Rise Of Henlein

Northern Advocate, 30 August 1938, Page 11

Rise Of Henlein

“Almost the whole of the emphasis of the negotiations is being laid on local government That the Germans will get their local government there can be no doubt.” declared the Premier of Czechoslovakia. Dr. Milan Hodza, when he opened his conversations with the leaders of the Sudeten German Party, with a view to settling the differences between Czechs and Gormans*. “The question.” he added, “is the extent of this local government, which would on one hand, guarantee the Germans all their legitimate liberties and cn. the other hand, not, weaken either the sovereignty or the authority of the State.”

Behind this sentence are two vitally important issues: Firstly. Czechoslovakia will not give up the purely defensive alliances with France and Russia, which are the guarantees of its independence; and secondly, it will not surrender to local autonomous bodies the control the State police. Czechoslovakia remembers what happened in Austria last February when Dr. Schuschnigg surrendered police control to a Nazi nominee. The Two Protagonists. Dr. Hodza,, who is 60 years of age, has a pictursque past. He was a member of the Hungarian Parliament as long ago as 1905. and represented a Slovak constituency in the south of pre-war Hungary. He is declared to be the finest' linguist among all European Ministers; speaking perfect Slovak. Czech, Serbian, Hungarian, and German and excellent French and English. In the pre-war days. Hodza was a fighter for Slovak liberty, and eaimed his living as a journalist. He has, it is said, brought out as many newspapers as any great newspaper proprietor. As soon as they appeared, they were suppressed. He is the first Slovak Premier of Czechoslavakia.

Opposed to him is Konrad Henlein, who, until he founded the Sudeten German Party, in 1933, was a littleknown gymnastic instructor. A tall, thick-set man of 40. he has impressed most people who have met him by his earnestness. Although he talks about the “mission of his race,” he is actually the son of a German, Konx’ad Henlein, and a Czech, Hewica Dvorackova. At 17 years of age he volunteered for service with the Austrians in the Woi’ld Wax’, and was wounded and taken prisoner by the Italians in 1918. After a few years as a bank clerk, he became a gymnastic instructor and built up a following among the youth of Germaxx clubs in Czechoslovakia. which were the nucleus of the Sudetexx German Party. The Little Fuehrer. Until this yeax% Henleitx disavowed any association with the Nazis in Germany. But in his famous speech at Carlsbad last April, he said: “We solemxxly and openly declare that our policy is inspired by the principles and ideals of National-Socialism.” It was stated at the Carlsbad Congress that the Sudeten German Party had 800,000 registex'ed members and 75,000 officials, men and women.

I There are no Brown Shirts at Henjlein’s meetings. Instead, there are white shirts, jackboots and peaked caps. There are no swastika banners, but, instead, ranged round the hall, the Henlein banners, with white shields in the centre and the monogram "S.D.P. (Sudeten Deutsche Partei). As Henlein arrives with his motorised bodyguard, 1 his Storm Troopers clear a passage, and the Sudeten Fuehrer, in dark grey uniform and Prussian jackboots.'* walks down the -aisle through the cheering crowds, and every right hand is shot out in a Hitler salute. "Heil,” they cry, as Henlein begins to tell them of what Hitler has achieved, and what he himself seeks for the Sudeten Germans. The Activist Groups. In a dramatic atmosphere which Henlein, as an echo of Hitler, has thus created, the real crisis is about to be reached in the settlement of Czech and German differences. Until 1926, the Germans in Czechoslovakia refused all co-opcration with the Government. In that year, however', the so-called Activist groups were formed and two of their leaders entered the Czechoslovak Cabinet, and a third in 1935. For a while it appeared that the difficulties of the minority might be overcome. Two main factors prevented this. The ecomonic depression meant to the Sudeten Germans the loss of their markets in the German Reich, and the rise of National Socialism in 1933 altered their outlook. Both factors were reflected in the rise of Henlein's party, which, at the elections of 1935. won 44 out of the 72 German seats.

In February of last year, the Czechs made an agreement, not with Henloin. but with the Activists, to extend minority rights. The offer did not extend far enough, and Henlein's party continued to gain at the expense of the Activists. Henlein, with a Germany growing stronger, now claimed that his party alone represented the Germans, and that the German Socialists, Clericals and Agrarians—the Activist parties—must go. A Rush For Cover. The effect of the absorption of Austria was far-reaching. The Activists loft the Czechoslovakian Government in a panic; many of their members entered the Henlein party. Henlein. in his speech of last April—after the Austrian coup—demanded com-

plete national automony for the Germans on lines that would create a State within a State, and even demanded “a complete revision of Czechoslovak foreign policy”—in other words, the abandonment of /he French and Russian alliances leading to isolation in Europe and, consequently, surrender to Germany.

In the meantime, Dr. Hodza and his colleagues have been working on their “Charter of Nationalities,” designed to secure to all the minorities (Magyar and Polish, as well as German) no longer minority rights, however full, but perfect national equality and cultural automony for all. If the coming negotiations succeed, the new Charter may become a model for Europe,

“But,” as Dr. R. W. Seton-Watson has recently declared, “if the Sudeten Germans are to be the Trojan Horse admitted to the Bohemian fortress in a struggle of major Power politics, than the future for Europe is indeed dark.”