arrested under the pretence of protection as the Nazis call it) or when they will be released. Countless Jews commit suicide during the pogrom as well.

Internationally, the reaction to the extreme violence has been shock. Many foreign papers have printed accounts of the series of events and destruction of Jewish temples.

Riots against German & Austiran Jews subside

Mob law ruled in Berlin throughout the afternoon and evening and hordes of hooligans indulged in an orgy of destruction. There have several anti-Jewish outbreaks in Germany during the last five years, but never anything as nauseating as this. Racial hatred and hysteria seemed to have taken complete hold of otherwise decent people. Even fashionably dressed women were clapping their hands and screaming with glee, while respectable middle-class mothers held up their babies to see the "fun".

Much Jewish property was damaged and destroyed throughout the violence which has now come to an end after Propaganda minister Joseph Geobbels requested it, though it sounds more like an order. They have been accounts of several deaths during the riots. Figures of the actual destruction is still being accumulated. It mat be some days before the total figures are known, including the dead, injured and arrested.

Italian Jews under harder Laws

The Italian Government enacted anti-Jewish legislation. Many of the laws proposed would be similar to the Nuremberg Laws passed three years ago in Germany.

Riots in Germany & Austria

Violence erupted in the late hours last night. The riots and violence was in response to the murder of Nazi Ernst vom Rath in Paris at the hands of German-born Polish Jew Herschel Grynszpan. Rath lost his life last night at a hospital in Paris even with Chancellor Hitler's own personal physician Dr. Brandt tending to his recovery.

Last night was also the fifteenth anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch which the Nazis look back fondly as an important day in the formation and evolution of their controversial political party.

Destruction of Jewish property has been widespread. Many synagogues, large and small, have been damaged and burned by angry German people. Using sledgehammers many shops windows have been shattered leaving glass shards and pieces all over the streets.

Jewish homes have been ransacked all throughout Germany and Austria. Although violence against Jews has not been explicitly condoned by the authorities, there have been cases of Jews being beaten or assaulted. In an interesting twist, foreign Jews have generally been left alone.

The Riots continue. The Police is not interfering with the mobs but many men are being arrested nontheless. A unsubstantiated rumor is the men are Jews being rounded up for further deportations.

Goebbels speaks at Bürgerbräukeller

In the hours after Ernst vom Rath's death in Paris, Minister Joseph Goebbels gave an impassioned speech at Bürgerbräukeller. This was also to commemorate the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. This night is accorded great significance by the Nazi Party as the Tag der Bewegung (Day of the Movement). Those present were many senior Party members who well remember the night fifteen years prior.

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

Ernst vom Rath was unable to recover from five gunshots he sustained from an attempted political assasination. He passed away while being cared for in a Paris hospital moments ago.

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.

German diplomat shot in Paris

Ernst vom Rath, a 29-year-old Nazi who was posted in the German Embassy in Paris, was shot last night.

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.

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

Some of the Polish Jews deported by Germany have been accepted into Poland. The Polish authorities seem helpless as to what to with them.

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.

Polish Jews deported to German-Polish Border

Germany has rounded up an estimated 15,000 Polish Jews and placed them on trains. They are being sent back to Poland. The Polish Government has refused to take them.

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.

Polish Jews arrested in Germany

Polish Jews who've lived outside Poland too long will lose their citizenship in three days. The German government has tried to negotiate the removal of these Poles back to Poland. Poland refuses to allow them entry back into their homeland.

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.

Lipski leaves Bertesgaden

Polish Ambassador Józef Lipski and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Robbentrop have had their meeting in the mountain retreat at Bertesgaden. Ambassador Lipski left yesterday after the one day meeting. The topic of discussion was indeed the Free City of Danzig. Ribbentrop demanded that Poland agree to Germany's annexation of the Free City of Danzig. Lipski refused.

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.

Lipski meeting with Ribbentrop

Polish Ambassador to Germany, Józef Lipski, travelled to Bertesgaden yesterday to meet with German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentop. The topic of discussion is reportedly the Free City of Danzig.

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.

Beneš Returns to Europe

The Former President Eduard Beneš resigned on October 6th. He then left for Chicago, Illinois, United States. 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.

Communist Party banned in Czecho-Slovakia

As part of the assumption of Czecho-Slovakia into Germany, the nation has complied and banned the Communist Party from political activity yesterday. It is illegal to even belong to the party.

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.

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

Italian authorities decreed that no new business licences would be granted to any Jew should he seek it. This was announced yesterday and it assumed that it goes into effect immediately.

Czechoslovakia complies

Preceding the Munich conference, the Czechoslovakian people would say "Even if our allies fail us, no matter if we are left to face overwhelming odds and certain defeat, nevertheless Czechoslovakia will fight rather than yield!"

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!"

Japanese close in on Wuhan

The Japanese have circled Wuhan, the current capital of China. Chinese forces continue to fight against Japanese aggression.

What of Germans outside Sudeten?

The Berlin Commission of Ambassadors which is implementing the Munich agreement has finished demarcating the major zones to be transferred to Germany, and has adjourned until Monday. But there’s still much to do. For example, there’s still the question of what to about Sudeten Germans outside the transfer zones. Originally their fate was to be decided by plebiscite, but it seems an exchange of populations is now preferred by the Commission. This might mean that the volunteers of the British Legion, who are to police the plebiscite areas, won’t be going after all.

Hungary and Poland take land

Both Hungarian and Polish troops have moved into parts of Czecho-Slovakia to take the lands they both desire. There are reports of small skirmishes along the borders.

Details of Munich Agreement hashed out

An international commission has met in Berlin to flesh out the Munich agreement. The Czechoslovakian government has protested its decision on the borders of the next area to be ceded to Germany, which includes many areas which have almost entirely Czech populations. Some 800,000 ethnic Czechs will come under German rule; but the Czech government has decided there is nothing that it can do about it, aside from protesting.

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.

House of Commons backs Chamberlain

Parliament took 4 days of discussion and debate to decide whether to back Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement of September 29th. There were detractors and MPs who voiced scathing criticism and disastrous predictions.

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.

Poland revokes passports

Poland made the decision today to revoke passports from Polish citizens living abroad for longer than five years. This becomes effective October 31st.

Nazis revoke Jewish Passports

Only a day after the Nazis decreed that all Jews would have a "J" stamped on the front pages of their passports, the Nazis have decided to take the passports away completely. This went into effect yesterday, October 5th. This could make it impossible for Jews to travel outside of Germany.

Beneš Resigns

As a protest to the loss of the Sudeten and Teschen, President Eduard Beneš has resigned and left Czecho-Slovakia. Political problems continue for the Czecho-Slovakian government in the wake of the Munich Agreement. The Future of the nation is unclear. The Military has stood down and is not interfering with the German taking of the Sudetenland.

The Celebrations continue in Sudeten.

Hitler in the Sudeten

Sudeten Germans continued their celebrations with the welcome of Hitler in Eger. People have been overcome with emotion by the arrival of the Nazis. 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

The Japanese Army has suffered some setbacks in its continued aggression against China. In the Jangxi province, the Chinese have managed to heavy casualties against the Japanese 106th division in the past week.

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

Czechoslovakia has reacted largely with anger and disbelief. The President Eduard Beneš has protested the agreement which was made without Czechoslovakian input. British Prime Minister Chamberlain has told the President that if the country chose to fight Germany for the Sudetenland, they would have to do so without British support.



The people of Prague gathered to protest the sacrifice of their lands, economy and people for Appeasement.

British Politics in the wake of the Munich Agreement

The British are still celebrating their escape from war, in their different ways. The King has thanked his people for their steadfastness and his prime minister for his peacemaking. The churches were packed with thanksgivers yesterday, ‘Peace Sunday’.

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:

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.

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?

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

The British House of Commons begins to discuss the Munich Agreement. The House will vote on the agreement in the very near future

Secretary Hull responds to the Munich Agreement

The Munich Agreement has been hailed in Great Britain as "Peace for out Time" and has been respected by the French and Italians. There is no doubt the Germans are over the moon about it and that Czechoslovakia despises it. As for the United States, the reaction has been one of cautious optimism and concern for a near future of warfare. Secretary Hull released this statement:

"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

After the return of the Prime Minister and news of the Agreement reached in Munich, there has been an air of jubilation throughout the British Empire. Lauds are being made at the honor of Great Britain, France, Italy and even Germany. The Lord Mayor of the Welsh city of Cardiff, O. C. Purnell has ordered that the flags of Italy, France and even the Swastika be flown over the city to honor these nations.

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.

"It is Peace for our Time"

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain landed at the Heston Aerodrome earlier today to scores of citizens hoping for a word on the historic events of this morning in Munich. In addition to the agreement of the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany, he also procured an Anglo-German peace agreement between Germany and Great Britain to supplement AGNA. After disembarking, he said

...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). 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.

Later, he also had to speak to people outside his residence at No. 10 Downing Street.

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.

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.

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

Another wave of rioting against Polish Jews swept Poland today. No word on damages or casualties.

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.

Munich, September 29, 1938.
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.

Munich Conference

The Four Powers met in Munich in an effort to keep war from occurring in Europe.

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.

Jews barred from Legal Practices

Starting today, Jews in all lands under Nazi power will be prohibited from practicing law. The pronouncement came out yesterday amidst the tension of the Sudetenland crisis.

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.

"A Last Effort"

Earler today, Neville Chamberlain went on the BBC Radio and proclaimed that despite France and the USSR's military preparations, the British would not be going to war over Czechoslovakian independence. Chamberlain asked for "a last effort" and another conference with Hitler.

Then Hitler made an announcement that he would meet with France, Great Britain and Italy in Munich to discuss and resolve the conflict.

World War?

Tonight, the World wonders if it will wake up to a World at 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."

Chamberlain leaves Bad Godesberg

Chamberlain returns to London breaking talks with Hitler. In his posession is a memorandum given to him by Hitler stating that he wants full military control of Sudetenland by October 1st.

Mobilization

The French have now mobilized in the Alsace region. France also claimed that it would back up its ally should it be invaded. In addition Soviet forces have mobilized in preparation to back up their ally, Czechoslovakia. 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

There have been reports of anti-Jewish riots in the ancient French town of Strasbourg.

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

This afternoon, the Danzig Senate annuls all work permits of Jewish Doctors who received their degrees in Germany. Reportedly, this decree affects every practicing Jewish physician in Danzig save one.

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.

Hodza Resigns

Premier Milan Hodza has stepped down and the cabinet has been dissolved. This is a reaction to the capitulation to Germany's demands for the Sudetenland.

Hitler's New Demands are Rejected

The French and British Governments have rejected Hitler's demands for Polish and Hungarian territorial transactions.

Hitler makes new Demands

Prime Minister Chamberlain met with Chancellor Hitler in Bad Godesberg yesterday. It seemed Germany had finally gotten its demands: control of the Sudetenland and union with the German peoples there. However, Hitler has said that the conditions of the capitulation are no longer acceptable. He has added to the demands. He now wants the Poles and Magyars within Czechoslovakia to be united with Poland and Hungary, their respective nations.

Czechoslovakia Capitulates

Even after the USSR made war talk at the League of Nations yesterday, Czechoslovakia has capitulated. Late last night, the government agreed to Germany's demands.

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.

The Soviet Union talks War

Today, at the League of Nations, the Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinoff accused the French and British governments of appeasement. He further accused the two nations of using Czechoslovakia to forestall war and also predicted that a larger war would result from their current actions.

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.

The Czechoslovakian Response

Today the Czechoslovakian government gave the governments of France and Great Britain a note at 2.45 PM Eastern Time. In this note they expressed their point of view. It became apparent to both the French and the British that what they said was unacceptable.

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.

Details of the Agreement

Edward R. Morrow of CBS radio reported what many in London believe to be the consensus Hitler and Chamberlain arrived at during their meeting in Bertesgaden. He said "First, the Sudeten majority districts are to be turned over to Germany. Some newspapers mention that those areas having more than 50% Sudetens will be turned over. Second, Britain is to take part in an international guarantee of what is left of Czechoslovakia. And third, the Franco-Czech and the Russian-Czech Alliance is to be abandoned."

This would effectively end the Czechoslovakian nation as we know it.

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.

Lord Runciman returns from Prague

Lord and Lady Runciman returned from their five-week-long trip to Prague on yesterday, September 16th. Lord Runciman's report is anticipated by the Prime Minister as soon as he is able.

The situation in the Sudetenland remains as untenable as possible.

Chamberlain visits with Hitler; Henlein's Flight

The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Neville Chamberlain met with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Bertesgaden, near Munich in Southern Germany on September 15th. There the two leaders will discuss ways to end this crisis before it erupts into war.

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.

Martial Law in Sudetenland

It seemed the crisis was averted until Hitler's speech on the 12th. No the Sudeten Germans are up in arms once more. President Beneš has imposed martial law in response to the increased agitation. There has also been a recall of Czechoslovak reservists in light of this change of events.

Hitler rattles more sabres

Adolf Hitler said in his speech to 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.

Pope Pius XI speaks

Pope Pius XI has been increasingly vocal about the Anti-Semitic laws being passed in Central Europe and other countries lack of action on the matter. He has been referring to the inaction as a Conspiracy of Silence. Recently, he made a speech to Belgian Catholic pilgrims at the Vatican in which he said

"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

Czechoslovakian President Eduard Beneš made an appeal via Radio Broadcast asking for peace and calm in the face of this crisis. He also told the Czechoslovakian people that they would be "firm and have faith in our state, in its health and its strength, in the indestructible spirit and devotion of its people."

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.

Impasse!

Talks between the Czechoslovakian Government and Henlein's Sudeten Party have broken down. Of course, negotiations still continue between Great Britain and Czechoslovakia. Germany is staying somewhat quiet. In the coming days, there will be a Congress of the Nazi Party in Nuremberg.

German Sudetens protest

In response to the plan put forth by the Czechoslovakian Government, many of the Sudeten Germans who agree with Konrad Henlein, protested. However, what is Plan No. 4?

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.

Plan No. 4

Czechoslovakian President Eduard Beneš submitted a fourth plan to the Czechoslovakian Government on September 2nd. Now, the government has submitted this to the British.

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.

Plan No. 3

In Washington, anxious Assistant Secretary of State George S. Messersmith repeatedly crawled out of bed around 4 AM to hear by transatlantic telephone what U. S. Ambassadors in Europe could tell him about whether Adolf Hitler was going to hurl the German Army into Czechoslovakia.

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."

The Soviet Union and the French met and discussed the situation, while in Prague the British mediator, Viscount Runciman, at last had ready a third series of proposed concessions to the Sudeten Germans known as Czechoslovak Premier Dr. Milan Hodza's "Plan No. 3." This had been secretly flown over for the inspection of the British Cabinet and secretly flown back to Prague by Mr.

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. . . ."

Another Nazi Measure against Jews

The German Government is now requiring all Jewish women to add "Sara" to their given first names, and men to likewise add "Israel" to their names. This is to be on all legal documents and passports. This measure is to better identify Jews who have non-Jewish names.

The law goes into effect on January 1, 1939.

Lord Runciman meets Konrad Henlein

Viscount Runciman had been 15 days in Czechoslovakia without meeting Konrad Henlein, who thought his prestige would be enhanced if he made the British lord call on him. This, the Viscount had refused to do, but in last week's emergency Lord Runciman consented to motor from Prague into the Sudeten Nazi territory and meet Herr Henlein in the castle of Prince Max von Hohenlohe, whose lands extend right up to the German frontier.

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.

Main Synagogue of Nuremberg Destroyed

The Main Synagogue of Nuremberg was burned and damaged beyond use yesterday. The Congregation of the synagogue were given until August 3rd to sell to the City of Nuremberg. After the congregation could not come to a consensus, Mayor Willi Liebel, expropriated the land.

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.

The Synagogue has been a fixture in the Nuremberg skyline. No response has been lodged by the displaced congregation.

Lord Runciman meets with German Sudeten Party members

Konrad Henlein, the Sudeten German Führer, sent only subordinates to confer with the Viscount. The consideration with which he treated them was considered spectacular. Lord Runciman's program included 20-minute formal calls on President Eduard Beneš and Premier Milan Hodza; two lengthy conferences with henchmen of Henlein, the second lasting until 2 am; next day lunch with Dr. & Mme Beneš; a short conference at his hotel with non-Nazi Czech Germans.

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.

Lord Runciman remains in Prague

---From the New York Times---

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.

England sends Lord Runciman to Prague

Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, arrived today in Prague in response to the continuing Sudetenland crisis between Czechoslovakia and Germany. He is hoping to find a mutually beneficial solution to the situation.

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.

Italy cracks down on Jews

Italy has passed the Racial Laws against the Jews barring them from studying or teaching in a school of higher learning and revoking the citizenship of all foreign Jews obtained after January, 1919, and decreeing their expulsion within six months.

Japanese & Soviet conflict resolved

The details are not known at this time. However, sources have said that the conflict between the Japanese Empire and the Soviet Union ended on August 1st. The border between Soviet Union's Siberian wilderness and Japan's state of Manchuria, now called Manchukuo, will return to its previous situation on July 29th. This was the day the Japanese entered Siberia unprovoked.

Conflict at Broad Drum Peak

There has been an act of Japanese aggression at a point of disputed territory on the Manchurian and Soviet border. The Japanese attacked border guards and have been able to push some distance into Siberia.

Street names changed in Germany

In Germany, a program has been started to change street names. Some of the streets apparently have Jewish sounding names. Considering the political problems that exist within Germany at this moment, it has become inappropriate to retain the names. So, the names will be changed to sound more German.

ID cards for Jews

The German Government passed a measure yesterday requiring all Jews to carry Identification cards. This comes after Jewish doctors were forbidden to practice medicine on non-Jews.

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.”

France makes decrees

Whilst the Conference proceeds in Évian, the French Prime Minister has made some announcements in the past two days. First, Prime Minister Édouard Daladier was given the authority to govern by decree in the event of war. This is much like martial law and does not leave the people a representative voice in the creation or implementation of laws.

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.

Secretary Hull meets with German Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff

Today, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull talked with the German Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff about the European situation. He told the Ambassador that this Government had been earnestly hoping that the German Government would reach a stage where it would decide to support the program of peace and orderly progress which the United States had been striving to keep alive and to advance.

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.

Conference on Jewish Refugees

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for a conference to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of stateless Jews from Central Europe. And that's what he's getting.

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.

Austria takes Jews into custody

Earlier today, the Austrian officials took 40,000 or so Jews in protective custody. It is unknown what protective custody means, the ages or gender of the people arrested or where Austria intends to place the Jews.

State of United States Forces

Yesterday, Secretary of War Harry Woodring was able to report encouraging improvements in the military establishment. He declared, however, that there were still deficiencies in organization, equipment, and personnel that required correction. The Chief of Staff of the Army, General Malin Craig, pointed out at the same time that the Regular Army ranked only eighteenth among the standing armies of the world.

Guerillas in the Fields

After marching from Qingdao (Tsingtao), Japanese forces finally reached the Huang (Yellow) River. Mobile Chinese forces limited Japanese control to the railway zone. Despite their military superiority, the Japanese discovered that they could capture major Chinese urban centers, but that Chinese guerillas controlled the rural areas. As a result, Chinese troops were able to conduct successful operations against the Japanese during the Spring of 1938.

Sinti & Roma elements in Germany & Austria

For the past three days, the German and Austrian authorities have been gathering up members of the Sinti and Roma groups. Sinti and Roma are Gypsies and are found living in almost every nation is Europe. Both groups have lived in Germany since the 15th Century.

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.

Japanese land at Anqing

Today, the Japanese landed Naval forces on the Coast at Anqing. The Chinese 11th Army is nearby. More information as it happens.

Flooding of the Yellow River

Reports have been received that the Yellow River (Huang River) near Huayuankou. In the early morning hours of June 9th, local time, many of the local Chinese were caught unawares. The number of dead, missing and injured are unknown at this time. There has been considerable flooding in the area in the past eight years. The local populations are difficult to ascertain as records of the residents have not been effectively kept.

This flood is certainly coming at a bad time for the Japanese. This will impede their efforts at taking control of China.

Latvia and Estonia sign pact with Germany

Germany signed a pact promising non-aggression with the two Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia. The two nations would likely have presented little to no concern to Germany. This is more of a relief to the tiny poor Baltic nations. It is clear to many that a war in Europe is coming but it will not be Germany that brings it to Latvia and Estonia.

Famed Psychologist leaves Austria

Psychoanalyst and Neurologist Siegmund Freud arrived in Paris today via the Orient Express. He left his home in Vienna and Nazi Austria. Dr. Freud and his family including daughter Anna are likely to proceed on to London and establish their home there.

Hungary limits Jewish economics

Hungary, a country that less than twenty years ago, was united with Austria as an Empire, has passed a new law against Jews. Yesterday, a law reduced the amount Jews could contribute to the economy is 20%. This law meets with much skepticism amongst the International Community. It isn't apparent how Hungary's government plans to implement such a measure against its Jewry.

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

It has been reported that 1300 alleged Communists have been arrested. Japan is appears hopes to rein in any oppositional political parties as its war with mainland Asia increases.