The Sudetenland issue

The Sudetenland issue was the slow burning problem that ended with the shameful settlement reached at the Munich Pact. The acquiescence of two democracies to the threats of war menacingly shouted by the German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, brought about the carnage of World War II resulting in more than 60 million deaths in our planet.

The protagonists of that shameful pact were between two hungry wolves called Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy and two compliant sheep named Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Eduard Deladier of France. 

On September 29, 1938 but dated on the 28th, they signed a one sided pact with Hitler as sole winner with Mussolini in a resplendent uniform and his typical gesture of a modern defiant Ceasar applauding his senior partner for the diplomatic victory they had achieved. Deladier, on his part, reluctantly accepting with his signature the blunder of his naïve partner Chamberlain who thought that appeasement was the way to contain the voracious appetite of Hitler to dominate the entire continent of Europe. Thus, the tragedy of an ugly shocking agreement signed in the beautiful city of Munich led Chamberlain upon landing in London to stupidly proclaim that “peace had been achieved in our time.”

That episode in history is deeply etched in my mind. In September of that year I was in France with my family with the exception of my two older brothers who were studying in the United States. That September I had celebrated my 13th birthday and the 29th was the feast day of my patron saint, Michael the Archangel. We had been living in France shortly after the start of the Spanish Civil War. Our home was the Hotel Modern. Other hotels and houses in town were the residences of foreign ambassadors who had moved from the battles raging in the outskirts of Madrid, Spain to the safety of St. Jean de Luz in France.

The porter at the hotel was a World War I veteran who fought throughout the four years of the war. He coughed a lot and he attributed this ailment to being gassed. He also limped because of being shot in Verdun twice. Victor, the porter, regaled me with stories of the war and I lived with him and learned from him many stories of probably the most inhuman and cruel war that soldiers have ever undergone – four years of trench war.

 Victor cried and shed many tears those days with the frightening development of the Sudetenland crisis that was leading Europe to a second world war. He could not understand why Germany was again ready to start another war. He could not comprehend the slaughter that the insatiable ambition of Hitler would cause to his beloved France. But, he also knew that the France he had given so much for should not surrender to the whims or threat of power exhibited by a country led by a dictator. Once he told me: “I cannot understand how Germany who lost so many young men during the last war is ready to sacrifice so many again.”

Joseph was the young concierge at the Hotel Modern. He was my friend and spoke with me correcting my conversational French and adding new words to my vocabulary in the language of Moliere. He talked often about politics with me. The Maitre d’hôtel in the restaurant was a communist who did not agree with Joseph who was a socialist. They were at loggerheads constantly and I witnessed many of their political arguments and disagreements. They carried on their own ideological war in verbal clashes that fortunately brought no physical harm. They too were very much concerned and frightened with the dark clouds hanging over Europe as Hitler increased his demands for the annexation of the Sudetenland were 300,000 ethnic Germans lived. The Sudetenland was part and parcel of Czechoslovakia, a sovereign country enjoying a working democracy at that time. Yet her presence was appallingly disregarded by the four major powers who did not invite her to participate in Munich where they agreed among themselves in the amputation of her territory. 

During the crisis, we were glued to French radio and Pathe news when we went to the movies. We devoured newspaper reading the daily reports emanating from the four capitals involved in the crisis. France started to mobilize and conscripts called to the colors started to take their place in their assigned positions. Joseph said good bye to me when his year was called to bear arms. He proceeded to the Maginot Line running across the French-German border.

The French did not want war and their morale was dictated by the suffering and casualties in the last war. The French Army that would face the Germans relied on the defense provided by the fortified Maginot Line and with generals ready to repeat the war strategy of trench war adopted in the last war that had only ended 20 years before. Hitler attempted the same tactics with Poland shortly after his triumph in Munich but this time the appeasement that commenced with the occupation of the Rhineland, the annexation of Austria, and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia did not work. Germany invaded Poland when Hitler failed to once again win by raising his voice amidst threats of war. His bluff was called and on September 1, 1939, less than a year after Munich he invaded Poland. On September 3, France and the UK declared war on Germany. World War II began with the invasion of Poland by the German Army. France and the UK declared war on Germany on September 2, 1939. Munich was kowtowing to Hitler and the Third Nazi Reich. Nothing gained, everything lost. The Munich Pact became the prologue to the greatest conflagration the world has ever known.

 After Munich my father decided we should return to the Philippines because he felt, unlike Chamberlain, that peace was no to bet attained in our time. I did not read or researched this period of history. I lived it, heard it, talked about it, and saw it. I mentioned earlier it was etched in my memory. The prelude to the Civil War in Spain and the prologue on the Sudetenland that resulted in the claudicating to Hitler’s demands in Munich led to the beginning of World War II. The whole world saw the evolution of what hungry wolves are capable of doing and the concert of nations did not draw a line then and said: From here on No More.

History is a teacher and a friend of nations and its people. It is a heritage we may all share and lessons to be learned. Sudetenland is one, there are related situations found in history. Let’s not forget them much less repeat them!