Figure 1.--Here German soldiers are doing their best to restrain the jubilent Sudeten Germans celebrating the arrival of the Wehrmacht. Notice the little boy who has not yet learned the proper salute. Images like this were published in British newspapers. Click on the image for another view. |
The Wehrmacht as agreed to in the Munich Agreement began moving into the Sudetenland (October 1). They were received with jubilation. Hitler followed (October 3). Wenzel Jaksch who was the leader of the Sudeten Social Democrats flew to London hoping to arrange for refugee status for leaders of his party. The German Security Services and Gestapo followed the Wehrmacht and began arresting political opponents. The Times in London published accounts of the junilation of the Sudebten Germans along with photographs showing the cascade of flowers greeting the German soldiers. The Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, rejected photograhs of those fleeing the NAZIs. The British offered no visas to Jaksch's colleagues. Many were arrested by the Gestpo. Others who manage to hide out in Czechoslovakia were at the demand of the German Government arrested and turned over to the NAZIs by the new Prague regime. [Fest, p. 567-68.] The Sudentland was incoporated into the Reich. One has to be careful how to assess the images of cheering Sudenten Germans welcoming the NAZIs. To us the NAZIs and the swastica represent the Holocaust, unimaginable attrocities, and the murder of millions. This is of course not what these peoples are cheering about. The jubilation is largely one an outburst of nationalism and patriotism. The people in the images saw themselves being liberated and finally united with the German Reich. One of the Sudenten Germans impressed with the NAZIs was a young Oskar Schindler. He came from a Catholic family in the Sudetenland and welcomed the NAZIs. Schindler joined the NAZI Party shortly after the German annexation of the Sudetenland. After Schindler went to Poland he began to see just what the NAZIs program entailed.
The Wehrmacht as agreed to in the Munich Agreement began moving into the Sudetenland (October 1). Hitler followed (October 3). The Wehrmacht was received with jubilation. The Times in London published accounts of the jubilation of the Sudebten Germans along with photographs showing the cascade of flowers greeting the German soldiers. One has to be careful how to assess the images of cheering Sudenten Germans welcoming the NAZIs. To us the NAZIs and the swastica represent the Holocaust, unimaginable attrocities, and the murder of millions. This is of course not what these peoples are cheering about. The jubilation is largely one an outburst of nationalism and patriotism. The people in the images saw themselves being liberated and finally united with the German Reich. One of the Sudenten Germans impressed with the NAZIs was a young Oskar Schindler. He came from a Catholic family in the Sudetenland and welcomed the NAZIs. Schindler joined the NAZI Party shortly after the German annexation of the Sudetenland. After Schindler went to Poland he began to see just what the NAZIs program entailed.
Perhaps even more shameful with how the Allies deserted the Czechs was their desertion of the anti-NAZIs in the Seudetenland. Wenzel Jaksch who was the leader of the Sudeten Social Democrats flew to London hoping to arrange for refugee status for leaders of his party. The Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, rejected photograhs of those fleeing the NAZIs. The British offered no visas to Jaksch's colleagues. Many were arrested by the Gestpo. Others who manage to hide out in Czechoslovakia were at the demand of the German Government arrested and turned over to the NAZIs by the new Prague regime. [Fest, p. 567-68.]
The German Security Services and Gestapo followed the Wehrmacht and began arresting political opponents.
The Sudentland was incoporated into the Reich.
Hitler assured Chamberlain, "We want no Czechs." But by insisting that the international commission use the figures of the Austro-Hungarian census for 1910 instead of those of the Czechoslovakian census for 1930, Germany was able to claim additional territory that was predominantly populated by Czechs.
The images of the Sudeten children as the Wehrmact arrived are fascinating. Here we see a group of girls and young women that are cheering estatically for the Germans. The soldiers are having to hold them back. there are some interesting aspects to this photograph. First notice that allmost all of the crowd are girls or young women. Now in any candid crowd scene you would expect to find a diversity of gender and age groups. For such a homogenious group, this must have been an organized celebration. Clearly it was not when the Wehrmacht first arrived as the soldiers are there to control the crowd. This seems to be a celebration perhps a day or so later. Perhaps Hitler or other NAZI officials are arriving. Another curious aspect of the photograph is the boy. He is not nearly as excited as the girls and gives a less enthusiastic salute. For some reason the soldiers have allowed him through. Also notice his cap. For the event, many of the children are wearing folk costumes. A second photographed can be viewed by clicking on the image. There several boys are viewing the event through the jack-booted legs of the soldiers. Some are giving a salute. One boy is resting his swastica flag on the ground. One boy is taking a picture of the event with an expensive twin-reflex camera.
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintagfe Books, New York, 1974), 844p.
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