The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1937, EUROPE’S DANCER SPOT?

Evening Star, Issue 22576, 18 February 1937, Page 10

The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1937, EUROPE’S DANCER SPOT?

A week ago it was reported that responsible circles in Paris were being alarmed by reports that Germany intended “ making Czechoslovakia a second Spain,” and was plotting to engineer a revolt. “ Following the Spanish precedent, Germany and Hungary would not intervene officially, but would support the revolt with war materials and volunteers, while pretending no intervention. Germany thus hopes to reshape Czechoslovakia without open invasion, which would mean a European war.” It is obvious that such machinations would be easier to conduct in Czechoslovakia, which has a large German population, than in Spain, which had none. It is unlikely that there was any German interference in Spain to speak of until General Franco s revolt had begun, and most probable that Herr Hitler has come to the decision that the course followed since it began was bad politics, and is glad now to withdraw from it. The assistance given had no chance of being decisive, in the face of counter-invention which it provoked, without indefinite extensions and the incurring of costs and risks for which Germany had no mind. Nothing worth the dangers stood to be -gained by further meddling in Spain, but Czechoslovakia might be a different proposition.

When the worst case has been made against General Franco as a raiser of the standard of civil war, it is natural to assume that both he and his colleagues are, by their own lights, patriots. They are concerned with playing a Spanish game, not playing a game for Germany. But among the Teuton minority in Czechoslovakia there is a party, the Sudetendeutch, which is not only German, but pan-German, in full sympathy with Nazi aspirations. The German policy of expansion eastward, declared in ( My Struggle,’ can only be realised at Czechoslovakia’s expense. The young Succession State," also, lies between two great Powers, Russia and Germany, each of which has declared its undying hatred for the other. A natural question for its people has been, therefore, “ Can Czechoslovakia ever be safe?” In view of reports of German plots, which may easily be exaggerated in Paris, it is reassuring to learn that its Foreign Minister, Dr Benes, who has long stood out as one of Europe’s greatest statesmen, feels no extreme anxiety about the future. In a message which he sent out on Christmas Eve Dr Benes described his country as “a democracy which has the mission to keep the flag of freedom, peace, and toleration flying in Middle Europe.” He went on to say that Europe will go neither Bolshevist nor Fascist, He did not believe in a Russo-German or a Russo-Japanese war. He did not believe that war would come at all. On the contrary, he thought that agreement was possible between Germany and the Western Powers, and equally between Germany and Czechoslovakia. There are grounds for Dr Benes’s confidence, though opinions will differ in appraising them. The first is tHe increased strength and ' unity of the Little Entente, the alliance between Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Rumania, which it was feared a few months ago might be breaking up. “ In fact,” a writer in the ‘ Spectator ’ points out, “it has become stronger, and) its strength was demonstrated recently in the joint session of members of the three Parliaments in Bucharest and in King Carol’s visit to Prague. Further, Yugoslavia and Rumania, through the Balkan Entente, are firmly linked with Turkey and Greece; together with Czechoslovakia; these countries form a block of sixty-five million peoples pledged to oppose any forcible alteration of the territorial status quo. Again, in recent months. Czechoslovakia, as Dr Benes said, has with satisfaction watched the strengthening of the Franco-Polish alliance andl of her own relations with France; and this common friendship may even relax the long-standing tension between herself and Poland.” Though Czechoslovakia has an alliance with Russia, Germany has no cause to fear that this Succession State will open the gates to Bolshevism. “ The Little Entente and Poland are themselves barriers against Communism. The cause of Czechoslovakia’s confidence is the iron, circle drawn around Germany by France, her allies, and the Little Entente; nor can Germany complain of encirclement, though it is a reality, since it is patently nonaggressive, and she refused every invitation to enter into negotiations for an Eastern Pact of Mutual Security.” The Prague Government has announced that it is prepared to grant its German minority a degree of cultural, social, and racial autonomy, with a political position in the State corresponding to its strength, if the Sudetendeutch will be loyal to the State along with other German parties. . If that overture succeeds an agreement with Czechoslovakia would have its own value for Germany, and might lead eventually to an Eastern Security Pact.