British Opinion And The Czechs

Southland Times, Issue 23819, 17 May 1939, Page 4

British Opinion And The Czechs

THERE are people today who would like to forget Czechoslovakia. They try to convince themselves that the country collapsed from within, that it was an artificial State thrown together in the aftermath of the Great War, and that there was no historic justification for its continued existence. But there are others who know that a nation cannot cease to exist as suddenly as Prague capitulated to Germany without repercussions in the civilized world. According to a cable message from London, printed yesterday, leaflets distributed among the crowds in Prague contained the following advice: “Remain steadfast in the belief that your country will again be liberated. Remember always that you are Czechs, and turn your thoughts back to the history of your State.” The history of Bohemia, it should be remembered, is not confined within the period of 20 years and four months during which the Czechoslovak State remained a democracy. Many wars and much oppression have been survived by the people of this ancient European kingdom. Their calmness and courage under the dreadful strain of the September crisis proved that they are loyal to national ideals which must unite them in a new struggle for freedom. After Munich

Perhaps it was inevitable that their plight should have received

such scant and grudging attention in the days of world anxiety. When war threatened the whole of Europe it was fatally easy to believe that there was no alternative to the sacrifice demanded of the Czechs. It seemed better that a single nation should make territorial concessions than that the whole world should be plunged into war. But the possibility must now be faced that the sacrifice was made in vain. The result of the Munich agreement proved to be much more than the transfer of Sudeten areas to Germany. Within a few months the whole of Czechoslovakia, except for districts ceded to Poland and Hungary, had become a part of Greater Germany, its resources snatched by a hungry government, its population reduced to vassalage. It has become harder to say that the dismemberment of the country could be justified as the price of peace. Now that German policy has been announced in deeds as a deliberate plan for European, perhaps world, conquest, British people are remembering the fortitude and liberal spirit of the Czechs in the day when they realized that their allies and friends were unwilling to help. The changing attitude was expressed recently by a writer in The Economist. “They will not be forgotten,” he said. “They will rise again. In the undeclared war that is raging throughout the world, the restoration of Czech independence becomes a primary war aim. Until it has been achieved, the Czechs will lie heavy on the conscience of the world.” These words were written in indignation while the seizure of Bohemia and Moravia was still being'announced in the London newspapers: today, in the lull that always follows a major event in Europe, the same writer might not wish to speak so plainly. But the passage indicates the trend of liberal opinion in Britain. It is going to be hard to forget the Czechs.