Imprimir

Jerusalem – The modern Czechoslovakian state arose in 1918 on the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its population of almost 15 million was made up primarily of two Slavic nationalities, the Czechs and the Slovaks, plus other minorities such as Jews, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Poles and Germans. The Germans formed 23 percent of the population and were concentrated on the Sudeteland area. Most Sudenten Germans identified with neighboring countries and were against being incorporated into the new state.

Although it was considered an irredentist minority, the Sudetens were granted all civil rights of a democracy. They weren’t on par with the Czechs in terms of job opportunities in the civil service or armed forces, but overall they were a free and tolerated minority despite their strong identification with adversarial states.

Xenophobic leaderships in the neighboring countries had an impact on the Sudenten minority. The Nazi Party was banned in Czechoslovakia, but its surrogate, the Sudeten German Party, commanded significant popular support. Resorting to violence and intimidation, the SDP soon became the sole spokesman for the Sudeten Germans. It established a paramilitary organization called The Heimatbund, which later developed into the Sudenten German Freikorps, a terrorist movement made up of 34,000 Germany-based Sudeten refugees.

After Hitler came to power, Germany channeled funds to the SDP and gave it political support. The Reich quickly understood that by manipulating the Sudetens’ plight, turning it into a self-determination issue, he would enhance his chances to annex Czechoslovakia. Never mind that the Germanic people already had realized self-determination in Austria and Germany; the tactic worked. At the time, Czechoslovakia’s President Eduard Benes warned the world: «Do not believe it is a question of self-determination. From the beginning, it has been a battle for the existence of the state.» He was vastly ignored.

As the SDP leader, Konrad Henlein, toured Europe demanding his people be granted independence, Berlin contributed to the diplomatic offensive with strong complaints about Czechoslovakian discrimination and intolerance and the need to protect the Sudenten minority from alleged state abuse.

European states exerted pressure on Prague to agree to the Sudentens’ nationalistic demands. This gave birth to a proposal of limited autonomy, called the Carlsbad program. The Reich instructed Henlein to raise his demands if and when Prague accepted this program – Hitler needed the negotiations to collapse to have an excuse to launch a military attack and seize the small neighbor. As Germany got ready for war, it accused the Czechs of being an impediment to peace in Europe.

When, under international pressure, Czechoslovakia accepted the Carlsbad program in mid-1938, a revolt «erupted» in the Sudeteland. SDP members rioted, attacked and shot at the Czech police and civilians. The ensuing chaos elicited international attention and, in September, an agreement was reached in Munich: The Sudeteland would be transferred to Germany.

«From now on, I have no more territorial demands in Europe,» Hitler said.

And then-Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain prophesized: «This will be peace for our time.»

As soon as those lands became German territory, Hitler suppressed the Czech and Slovak languages, confiscated property and expelled the 750,000 Czechs living there. Later, Germany started to agitate for the «rights» of the remaining Germans in Czechoslovakia proper, and by March 1939, the Führer had gained control of the rest of the country. The international community didn’t come to Czechoslovakia’s help. On March 16, Prague fell, and the Czech state ceased to exist.

Any similarity with Israel’s security predicaments, its increasingly radicalized Arab minority, PLO terrorism, Palestinian self-determination, Arab diplomacy, the Oslo accords, the Al-Aqsa intifada and Western appeasement, is purely coincidental.

Julián Schvindlerman is a political analyst and journalist in Jerusalem.