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As
Reich Protector, Von Neurath instituted an
administration in Bohemia and Moravia similar to
that in effect in Germany. The free press,
political parties, and trade unions were
abolished. All groups which might serve as
opposition were outlawed. Czechoslovakian
industry was worked into the structure of German
war production, and exploited for the German war
effort. Nazi anti-Semitic policies and laws were
also introduced. Jews were barred from leading
positions in Government and business.
In
August 1939 Von Neurath issued a proclamation
warning against any acts of sabotage and stating
that "the responsibility for all acts of
sabotage is attributed not only to individual
perpetrators but to the entire Czech population."
When the war broke out on 1 September 1939,
8,000 prominent Czechs were arrested by the
Security Police in Bohemia and Moravia and put
into protective custody. Many of this group died
in concentration camps as a result of
mistreatment.
In October and November
1939 Czechoslovakian students held a series of
demonstrations. As a result, on Hitler's orders,
all universities were closed, 1,200 students
imprisoned, and the nine leaders of the
demonstration shot by Security Police and SD.
Von Neurath testified that he was not informed
of this action in advance, but it was announced
by proclamation over his signature posted on
placards throughout the Protectorate, which he
claims, however, was done without his authority.
On 31 August 1940 Von Neurath
transmitted to Lammers a memorandum which he had
prepared dealing with the future of the
Protectorate, and a memorandum with his approval
prepared by Carl Herman Frank on the same
subject. Both dealt with the question of
Germanization and proposed that the majority of
the Czechs might be assimilated racially into
the German Nation. Both advocated the
elimination of the Czechoslovakian
intelligentsia and other groups which might
resist Germanization, Von Neurath's by
expulsion, Frank's by expulsion or "special
treatment."
Von Neurath has
argued that the actual enforcement of the
repressive measures was carried out by the
Security Police and SD who were under the
control of his State Secretary, Carl Herman
Frank, who was appointed at the suggestion of
Himmler and who. as a Higher SS and Police
Leader, reported directly to Himmler. Von
Neurath further argues that anti-Semitic
measures and those resulting in economic
exploitation were put into effect in the
Protectorate as the result of policies decided
upon in the Reich. However this may be, he
served as the chief German official in the
Protectorate when the administration of this
territory played an important role in the wars
of aggression which Germany was waging in the
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