GERMAN TROOPS IN SLOVAKIA

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22662, 17 March 1939, Page 11

GERMAN TROOPS IN SLOVAKIA

OFFICIAL WELCOME BY GOVERNMENT APPEAL MADE AGAINST BLOODSHED M. SIDOR RESIGNS FROM CABINET (mnTED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received March 17, 1 a.m.) BRATISLAVA, March 16. The members of the Slovak Government and military officials officially welcomed the German troops, who entered the city at 5.20 p.m. The Hlinka Guards were ordered to submit to assist the Germans. A communication signed by FieldMarshal Goring stated that the German troops would be withdrawn from Slovakia within 48 hours, as Germany had no designs on Slovakia. It was announced that the reichsmark must be accepted and changed against the Czech currency at the rate of one to 10 kroner. Dr. Tiso, in a broadcast, said the remnants of the former Government must be removed without bloodshed. Those Czechs no longer required would be placed at the disposal of Prague. He added that he would not tolerate hatred and persecution of either Czechs or Jews. The Government had dealt with the Jewish question in legislation not yet submitted to the Diet, but the position would shortly be regularised. It is officially announced that German troops occupied the Slovak towns of Sillein, Neustadt, and Boesing after the Foreign Minister (M. Durcansky) had appealed for help. The Bratislava banks have been closed for three days to allow affairs to settle down. Poland has recognised the Slovakian Republican Government de jure. It is denied that Poland had invaded Slovakia. It is officially stated that the former Slovak Premier (M. Sidor) has resigned his new portfolio as Minister for the Interior and has gone on four weeks’ leave, from which he is not expected to return. The Bratislava correspondent of * the Exchange Telegraph Company says the Slovak Government made representations to Germany about the presence of German troops in Slovakia, which is regarded as incompatible with the Slovak State’s sovereignty. MEMEL MAY SEEK ANSCHLUSS STATEMENT BY GERMAN ! LEADER BERLIN. March 15. ■ It is authoritatively stated that 5 Memel will shortly ask Germany 1 for an anschluss. i A message from Kovno, the Lithu- ’ anian capital, says Dr. Neumann, i leader of the Memel Germans, told < the party that he felt himself entitled, in the light of the new Euro- : pean situation, eventually to take the < necessary steps to freedom without i consulting the Diet. 1 “CZECH INTERREGNUM ENDED” SEMI-OFFICIAL COMMENT IN BERLIN BERLIN, March 15: The semi-official newspaper “Diplomatische Korrespondenz” says: “History gives the Czechs no claim to independence. The Czechs’ political leadership is now concluded. The experiment of sole Czech responsibility for Bohemia and Moravia has been a failure. The interregnum of 20 years has ended and Bohemia rejoins the organised German system under which it developed its culture through 1000 years.”