763.72119/3263

The Swedish Minister ( Ekengren ) to the Acting Secretary of State

Mr. Secretary: By order of my Government I have the honor to transmit to You the following communication from the Austro-German Government which communication has been simultaneously transmitted to all of the allied powers:10 [Page 384]

“The Council of State finds itself under the necessity of taking the most formal exception to the military occupation by the Czechoslovak State of German Bohemia and of several parts of the Sudetes region and the Znaim district in Moravia. The armistice terms left the German Austrian Government powerless to resist the above mentioned invasion by force. The aforesaid occupation by Czechoslovak troops cannot however in any way impair the right of the German people concerned to shape out their own destinies. The German Austrian Republic insisting on the principle that no nation can be forcibly subjected to a foreign State again appeals to all the civilized States urging them to recognize the right of the aforesaid people to choose the State to which the territory shall hereafter belong by means of a plebiscite superintended by neutral authorities and protected by neutral troops. Neither the Government of the Republic nor the two local Governments can under those conditions accept responsibility for the proper conduct of public administration.”

With renewed assurances [etc.]

W. A. F. Ekengren
  1. The following is a translation of the French text quoted by the Minister. A translation was sent to the Commission to Negotiate Peace in Department’s telegram No. 126, Jan. 7, 1919, 3 p.m.