760F.62/1063: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 25—11:35 a.m.]
1579. The British Ambassador gave me this morning the English translation of Hitler’s note to Chamberlain but did not permit me to have it to cable as he said it had been received in a confidential code.
I was able to study it at leisure and at length. In addition to the terms that I telegraphed you this morning after reading the French text in Bonnet’s office I noted especially the following:
There is no question of exchange of populations. Hitler demands a plebiscite for the large German island in the middle of Czechoslovakia and demands that if this large island should vote for union with Germany it should become a part of Germany in the middle of what will be left of Czechoslovakia.
The German note demands further that all German speaking persons should be released at once from the Czechoslovak Army and [Page 649] permitted to leave at once for that portion of the Sudeten area to be placed under German control on October 1.
The German note demands the immediate release of all Germans now in Czech prisons.
It demands further that on October 1 when the Czechs evacuate the zones to be occupied by the German Army they should leave behind intact and in good condition all aviation fields with their equipment; all radio stations; all railroad rolling stock; all factory equipment; all military equipment including the fortifications in perfect order; all foodstuffs, all cattle, and all other movable objects now in the Sudeten areas.
I regret that I cannot transmit the note to you textually and trust that you have received it from our Embassy at London but I am certain that if you have read it you will agree with me that it is totally unacceptable. The terms asked by Hitler are virtually those imposed on a defeated German Army for evacuation of northern France.
I expressed this opinion to the British Ambassador that I could not see how any Government could conceivably accept such a proposal. The British Ambassador who like Bonnet is for peace at any price continues to hope that his Government and the French will abandon the Czechs completely in order to avoid general war. He said he feared that while Bonnet would be for peace Daladier would be for war. I gathered the impression that his latest information from London indicates that the British Government is inclining toward peace at any price.