760F.62/1261: Telegram
The Minister in Czechoslovakia (Carr) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:25 p.m.]
250. Your telegram No. 74, September 27, 3 p.m. [a.m.] Hitler’s telegram to President Roosevelt is a mixture of half truths and misstatements of fact. It wholly ignores two facts fundamental in the [Page 690] present situation, namely; (1) the Sudeten problem would never have become a menace to world peace or even the cause of an internal conflict in this country except for the inflammatory activities of the German press and propaganda against us [it?] and; (2) a peaceful settlement with the Praha Government conceding substantially all Sudeten demands was in sight as a result of the efforts of the Runciman mission and could have been concluded had Germany shown a sincere desire to have such an agreement made and had contributed to it instead of encouraging the Sudeten radical leaders to resist and eventually to break off negotiations.
The “bloody terror” to which the Chancellor refers and in so far as it has existed at all was, according to most dependable information available, due not to the Czechs who have shown extraordinary restraint in the interest of avoiding acts which may be construed by Germany as provocative but to the Sudeten Germans themselves. Day after day when the German press and radio have alleged that a reign of terror existed in Czechoslovakia absolute quiet and order have in fact prevailed except at a few places on the border where, according to the most dependable information, disorder was created by the Sudeten Germans themselves by seizing customs houses, shooting Czech gendarmes and terrorizing the population. I have interviewed a neutral observer who relates frightful details and fully supported the conclusion that the conflicts in the Sudetenland have been conceived and directed by the Sudeten Germans and the participants have been equipped, organized and supported by the Reich Germans. That a situation exists here or has at any time existed which justifies intervention by force from the outside let alone a world war, is wholly untrue.
We do not know the number of Sudeten German refugees who fled from the Sudetenland to Germany. While Hitler claims 214,000 the Czech authorities estimate about 50,000. There is no reason whatever to believe that they fled through fear of the Czechs except those who fled to escape responsibility for illegal acts committed in this country. The decision of the others was probably influenced by Reich German propaganda. On the other hand thousands of Germans and their families left the Sudetenland and came to Praha and are receiving shelter and relief. The dead according to our best information, does not exceed 50 and the majority are Czechs. Much the same can be said of the injured though exact figures are not available.
As to the tens of thousands of persons detained in prison the report of the Minister of Justice of September 1st shows a total of 221 persons of German nationality detained on charges of violation of the National Defense Act and in addition some 229 Germans were serving terms in prison so that the total number of persons of German [Page 691] nationality serving terms or facing charges was 450. It should be remembered in conjunction with the Chancellor’s statement that total of 2, 133 Czechoslovak citizens of German nationality profited by the political amnesty proclaimed by Beneš on April 18, 1938. In regard to desolated villages the statement can be set down as generally untrue. I have myself motored through the Sudeten region in many places. I have conferred with American members of the press and with representatives of other nations in Praha who have had opportunity to observe conditions in that region. None of us have seen desolated villages although there has of course been suffering due to the severe economic depression through which the area has been passing since 1929.
There has at no time during the past year since my arrival been any condition in this country that could not have been dealt with by peaceful means. Except for the interference of hostile propaganda and the encroachment given by the German Reich to the Sudeten Germans to resist the authorities of this country a solution of the Sudeten problem upon an equitable basis would have been achieved. If war now comes the responsibility for creating it as I have already reported may be placed directly upon Hitler and his advisers.