Czechoslovakia exists no_ more, notwithstanding the fact that the German coup has not received recognition from the majority of World Powers, To assume that in viet of this formal non-recognition, Czechoslovakia should still be considered an independent country is indeed futile. In the light of the present status of this newly-acquired German sell, it may be of interest (o cast observations on the stale in which the German minority found itself in this little republic, the first nation in the world which, after the disastrous effects of the World War, was able to show an excess of exports over imports, notwithstanding the barriers which neighbouring nations had built round the country and which made free trade quite impossible.
Tt cannot be denied, that at least 85 per cent, of the German minority of the central~ European republic, desired annexation te Germany and if anyone was to blame for this state of affairs, it was the Czechoslovak jan Government under M. Benes.
Although fully aware of the Nazi propaganda which poured into Bohemia and other parts of the country during the past few years, the Czech Government refused to disband the Henlein group which, after all, was nothing but the continuation of the German National-Socialist party under President Masaryk, had been disband= ed when Herr Hitler came to power in Germany, Making the German gymnastic organizations In Bohemia a strong backbone for the movement, Herr Henlein assumed the part of the minority, He organized labour corps which indeed were the exact replicas of those in existence in Germany, the only difference being the absence of swastika badges, and compulsion to join, He published one daily paper in Prague, and was known to have subsidized a number of less important provincial periodicals, He was permitted to have his party-days, so well-known in Germany, and had' as much liberty of speech as anyone could hope to have in any part of the world, To assume that the German minority in Czechoslovakin was Germanic is as erroneous as to say that the Slovaks were Russians. For, whilst their language was identical, their characters were essentially Austrian and Genuetlichkeit reigned supreme. Busi ness, however, was becoming worse from year to year, unemployment figures rose consistently, and there was no prospect of Improvement as long as the unnatural economic barriers between central-European nations were being maintained. Factories had been closed since 1931, and the workers relied entirely on an insufficient dote made available by the Prague Government. Hen-ein told them of the comparative well-being of the Czechs and the Slovaks, who, with agriculture as their main means of livelihood, were independent of foreign trade at least' to a certain extent.
In the boom years of 1925 to 1929, the Industrial part of Czechoslovakia, mostly in Bohemia where the majority of Germans lived, knew an unprecedented prosperity. which made the subsequent lull in trade, all the more felt. Cigars were lighted with banknotes and' bathtubs were brought into' cabarets so as to permit exhilarated lady patrons to take champagne baths in the middle of the floor, No-one thought of the future and, remaining faithful to the age-old saying that easily earned money is easily spent, the majority of Germans found them= selves with but a few thousand kronen in their bank accounts, when world depression set_in, Grumbling started and positions in the postal, railway and other services, which had scorned before, owing to the low slavies paid, were demanded by the Goi As the Czech Government had to fill se situations with the only persons off ug themselves for the jobs at the time, wamely Czechs, and that consequently no fancies were listed, the discrimination against Germans was stressed by the spokes~ must be emphasized that the Prague Govern= int had never given them what was due them according to the constitution which had been dratted by the late President yk, who desired to institute a form of xoverminent similar to that of Switzerland bhut whose advanced years never actually permitted him to take very active part in guiding the Ship of State. On the other hand, "German schools were in evidence everywhere, German cultural societies were not only allowed but also were subsidized in certain instances, by the Prague Government, whilst no discrimination against Germans, the necessity of speaking the Czech language if in Government employ excepted, was evidenced, Added to all this dissatisfaction, a large number of political parties among the Ger-mann came into existence. Communists and Socialists found a fertile field in the industrial centres whilst the Catholic
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.