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

Chapter IV
The attitudes of the German
population of the Sudetengau
In the brief history of the Sudetengau the
mapping of this aspect is of fundamental
importance in analysing the extent to
which the Sudeten Germans were
capable of reflecting on their own
history, as well as assessing their role in
the destruction of Czechoslovakia, the
unleashing of World War II and their
contribution towards the German
debacle that emerged from it, not to
mention their role as architects of their
own fate.
Attitudes among the Sudeten
Germans can be said to have undergone
a three-phase evolution. In the first
phase the basic pattern of their attitudes
started to take shape and only varied
slightly in the subsequent phases. That
phase was characterised by the attitude
to the Sudeten Germans own part in the
break up of the Czechoslovak Republic
and their enormous enthusiasm over
annexation by the German Reich, which
they interpret as their great national
victory, emphasising their own subjective
contribution to the culmination of the
ideal of a Greater German Reich. That
state of mind is proved not only by the
unbounded enthusiasm of their welcome
for the invading Wehrmacht and above
all for the great leader Hitler and his
local subordinates.
The initial euphoria is also indicated
by various important social phenomena,
above all the interest in membership of
the Nazi party, which gave rise to
relatively the largest regional party
organisation in the entire state, so much
so that the Reich was obliged to regulate
it. The same applied to membership of
the SA divisions; in that case the
regional group was the largest in the
entire Greater German Reich. It was
very much the same with other
organisations. The motivation for this
movement towards the NSDAP and its
affiliated organisations was undoubtedly
the initial euphoria at “liberation”
mentioned earlier. Soon other more
materialistic considerations came into
play: using membership as a way of
advancing up the social ladder in the new
The Break up of Czechoslovakia and the Genesis
of the Transfer
154
regime and achieving a place among the
power elite in the highest, or at least the
lower echelons, an elite which was well
remunerated and had hopes of avoiding
service in the front line in the impending
war that soon broke out. Admittedly
there some resentment was voiced when
the careers of Sudeten Germans were
jeopardised by the arrival of officials
from the Reich. But those were about
the only grumbles in the initial phase.
A significant indication of the
attitudes of society was provided by the
aforementioned by-elections of Sudeten-
German deputies to the Reichstag held
on December 4, 1938. The question is
often raised in connection with their
results as to whether the Sudeten
Germans really did vote for National
Socialism. The point is that the (blank)
ballot papers for the Germans actually
had printed on them, “Do you support
our leader Adolf Hitler, the liberator of
the Sudetenland and give your vote for
the election platform of the German
National Socialist Party.” The election
speeches of Goebbels, Henlein and other
leaders also presented the issue in those
terms. And the entire ideological
election propaganda and the hyperfestive
and bombastic choreography of
the elections encouraged the voters to
view their vote in that manner. At the
same time Henlein announced a
conciliatory attitude towards those who
had previously been “in error”, who were
ready to perceive and acknowledge their
error. In addition the positive economic
and social achievements in the first phase
of the incorporation of the border areas
into the Reich helped to win support for
Hitler’s regime.
Nevertheless the objection is voiced
that not everyone voted for national
socialism, that what was decisive among
part of the Sudeten-German population
was the national victory in the form of
the break away from the Czechoslovak
Republic and the “return” to the larger
German family.
Without acknowledging or
underestimating that factor in the case of
a certain, albeit unascertainable,
percentage of Sudeten-German voters,