German Annexation of of the Sudetenland: Sudeten Children (October 1938)

Sudeten children
Figure 1.--The Hitler Youth (HJ) movement was fully functioning if undrground in the Czech Sudetenand before the arrival of the Wehrmacht. This also must be a factor in the joyful response of the children. And here we see a Sudeten German boy proudly wearing his HJ uniform, decorating the sodiers' banners with flowers. This was no occupation of a hesitant people, it was a heartfelt embrace of Hitler and the NAZIs. The press caption read, "We are grateful to our Fuehrer: A Hitler youth boy decorate the army flag of a motor detachment which occupied the town of Schluckenau (in 'zone number two') Oct. 2, with flower. The inscription on the house in the background reads: 'We are greatful to our Fuehrer.'" Schluckenau was a center in Czechoslovakia for the pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party (SdP) led by Konrad Henlein. And an incident occured there during the Munich crisis. It n would a few months later be a Wehrmacht stageing area for the German occuption of Prague and the rest of Czechoslovakia. The town is now Šluknov in the Czech Republic. A reader tells us is more about the banners strung up on the town hall. "At the left I see the word 'Reich', without doubt part of the slogan 'Ein Volk, Ein Reich, ein Führer'. (One People, One Country, One Leader.) That slogan was shouted over and over again at Nazi rallies. The banner on the right reds reads, "... und danken unserm Führer." A better translation than that in the caption is ( ...and thank to our leader.) The vehicles are a light troop / cargo lorry built in 1938 called a Lastkraftwagen -- WH 5223. They were small triaxial trucks based on the Krupp Protze which was used as a troop transport, and Artilleritraktor with two spare wheels. Vehicles like this would provide the Wehrmacht needed mobility, but the total production run was only 7,000 unts. There were more than enough to invade Czechozlovakia, but hugely inadequate for the all-important invasion of the Soviet Union. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

There is no doubt the that the majority German ethnic population of the Sudetenland were jubilent over Hitler's annexation abd tge departure of the Czechs. The images of the Sudeten population as the Wehrmact arrived are fascinating, esecially that of the children. There is no way this could be stage managed even by Propaganda Mnister Goebbels. The Sudetnelanders were jubuilent and enthsiasic. We see it in their faces and motions. On the previous page we see a group of girls and young women that are cheering estatically for the arriving German soldiers. 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 perhaps 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 above. 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. We are fascinated by the fact that the children were so politicized abd fervent. This of course must reflect the views of the parents. But also note the Hitler Youth uniforms. This meant that the HJ was fully functining if undrground in the Czech Sudetenand before the arrival of the Whermacht. This also must be a factor in the joyful response of the children. And here we see a boy proudly wearinh his Hitler Youth uniform, decorating the sodiers' banners with flowers. This was no occupation of a hesitant people, it was a heartfelt embrace of Hitler and the NAZIs.






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Created: 3:50 PM 4/22/2015
Last updated: 3:50 PM 4/22/2015