The road to the Munich Agreement: Ministry of Foreign Affairs opens its archives from a fateful week in Czechoslovak history
September 30 marks eighty-six years since the signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, by which Czechoslovakia was compelled to surrender the large region of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. To commemorate the event, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared official documents and private correspondence from the week leading up to the infamous agreement.
In the early hours of September 30th 1938, a document was signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Though it concerned Czechoslovakia, there were no Czechoslovak signatures. Part of their policy of appeasement, Britain and France agreed not to resist Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland, the large border regions of Czechoslovakia that had a German-speaking majority. Unable to count on Western support, Czechoslovakia had no choice but to give up its geographical and military defences, along with 70% of its iron, steel and electricity industries. Taking its name from the city where it was signed, the Munich Agreement is popularly referred to in Czechia as the ‘Munich Betrayal’.
Last week, ahead of today’s anniversary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened its archives for Czech media and showcased political documents from the week leading up to the agreement. Usually kept from public view, the documents offer a rare behind-the-scenes look at Czechoslovak politics during that week. Archivist Tomáš Klusoň describes the collection:
“We have selected several archival documents from the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which document the dramatic development of this week, basically day by day. The whole affair begins here, where we have telegrams announcing the collapse of important negotiations and the announcement of general mobilization. These related to September 23rd. The following day, September 24th, the Hitler-Gottesberg memorandum, a set of Hitler's new demands, was handed over to the Czechoslovak party. That's this document. As you can see, it was handed over on the notepaper of the English embassy in Prague.”
Among the documents is a letter from the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to President Beneš, sent on the 27th, in which Chamberlain informs the Czechoslovak president about Hitler's intention to attack Czechoslovakia the following day. In addition, the visitors to the archives saw a photocopy of the Munich Agreement itself, bearing the four signatures of Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
The documents are of course of great significance for Czech history, but they also have relevance for the politics of today. Ivan Dubovický, head of the ministry’s department of coordination with embassies, commented on the main dilemma at the heart of the Munich Agreement.
“One of the possible interpretations of the lesson for today is whether it makes sense to give in to the aggressor, when those concessions did not save peace in Europe anyway, as the British and French prime ministers had hoped. So that is the question, whether we really have to consistently oppose the aggressor, or whether we can achieve something at the cost of some concessions. For us, the Munich Agreement is clear evidence that no peace was saved in Europe.”
The parallels with the ongoing situation in Ukraine are clear, as nations today must decide on their relationship with and response to Russia under Vladimir Putin.
