CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 64, 15 March 1940, Page 6

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

A SAD ANNIVERSARY

INVASION BY GERMANY

(Written by H. Rottova.) It is the early morning of March 15, 1939, in Prague! Answering the telephone, I am told by a 'friend that the German troops are marching into our country. Convinced it is just a . j bad dream, I go back to bed and sleep. •! Suddenly, my mother enters the room Jto tell me there is an army in the streets, and we both rush to the window. Yes! It's there, and it is not the Czecho-Slovakian army! We do not realise the full significance of what we see. It is so very fantastic—a foreign army in our beautiful coun- : try. To think the Germans in our "Golden Prague" and "Slavish Prague"! The whole nation is upset. It is the \ saddest day. To stand in the main square of Prague, the Square of Saint Wencelaus, and gaze at the German troops patrolling the town, is more ; than any Czech can stand! Every face . is pale, tears are seen in all eyes. Looking back, I now realise it was a day of silent unhappiness, profound and heartbreaking. After Munich we feared the worst, but even then we never dreamt that the day could come when German troops would march into our Republic! But come it did, on March 15, 1939! Making us give up the Sudetenland, the signatories of the Munich Pact delivered us into German hands. Czechoslovakia standing where she does is the jumping-off point for Germany's advance into both Balkan and Ukraine regions. The surrender of the border lands consequently was a fatal blow to Europe's peace, but by its great sacrifice Czechoslovakia gave to both England and France a twelve months' respite from the struggle which was to engulf them. ' At Munich one-third of our country's territory and population was lost and 40 per cent, of our national wealth. The new frontiers were drawn without regard for economics, and made us strategically helpless.' But still there was a strong national de^ sire to live in independence, and this continued even after it became clear that Prague was receiving German ultimatums. Germany then constructed a group of Slovak separatists of men hitherto unknown, and by threatening to transfer the country to Hungary forced them to proclaim their separation. The independence of Slovakia being proclaimed, the Prague broadcast wished* them happiness and economic prosperity, as the Czechs bore the new nation no ill will. The eastern part of the former Republic, the Carpathian Ukraine, separated by Slovakia's independence, proclaimed its separation, but unfortunately for it, this lasted no longer than 24 hours as a result of Hungarian troops invading its territory. There remained Bohemia and Moravia, the most advanced, .culturally and economically, firmly rooted in the democratic tradition, and the home of the world-famous steel and heavy industry, and also of the china, glass, shoe, and textile industries. The Czechs still hoped to continue their democratic and independent life, but on March 14, 1939, President Hacha has been compelled,in Berlin .to. sign the- document creating "The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia." In the early morning of March 15, 1939, the German troops crossed the frontiers. The following day the decree creating the "Protectorate" was officially announced, and the Protector appointed by Berlin. < Since that time there have been two parallel administrative systems, one of the "autonomous. Czech Government," and the other of the Protector, but needless to say, the latter's jurisdiction is omnipotent. Decrees issued by his office made it simple to colonise the Czech provinces, and to Germanise their political and economic life. Still, it is not an easy task to convert a Czech Democrat into a German National Socialist. The Czechs are optimistic and patient. They have seen periods of complete freedom as well as of subjection in their history. They have watched empires rise and fall. They intensely hope to free their country from its foreign tyranny. They cannot understand why the space they have been occupying since the seventh century should not always be theirs. They cannot help thinking in terms of national and individual freedom. They have formed a National Union, and all German attempts to break it have completely failed. Their national motto is "Truth Prevails," and their present slogan is "A Free Czecho-Slovakia in Free Europe." All Czechs and Slovaks are convinced that one day will bring to Czechoslovakia, as well as to other surrendered countries, their lost independence. This will be a very happy day, and let us hope it will come soon. For "Truth Prevails" after all, and the Truth is on the side of the- Czechs and Slovaks.