berlain, flew to Munich and then went to
Berchtesgaden to see Hitler. On 22 September Mr. Chamberlain met
Hitler for further discussions at Bad Godesberg. On 26 September 1938
Hitler said in a speech in Berlin, with reference to his
conversation:
"I assured him, moreover, and I
repeat it here, that when this problem is solved there will be no
more territorial problems for Germany in Europe; and I further
assured him that from the moment when Czechoslovakia solves its other
problems, that is to say, when the Czechs have come to an arrangement
with their other minorities, peacefully and without oppression, I
will be no longer interested in the Czech State, and that as far as I
am concerned I will guarantee it. We don't want any Czechs."
On 29 September 1938, after a conference between
Hitler and Mussolini and the British and French Prime Ministers in
Munich, the Munich Pact was signed, by which Czechoslovakia was
required to acquiesce in the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany.
The "piece of paper" which the British Prime Minister
brought back to London, signed by himself and Hitler, expressed the
hope that for the future Britain and Germany might live without war.
That Hitler never intended to adhere to the Munich Agreement is shown
by the fact that a little later he asked the Defendant Keitel for
information with regard to the military force which in his opinion
would be required to break all Czech resistance in Bohemia and
Moravia. Keitel gave his reply on 11 October 1938. On 21 October 1938
a directive was issued by Hitler, and countersigned by the Defendant
Keitel, to the Armed Forces on their future tasks, which stated:
"Liquidation of the remainder of
Czechoslovakia. It must be possible to smash at any time the
remainder of Czechoslovakia if her policy should become hostile
towards Germany."
On 14 March 1939 the Czech President Hacha and his
Foreign Minister Chvalkovsky came to Berlin at the suggestion of
Hitler, and attended a meeting at which the Defendants Von
Ribbentrop, Göring, and Keitel were present, with others. The
proposal was made to Hacha that if he would sign an agreement
consenting to the incorporation of the Czech people in the German
Reich at once, Bohemia and Moravia would be saved from destruction.
He was informed that German troops had already received orders to
march and that any resistance would be broken with physical force.
The Defendant Göring added the threat that he would destroy
Prague completely from the air. Faced by this dreadful alternative,
Hacha and his Foreign Minister put their signatures to the necessary
agreement at 4:30 in the morning, and Hitler and Ribbentrop signed on
behalf of Germany.