860F.00/768: Telegram
The Consul General at Praha (Linnell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:30 p.m.]
Under no circumstances to become public at present. Following from Minister Carr:
“During the last few days I have obtained details of some of the events in this country which I shall report in due time but the substance of the following I think the Department should have by telegraph. In regard to Slovakia information received from two highly responsible sources indicates unmistakably that Slovak declaration of independence was the result of German intrigue and dictation and not the voluntary expression of the will of the Slovaks; that Tiso went to Berlin at the request of Bürckel,98 Seyss-Inquart99 and German generals; that Tiso was told by Hitler on the 13th that he had decided to occupy Bohemia and Moravia at 12 o’clock on the 14th and that the Slovaks would choose between declaring their independence under German protection or having Hitler dissociate himself from them; that while Tiso was reporting on the 14th to the Diet the majority of which was opposed to separation from the Czechoslovak State, Karmasin1 entered and warned Tiso that the hour for German occupation was near and they should declare their independence which they did amid demonstrations of great emotion.
Referring to the visit of the President to Berlin (see my telegrams numbers 35, March 15 and 53, March 19 [18]2) information from a high source impossible at present to reveal is in substance that owing to the news of the concentration of German troops on the Czechoslovak frontier and with the approval of the Government, the President of Czechoslovakia on the 13th asked for an interview with Hitler. The reply granting the interview came at 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the 14th. The President accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs left on a special train for Berlin at 4 o’clock. Meanwhile the German troops had already crossed the Silesian frontier at 12 o’clock and [Page 61] at 4:30 they entered Moravska Ostrava. The train was delayed and the President did not reach Berlin until 11. The conference with Hitler began about 1:00 in the presence of a number of German generals. Hitler announced his unalterable decision to occupy Bohemia and Moravia with the German military forces at 6 o’clock that morning, the 15th; said he had been willing to receive the President only in the hope of preventing resistance on the part of the Czechs and therefore bloodshed; demanded that the Czechoslovak Army be disarmed and kept in barracks, that railways, postal service, Government offices, theaters should continue to function and the people go about their work and warned that any resistance would be put down by the most drastic and even brutal methods. He claimed that he had reached his decision because of the failure of the Government to carry out definitely his wishes including measures against the Jews. He said he did not question the sincerity of the President and the Foreign Minister but clearly they were too weak. He then suggested that they might wish to consult their Government in Praha. In an adjoining room telephones were ready with a direct wire to the Prime Minister in Praha. On the way to the telephone Goering3 remarked to them that he would regret if resistance were offered for that would make it necessary for him under his orders to destroy Praha with his air force. The old President showed unsteadiness from the strain and fatigue and a stimulant was suggested. A physician was already at hand and administered a hypodermic injection. The President and the Foreign Minister telephoned to Praha but always in the presence of Hitler’s aides. Praha telephoned in an hour that the terms [were accepted?] and orders given not to resist. The President then reported to Hitler and said his people were now in Hitler’s hands and appealed to his ‘chivalry’. Further discussion occurred and the communiqué later announced to the press was prepared and signed. There was no compulsion as to that. Hitler said he would give the provinces autonomy and added ‘you cannot dream what we shall do for you; we shall give you autonomy and far exceed anything you did for the Sudeten Germans’. The German Army crossed the frontiers generally at 6 o’clock and began to arrive at Praha about 8:30 the morning of the 15th. The President reached Praha about 8 p.m., and immediately summoned the Council of Ministers. While he was relating his experiences in Berlin he was told that Hitler was already in the Presidential Palace. He refused to believe it. One of the Ministers went to investigate and returned to say that he had spoken with Von Ribbentrop and seen the Fuehrer. They had in fact arrived by automobile in advance of the President and unknown to him. The following day Ribbentrop read to the public (see my 42, March 16, and 43, March 164) the proclamation declaring that the two provinces of Bohemia and Moravia should constitute a protectorate and be a part of greater Germany.
My informant says the President is completely powerless and is actuated by purely patriotic motives in continuing temporarily to serve.”
- Josef Bürckel, Reich-Commissioner for the “Ostmark” (formerly Austria).↩
- Arthur Seyss-Inquart, “Lord Lieutenant” (Reichsstatthalter) of Austria upon the incorporation of Austria into Germany, March 13, 1938.↩
- Franz Karmasin, leader of the German Party in Slovakia.↩
- Neither printed.↩
- Hermann Wilhelm Göring, Reich Minister for Air.↩
- Neither printed.↩