October 10th marks the 75th anniversary of Germany’s occupation of the Sudetenland, an area in Czechoslovakia that was inhabited mostly by German speaking people. Hitler’s first goal was to unite all the German-speaking areas together to form a greater Germany. He accomplished this prior to the invasion of Poland, which started the Second World War. The Czech government didn’t want to give the Sudetenland to Germany because they were afraid that Germany would try to take over the rest of the nation, which they did by the spring of 1939.
The annexation of the Sudetenland could have been the start of WW2 if England and France didn’t negotiate with Hitler. According to About.com, Hitler wanted to take the Sudetenland after Czechoslovakia had declared martial law. Britain and France were allies with Czechoslovakia and wanted to prevent war. Leaders from France and Britain met with Hitler to discuss an agreement to make everyone happy…except they forgot to include the opinions of the Czechs. The three nations agreed that Czechoslovakia would immediately give the Sudetenland over to Germany if Hitler promised to not demand any more territory. Czechoslovakia was betrayed by their allies in efforts to prevent war. Was it worth it?
According to Wikipedia, a short while after the annexation, things began to change. The Jews of the Sudetenland were persecuted, businesses were closed, and people were out of jobs simply because they were Jewish. Synagogues were burned to the ground and many leading Jews were sent to concentration camps. Jews were not the only ones being persecuted; opposing political parties were also attacked. Hitler made sure that the Nazi party, was the only political party in his Reich [see Kristallnacht].
In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and was stronger than ever. They used their Blitzkrieg tactics and quickly took over fifteen countries in Europe. Had Britain and France helped the Czechs out just a year before the invasion of Poland, maybe the war would have been different. Perhaps the war wouldn’t have lasted as long because Germany wouldn’t have been as strong. Nobody took Hitler seriously and because of that, millions died. This should never be forgotten, because it should never happen again.
