Minorities and Law in Czechoslovakia by Jan Kuklík René Petráš

Author:Jan Kuklík, René Petráš [Jan Kuklík, René Petráš]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788024635842
Google: tJXstAEACAAJ
Publisher: Karolinum Press
Published: 2017-01-15T03:37:28+00:00

3. THE MUNICH AGREEMENT AND SECOND WORLD WAR

3.1 THE MUNICH AGREEMENT

Growing tensions between the Czechoslovak state and its national minorities worsened at the beginning of the 1930s due to international crises in Central Europe. As part of its expansive policy, Nazi Germany, headed by Hitler, demanded fundamental changes in the position of the German minorities abroad501 and German pressure on Czechoslovakia was misused also by Hungary (supported by Italy and personally by Benito Mussolini)502 and Poland in respect of their minorities and still disputed frontiers.

The internal causes for the Czechoslovak minority crises were closely connected with the developments within the Sudeten German society and policy, which led to the above mentioned establishment of the Sudeten German Party (Sdp) chaired by Konrad Henlein. This party, with political and financial support from Nazi Germany, gradually became the leading political representation of the German minority in Czechoslovakia, and so-called “activist” German parties in Czechoslovakia, with the exception of the Social Democrats, were in steady decline.503 The SdP misused not only the deteriorating economic situation during the Great Depression (which affected border regions with predominantly German settlement more than inland regions) but also some flaws and misconceptions in Czechoslovak minority policies only partially reflected by Hodža’s government after February 1937.504 Henlein was personally also very successful in gaining support for the Sudeten German “cause” during his propaganda tours to Britain in 1937–1938. His warm welcome was prepared also by the British Envoy to Prague Joseph Edison, whose despatches to the Foreign Office depicted Henlein as moderate politician, who is trying to secure fair treatment for the Sudeten Germans oppressed by the Czechs.505

During 1938 the SdP presented far reaching proposals for self-determination, initially in the form of territorial autonomy and self-government.506 The most severe conditions for Czechoslovakia to accept, including acknowledgement of different (i.e. Nazi) ideology of German national group, were set in the so-called Karlsbad Programme of 24 April 1938. At that time the policy of the Sudeten German Party and its leader Henlein was consulted directly with Hitler and other leading Nazis507 and its aim was to cause an internal disruption of the Czechoslovak democratic system and state structure. Other minorities, especially the Hungarian and Polish ones, exercised pressure on the Czechoslovak Government as well, using the above mentioned interaction with the Governments of Hungary and Poland.

The Czechoslovak Government tried to react and prepared the Statute for National Minorities, the Language Bill and the Administrative Reform Bill.508 Its aim was not only to consolidate the minority legislation but also to modernize and amend it. During the preparatory works the Czechoslovak Government tried to compare the position of national minorities and minority rights in selected European countries, including Poland and the Baltic states. The comparative analyses proved that the proposed legislation was, in the context of the late 1930s, quite liberal, and, if put into practice, it could lead to the transformation of Czechoslovakia from a centralized national state with minorities into more decentralized state with certain degree of autonomy for minorities. Another initiative

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