the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

The Break up of Czechoslovakia and the Genesis
of the Transfer
Czechoslovakia’s weak position was
exploited by Poland and Hungary,
which also helped themselves to
territory they had long claimed.
Whereas the preceding events
represented an incalculable national
tragedy for the Czechoslovak Republic
and the Czech population, on the
Sudeten-German side, the relief over
the resolution of the crisis, the tension
of the previous weeks and months and
the great expectations from the Reich
all gave rise to unbounded enthusiasm.
Almost all sections of the Sudeten-
German population celebrated the
occupation. The euphoria of those days
is testified to by letters of thanks to the
Führer, speeches by the clergy and
leaders of local authorities, and
memoirs. Only a outright opponent of
National Socialism could fail to share
the rapturous enthusiasm. Even though
contemporary descriptions were
doctored for propaganda purposes, the
accounts of the Sudeten-German
eyewitnesses indicate that even decades
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Chapter IV
later people recalled those days with
intense feelings of “redemption” or
“liberation” .Almost all the testimonies
reflect a deep sense of Sudeten-German
unity, reinforced chiefly by three
phenomena: the displays of the German
Freikorps, the activity of the National
Socialist welfare service
(Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt –
NSV) and the Winter Aid Campaigns
(Winter-Hilfe-Werk – WHW), and, last
During “Kristalnacht “ on November 9, 1938, the Nazis pillaged Jewish property
throughout the Reich, egged on by Goebbels. Forty-four synagogues in northern
Bohemia were also set on fire.
but not least, the visit of Adolf Hitler to
the Sudeten-German areas.
Once the outcome of the Munich
Agreements was known, many Czechs,
Jews and German opponents of the Nazi
regime fled inland from those areas out
of fear of the Wehrmacht, Gestapo,
Freikorps or radical Sudeten Germans.
After the border areas were occupied,
Czech citizens found themselves in a
very tricky situation and had to decide
quickly what steps to take. In many cases
they virtually became overnight
inhabitants of a foreign country.
The army and police were German and