SUDETEN CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23157, 1 October 1938, Page 16

SUDETEN CASE

RUNCIMAN_ REPORT INTOLERANT CZECHS WHY NEGOTIATIONS FAILED ARGUMENTS FOR CESSION The full text of the report made by Lord Runeiman, British mediator in Czechoslovakia, to the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, on September 21, regarding his mission, has been received by the Prime Minister of NewZealand, Mr. Savage, from the British Government, together with the texts of the principal other communications exchanged in connection with the European crisis, and has been made available to the press in printed form. In giving an account of the negotiations after his arrival in Prague at the beginning of August, Lord Runeiman states that private conferences produced, on September 6, a hopeful basis of settlement and one which, ho believes, the more responsible Sudeten leaders considered to embody nearly all Herr Henlein's "eight points." However, the Sudeten extremists made use of "incidents," which, in his view, had been provoked, as an excuse for suspending the parleys. Herr Henlein and Herr Franck made fresh demands, which the Government accepted, subject to one request, a condition which Herr Henlein rejected. Negotiations were finally terminated on September 13, the day after Herr Hitler's Nuremburg speech. Two Sudeten Leaders Blamed This brought to an end Lord Runciman's functions as a mediator. "Directly < and indirectly,' 1 he states, "the connection between the chief of the Sudeten leaders and the Government of the Reich had become the dominant factor in the situation. The dispute was no longer an internal one. It was not part of my function to attempt mediation between Czechoslovakia and Germany. "Responsibility for the final break must, in my opinion, rest on Herr Henlein and Herr Franck, _ and upon those of their supporters inside and outside the country who were urging them, to extreme and unconstitutional action. "L have much sympathy with the Sudeten case," Lord Runeiman continues. "It is a hard thing to be ruled, by an alien race, and I have been left with the impression that the Czechoslovak rule in the Sudeten area for the last 20 years, although not actively oppressive and certainly not 'terroristic,' has been marked by tactlessness, lack of understanding, petty intolerance, and discrimination to the point where resentment of the German population was , inevitably moving in the direction of revolt. The Sudeten Germans felt that they had been given many promises by the Czechslovak Government, but that little or no action had followed these promises." I Germans' Many Grievances

Lord Runciman details a number of grievances. He states that, though the largest party in Parliament the Sudetens were always out-voted, and some of them feb that constitutional action was useless. They resented the appointment of nOn-German-speaking Czech officials and police in large numbers to -'purely German districts, the Settlement of' Czech' agricultural colonists in their midst, and alleged discrimination against German firms ,in the allocation of State contracts and against Germans in the mattef of relief work. The effect of the economic crisis on industry intensified these grievances and induced a feeling of hopelessness. Even as lately as the time of hisi mission the Government showed no readiness to remedy them on anything like an adequate scale. "At the time of my arrival," he states, "the more moderate Sudeten leaders still desired a settlement within the frontiers of the Czechoslovak State. They realised what war would mean in the Sudeten area, which would itself be the main battlefield. Both nationally and internationally such a settlement would have been an easier solution than territorial transfer. 1 did mv best to promote it, and up to a point with some success, but even so, not without misgivings. I felt that, any such arrangement would have been temporary, not lasting." Cession o! Border Areas Favoured

Lord Runciman made a number of recommendations, some of which run parallel with the provisions of the new four-Power agreement. He considered that the predominantly German districts on the frontier should be given full right of self-determination at once, and that if somo cession to Germany was necessary, as he believed/it to be. it should be carried out Avith equal Eromptness. A plebiscite, he felt, would e a mere formality, as a very large majority of the inhabitants desired amalgamation with Germany, and woidd involve dangerous delay. . Regarding districts with a mixed population, Lord Runciman was convinced that history had proved that in times of peace and in the absence of political friction Czechs and Germans could live together on. friendly terms.

As regards the future relations of Czechoslovakia with her immediate neighbours, he stated his conviction that, in order to remove "a centre of intense political friction in the middle of Europe," the policy of the republic should be made entirely neutral, under guarantees of non-aggression by the Government and of assistance from the principal Powers. Her position should be analogous to that of Switzerland.