MUNICH AGREEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 9

MUNICH AGREEMENT

THE FULL TEXT

OCCUPATION OF GERMAN

TERRITORY

BEGINNING TODAY

PROVISION FOR PLEBISCITE

MUNICH, September 30.

The full text of the official communique issued after the agreement was signed is as follows: —

An agreement was reached on September 29 between Britain, Germany, Italy, and France. The four Powers, taking into consideration the agreement already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed to the following terms and conditions which will govern the cession and measures consequent thereto, and by this agreement the four Powers hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure their fulfilment:—

1. Evacuation begins on October 1

2. Britain, France, and Italy agree that the evacuation shall be completed by October 10 without the destruction of any existing installations, and that Czechoslovakia shall bear the responsibility of seeing that the evacuation is carried out without damage to the aforesaid installations.

3. The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia.

4. The occupation by stages of predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on October 1, the four territories marked on the attached map being occupied by German troops in the following order. (The communique then sets out the dates of occupation extending from October 1 to October 7; the first territory shall be occupied on October 1 and 2, the second on October 2 and 3, the third on October 4 and 5, and the fourth on October 6 and 7.) The remaining territories of predominantly German character will be ascertained forthwith by the aforesaid international - commission and be occupied by German troops by October 10.

5. The commission referred to in clause 5 will determine the territories in which plebiscites will be held. These will be occupied by international bodies until the plebiscites are completed. The commission will alio fix the conditions for holding the plebiscite, taking the Saar plebiscite as a basis, and will also fix a date not later, than the end of November for the plebiscite.

6. Final determination of the frontiers will be cleared up by the commission, which will be entitled

to recommend to Britain, Germany,

France, and Italy in certain excep- * tional cases minor modifications in the strictly ethnological determination of the zones transferred without plebiscites.

7. There will be, a right of transfer into and out of transferred territory, exercisable within six months of the date of the agreement. A Ger-man-Czech commission shall determine details of the option, consider ways of facilitating the transfer of populations, and settle questions of principle.arising out of the transfers.

8. The Czech Government, within a month of the agreement, will release from the military and police forces any Sudetens so desiring, and will also release Sudeten political prisoners.

GUARANTEE OF NEW CZECH STATE.

In an annex to the agreement it is stated that Britain and France have entered into an agreement to stand by the offer of paragraph six of the Anglo-French proposals of September 19 relating to international guarantee of the new boundaries of the Czech State against unprovoked aggression.

The annex adds that when-the questions of the Polish and Hungarian minorities have been settled, Italy and Germany will give a guarantee to Czechoslovakia. If the Polish and Hungarian minorities problems are not settled within three months by agreement between the respective Governments, they will be reconsidered at another four-Power conference.

A supplementary declaration says: "All questions arising out of the transfer of territories shall be considered as coming within the terms of reference of the international commission."

The commission referred to in the third clause will consist of the German Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the, French, British, and Italian Ambassadors in Berlin, and also a Czech representative.