Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression In mid-February 1939 a Slovak delegation journeyed to
Berlin. It consisted of Tuca, one of the Slovaks with whom
the Germans had been in contact, and Karmasin, the paid
representative of the Nazi conspirators in Slovakia. They
conferred with Hitler and Ribbentrop in the Reichs
Chancellery in Berlin on Sunday, 12 February 1939. The
captured German Foreign Office minutes of that meeting read
as follows:
"After a brief welcome Tuca thanks the Fuehrer for
granting this meeting. He addresses the Fuehrer with
'My Fuehrer' and he voices the opinion that he, though
only a modest
[Page 566]
man himself, might well claim to speak for the Slovak
nation. The Czech courts and prison gave him the right
to make such a statement. He states that the Fuehrer
had not only opened the Slovak question but that he had
been also the first one to acknowledge the dignity of
the Slovak nation. The Slovakian people will gladly
fight under the leadership of the Fuehrer for the
maintenance of European civilization. Obviously future
association with the Czechs had become an impossibility
for the Slovaks from a moral as well as economic point
of view." (2790-PS)
It is noteworthy that Tuca addressed Hitler as "My Fuehrer".
During this meeting the Nazi conspirators apparently were
successful in planting the idea of insurrection with the
Slovak delegation. The final sentence of this document,
spoken by Tuca, is conclusive:
"I entrust the fate of my people to your care." (2790-PS)
It is apparent from these documents that in mid-February
1939 the Nazis had a well-disciplined group of Slovaks at
their service, many of them drawn from the ranks of Father
Hlinka's party. Flattered by the personal attention of such
men as Hitler and Ribbentrop, and subsidized by German
representatives, these Slovaks proved willing tools in the
hands of the Nazi conspirators.
In addition to the Slovaks, the Nazi conspirators made use
of the few Germans still remaining within the mutilated
Czech republic. Kundt, Henlein's deputy who had been
appointed leader of this German minority, created as many
artificial "focal points of German culture" as possible.
Germans from the- districts handed over to Germany were
ordered from Berlin to continue their studies at the German
University in Prague and to make it a center of aggressive
Naziism. With the assistance of German civil servants, a
deliberate campaign of Nazi infiltration into Czech public
and private institutions was carried out, and the
Henleinists gave full cooperation with Gestapo agents from
the Reich who appeared on Czech soil. The Nazi "political
activity" was designed to undermine and to weaken Czech
resistance to the commands from Germany. In the face of
continued threats and duress on both diplomatic and
propaganda levels, the Czech government was unable to take
adequate measures against these trespasses on its sovereignty. (998-PS; 3061-PS)
In early March, with the date for the invasion of
Czechoslovakia already close at hand, fifth column activity
moved into its final phase. In Bohemia and Moravia the FS,
Henlein's equivalent of the SS, were in touch with the Nazi
conspirators in the Reich and laid the groundwork for the
events of 14 and 15 March.
[Page 567]
An article by SS-Gruppenfuehrer Karl Hermann Frank,
published in Boehmen un Maehrerl,, the official periodical
of the Reichs Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, March 1941,
page 79, reveals with considerable frankness the functions
which the FS and SS served and the pride the Nazi
conspirators took in the activities of these organizations:
"The SS on 15 March 1939
"A modern people and a modern state are today
unthinkable without political troops. To these are
allotted the special task of being the advance guard of
the political will and the guarantor of its unity. This
is especially true of the German folk-groups, which
have their home in some other people's state.
Accordingly the Sudeten German Party had formerly also
organized its political troop, the Voluntary Vigilantes
(Freiwilliger Selbstschutz), called 'FS' for short.
This troop was trained essentially in accordance with
the principles of the SS, so far as these could be used
in this region at that time. The troop was likewise
assigned here the special task of protecting the
homeland, actively, if necessary. It stood up well in
its first test in this connection, wherever in the fall
crisis of 1938 it had to assume the protection of the
homeland, arms in hand.
"After the annexation of the Sudeten Gau, the tasks of
the FS were transferred essentially to the German
student organizations as compact troop formations in
Prague and Brunn, aside from the isolated German
communities which remained in the second republic. This
was also natural because many active students from the
Sudeten Gau were already members of the FS. The student
organizations then had to endure this test, in common
with other Germans, during the crisis of March 1939
***"
"*******
"In the early morning hours of March 15, after the
announcement of the planned entry of German troops in
various localities, German men had to act in some
localities in order to assure a quiet course of events,
either by assumption of the police authority, as for
instance in Brunn, or by corresponding instruction of
the police president, etc. In some Czech offices, men
had likewise, in the early hours of the morning, begun
to burn valuable archives and the material of political
files. It was also necessary to take measures here in
order to prevent foolish destruction ***. How
significant the many-sided and comprehensive measures
were considered by the competent German agencies,
follows from the fact that
[Page 568]
many of the men either on March 15 itself or on the
following days were admitted into the SS with fitting
acknowledgment, in part even through the Reichsfuehrer
SS himself or through SS Group Leader Heydrich. The
activities and deeds of these men were thereby
designated as accomplished in the interest of the SS.
"Immediately after the corresponding divisions of the
SS had marched in with the first columns of the German
Army and had assumed responsibility in the appropriate
sectors, the men here placed themselves at once at
their further disposition and became valuable
auxiliaries and collaborators.***" (2826-PS)
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
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Volume
I Chapter IX
The Execution of the Plan to Invade Czechoslovakia<(Part 23 of 29)