Czechoslovakia's Anxiety

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21775, 6 May 1936, Page 10

Czechoslovakia's Anxiety

Outside of Austria itself, the revival of Nazi activity there will cause most concern in Czechoslovakia, where Dr. Benes, the political heir of Professor Masaryk, has to deal with a pronounced Germanic threat. . General Goering's hunting trips to Poland have been watched rarefully by the authorities in Prague, especially since General Gamboes, the Premier of Hungary, has also evinced a liking for the Polish forests, and the Poles have spoken of a frontier district as " Polish ground "; but the most disturbing symptom has been the quick rise of the German movement in Bohemia under Konrad Henlein. Two years ago Henlein was a teacher of gymnastics and of no political significance. To-day he is tit2 leader of the Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront, which in the last elections secured 80, per cent, of the German votes and became the second largest party in Parliament with 44 soats, only one behind the dominant Agrarian Czechs. Henlein proclaims his loyalty to the republic, but he demands that the German section of Bohemia be made an autonomous province, and, as his followers openly declare for union with Germany, his plea is regarded by his critics as a tactical modification of his real purpose dictated by the desire to exploit the opportunities offered by the parliamentary grouping. There are 3,230,000 Germans in the republic, solidly organised and therefore more easily manoeuvred than the 9,600,000 Czechs and Slovaks, who are divided into various parties. Henlein, with all the characteristics of a Nazi lieutenant, is a magnet to the groups of the Right wing and last May the parties of the Left could not make common cause against him. In December last the personal strength of Dr. Benes, coupled with the legacy of Professor Masaryk's political blessing, was enough to bring the Left solidly to his side, but it did not break the Right's link with Henlein. After his election as president, Dr. Benes proceeded to win over the Slovaks with a new rapprochement of Church and State, and the elevation of Hodza, the leader of the Slovak Agrarian party, to the office of Premier was a further move to bring the main agrarian parties together. In Bohemia, however, unemployment has intensified the feeling against the government, and the German section, making use of the economic distress, has strengthened the position of the pro-Nazi leader. Last year the military manoeuvres were held in the German section of the country, and the Minister of War subsequently reported: " Such was the atmosphere " in some districts that it gave the impression "of a battlefield between two hostile armies," and there were other indications of open hostility to the government; but both Masaryk and Benes resisted all requests that the Ger-

man movement should be suppressed, assuring their supporters that the democratic system would liquidate the danger if given time. It is obvious that the German group under Henlein will make an appeal to the fascist elements in Czechoslovakia so long as nothing is done to commit them to the detachment of any territory to Germany; but if a Nazi upheaval should occur in Austria there is a grave danger that Henlein's followers will make common cause with the Germanic Austrians and split the Czechoslovakian republic. For this reason the foreign policy of Dr. Benes is to retain the support of France and Russia, even if it offend the Right wing Czechs, and to maintain the pact with Rumania and Jugoslavia. These are the bulwarks of the republic's defence, and it may be said fairly that Dr. Benes is prepared to pin his faith to the democracy in handling the Germans under Henlein, because, he can call on stalwart support in the event of a Nazi incursion. The price of his right to call on Russia and France in the event of an attack by his neighbours of the German bloc is that Czechoslovakia shall be ready to march into Austria in the event of a Nazi coup there, and in view of the open threat of Henlein's Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront, President Benes must regard Austria as the most dangerous front.