760F.62/1080: Telegram
The Minister in Czechoslovakia (Carr) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 24—4:40 p.m.]
232. I assume that London has informed you of the conversations at Godesberg of which the British Minister told me this morning. The memorandum67 containing Hitler’s annunciation that all Czech military police and other authorities be immediately withdrawn from the territory indicated on Hitler’s map as Sudeten German and that [Page 644] territory be at once occupied by German troops is expected this afternoon. If proposal is rejected presumably war will follow.
From confidential sources I have learned that the letter68 Hitler addressed to Chamberlain is entirely uncompromising even to the point of bluntness and shows determination by the procedure he outlines of remedying what he claims is the maltreatment of the Sudeten Germans by the Czechs. His statement and that of the German propaganda press of the nature of the so-called maltreatment is not supported by the results of the investigations of the British observers nor by the information which this Legation has had from impartial sources.
The evidence seems to me to be convincing that incident after incident has been deliberately provoked by the Sudeten Germans undoubtedly supported by German authorities; the facts in regard to those incidents have been deliberately perverted and often completely altered; the whole course of the so-called negotiations of the Czechoslovak Government with the Sudeten Germans has been attended on their part by procrastination, vagueness, and bad faith and, when the negotiations were on the point of attaining success under the Runciman mission, incidents were deliberately created to furnish a plausible excuse for discontinuing negotiations until the Nuremberg speech which stirred the Sudeten elements to increased violence which has culminated in the existing critical situation. A survey of the record leaves no room for doubt that if a war occurs Germany must bear the responsibility for deliberately bringing it about. Without seeking to overlook definite shortcomings on the part of the Czechs in the past, I feel that it can truthfully be said that their self restraint and patience in the face of great provocation, their recognition of their responsibility for making every possible effort to preserve world peace have been superb.
I gathered from the British Minister today that if the Czechs should not agree to Hitler’s memorandum and the German Army should attempt to occupy Sudeten territory with the conflict that would ensue France would be bound to come to Czechoslovakia’s assistance and that in the circumstances Great Britain might also do so although he does not know as to the latter. Some apprehension was expressed lest Russia’s pressure on Poland may drive her into the German camp whereas if the pressure should not have been exerted Poland might eventually have joined France and Great Britain.