It's September 30th today. This day is crucially important for the whole world history even though the date has been deliberately rubbed out of calendars. Rubbed out by the Western nations, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. Rubbed out by Poland. Rubbed out because they're ashamed. Ashamed to admit that September 30th, 1938 is basically the day when the Second World War began. Ashamed because on September 30th, 1938, exactly 80 years ago, together with Britain, France, and Italy, Hitler signed a document that encouraged Nazi Germany to bite off first, a piece of the territory of Czechoslovakia and then, consume entire Czechoslovakia in March 1939. The country was erased from the maps. Historians called the disgraceful document "The Munich Collusion."
Hitler's military expansion had begun. Czechoslovakia, one of the most advanced industrial nation of Europe, was eliminated.
After the Second World War, all sides of the Munich Collusion admitted that the agreement was lamentable and decided to rub out the disgraceful date of September 30, 1938, from their calendars. They never mention the date, diverting the attention of their schoolchildren, to the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed in August 1939, which allegedly triggered the Second World War. But looking back in time from our XXI century, we realize which European nations started the Second World War.
Before the Munich collusion, the war could've been prevented. The Soviet Union was ready to protect Czechoslovakia from Hitler by military force. Moreover, Stalin signed a pact with Czechoslovakia, providing for protection if France also didn't abandon Czechoslovakia. But France abandoned it. Responding to Moscow's request to let the Soviet troops cross the Polish territory to assist Czechoslovakia, Poland responded with a sharp "no." The reason was simple. Poland had an amicable agreement with Germany and intended to bite a piece of Czechoslovakia. Like a jackal. And so it happened. Poland stole the city of Tesin but didn't have enough time to enjoy it. Less than a year later, the German divisions invaded Poland. The Soviet Union had to clean up the mess by assuming the main burden in the world fight against the Nazis.
The Munich Collusion taught the world a valuable lesson: there's no way to ensure the security of Europe without Russia. They failed back then and they will fail now. It's not worth trying.
The details of the Munich Collusion are covered in the new documentary of the outstanding documentary maker and editor-in-chief of History Channel Alexey Denisov. The name of the documentary is "Munich Collusion: a Road to Hell." The movie is being broadcasted by Rossiya 24. We'll broadcast the whole movie after Actors by Nailya Asker-zade. But here's a fragment of it.
Munich, September 29, 1938. Hitler insisted on this city for the final settlement of the Czechoslovak issue. Benito Mussolini was the first to come here. He was followed by Chamberlain and Daladier. A short time before the meeting, all participants received messages from the US President Roosevelt in which he insisted on settling the Czechoslovak issue.
The building where the Munich meeting was held still stands. Back then, it was called "der Führerbau", the Führer's building. It was built in the 1930's and was one of the Bavarian residences of Adolf Hitler. Today, it houses the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. It's the place where on September 30, 1938, the countries signed a death sentence for Czechoslovakia and the whole of Europe. Eyewitnesses recall that when the Nazi officers greeted Chamberlain with "Heil Hitler" while he was ascending the stairs, he responded with a friendly nod.
The Munich conference began on September 29, at 12:45 PM. The negotiations were held in the rooms on the second floor and lasted about ten hours.
Later, one of the participants, English diplomat Kirkpatrick wrote: "Of all the conferences, the Munich one was particularly poorly organized. There was no chair, no agenda, and no coordinated procedures. Sometimes, all four sides were speaking at the same time. Ambassadors were constantly bringing new projects and counter-projects from the typing pool. Phones in the building went out of order due to bad preparation. And finally, when the leaders were ready to sign the agreement, they discovered that the luxury ink pot had no ink".
The Munich Agreement was signed in this room at about 1:30 AM on September 30, 1938. Eyewitnesses recall that after signing the paper, Hitler stepped back from the table with a spark in his eyes. After that, the document was signed by Chamberlain, Mussolini, and Daladier.
Soon after that, Czechoslovak diplomats were allowed to read their country's death sentence. It struck them with horror.
Alexander Naumov, Historian: "Munich made the Second World War inevitable. The European security system was destroyed. There was no collective security anymore. After Munich, each country came to the conclusion that it can only rely on itself to protect its borders".
Poland became Nazi Germany's main partner in dismembering Czechoslovakia. As soon as the Polish government realized that Britain and France threw Czechoslovakia under the Hitler-bus, it immediately filed territorial claims. The forbidden fruit was the Tesin Region.
A unique archive footage. A Polish military parade in the freshly occupied Tesin. The Polish population is throwing flowers at the soldiers. This footage was classified during the Soviet times. It wasn't shown due to ideology reasons. It would've been too shocking back then. The future Warsaw Treaty-ally of the USSR and one of the victims of the Nazis, Poland, was capturing the lands of the neighboring Slavic state together with Hitler. It was unimaginable. Meanwhile, during the 1930's, apart from the division of Czechoslovakia, the Polish government was actively discussing allying against the USSR with the government of the Third Reich.
Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck told Ribbentrop that if Hitler decided to push eastward, Poland claimed Soviet Ukraine and the coast of the Black Sea.
Several days after Czechoslovakia was presented to Hitler, Paris and London were truly euphoric. Jubilant crowds were applauding Daladier and Chamberlain calling them the saviors of the Western world from the horrors of the new war. The US President Roosevelt congratulated them on their diplomatic success. In London, Chamberlain greeted the cheering crowd standing on the balcony of the Buckingham Palace together with the royal family.
The reason for the miraculous blindness of the British high society toward Nazi Germany was rather simple. The thing is that in 1930's many British aristocrats and even members of the royal family sympathized with Hitler's ideas, either secretly or openly. King Edward VIII who reigned in 1936, openly communicated with the government of the Third Reich.
At the end of the war, British intelligence operative Anthony Blunt secretly stole the correspondence of Edward VIII and Hitler from Germany along with other documents that compromised the British monarchy. Those papers have been classified and are stored in the British Royal Archive under lock and key.
In October 1938, the German troops entered Czechoslovakia greeted by the excited crowds of Sudety Germans. Six months later, Hitler occupied the entire country proclaiming it a German protectorate.
Alexey Denisov for Vesti: News of the Week.
