DEMANDS BY HITLER?

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22516, 26 September 1938, Page 11

DEMANDS BY HITLER?

Full Occupation By October 1 "PLAIN DOCUMENT OF PEACE"

Official Comment On

Godesberg Talks

(UNITED PBRS9 ASSOCIATION —COFYB.IQHT.)

(Received September 25, 11 p.m.)

BERLIN, September 24,

It is reliably learned that Herr Hitler and Mr Chamberlain exchanged four letters.

Herr Hitler denied the occupation of Sudeten territory, whereupon the British Legation checked reports on conditions in Eger and Asch and found thv,m incorrect. Legation officials satisfied themselves that the position was as the Germans had described it.

Herr Hitler made it clear that he would not accept an international commission to draw up new boundaries, and emphasised that he wanted full occupation by October 1.

Mr Chamberlain urged the cessation of the anti-Czech campaign in the German press as he felt that it was making the possibility of a peaceful settlement remote.

Herr Hitler replied that the campaign was fully justified in view of the "incessant Czech provocation."

German circles describe last night's communique as a plain document of peace, significantly contrasting it with the Czech mobilisation order. Officials continually speak of the friendly atmosphere in which, they claim, the conference between Herr Hitler and Mr Chamberlain closed, and attack "the incredible irresponsibility and war feeling dominating the dictatorship in Prague." The newspapers take a similar line.

The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says a statement made to the foreign press says political circles consider there is no possibility of a German guarantee of the new Czech frontiers after the solution of the Sudeten problem, in so far as a guarantee might oblige Germany to protect frontiers even when they concern the right of other nationalities to seif-determination.

It would naturally be otherwise if Czechoslovakia freed foreign nationalities not wishing to live in Czechoslovakia. "Diplomatische Correspondenz," the Foreign Office organ, pays tribute to Mr Chamberlain who, it says, within a week has rendered invaluable service to peace by his efforts to end the untenable and dangerous situation. He has, it says, helped to work out methods, based on the Berchtesgaden settlement, for substituting peaceful separation for an apparently inevitable international conflict, and has excluded intricate complications. He is in a position to confirm that the German demands will not go beyond the principle of selfdetermination which all responsible quarters, including Prague, have already granted. GERMAN VETERANS AT WESTMINSTER "WAR WOULD BE DISASTER FOR HUMAN RACE" (BXITISB OFFICIAL WIKELISa.) RUGBY, September 23. Eight hundred visiting German former servicemen were welcomed at Westminster Hall by the Minister for the Co-t>rdination v of Defence (Sir Thomas Inskip). Sir Thomas, referring to the Godesberg conference, said that whatever the rights or wrongs of the questions which were examined, everyone had but one hope—that this momentous conference would result in a just and peaceful settlement. To waste more precious treasure in a new war of greater severity would indeed be humiliation as well as a disaster for the human race.

MEMORANDUM TO PRAGUE GERMAN PLAN FOR OCCUPATION SCHEME SUBMITTED BY MR CHAMBERLAIN NO TRESSURE EXERTED ON CZECHOSLOVAKIA (UNITED PRXS3 ASSOCIATION—COPTBIOHT.) (Received September 25, 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 24. The Paris correspondent of "The Times" says it is understood that when the British Ambassador (Sir Eric Phipps) saw the Foreign Minister (M. Georges Bonnet) late last night, he announced that the British Government had submitted another compromise plan. to Prague, entailing the immediate occupation of a narrow strip of Czech frontier territory by G erman troops. The Paris correspondent of the "News Chronicle" says the British Minister at Prague (Mr Basil Newton) handed the compromise plan to the Foreign Minister (Dr. Krofta) 10 minutes after the general mobilisation was ordered in Czechoslovakia. It consists of asking the Czechs to allow the German army "symbolically to occupy" a 10-miles-wide strip of Sudeten territory, pending arrangements for the transfer of the territory. A Berlin message says the German memorandum, which was presented to Mr Chamberlain by Herr Hitler at the conclusion of their conversations contains a clearly detailed plan for the evacuation of Czech troops, similar to that used for the evacuation of German troops from France.

Dates are also fixed for the holding of a plebiscite. It is semi-officially stated that the memorandum contains nothing more than proposals of how to secure and accomplish things already conceded to Germany. Nobody should deceive himself that the German proposals for a peaceful realisation of a condition already created by right, are not final, and they must be considered the last German bid for peace. To decline the proposals is thereby to assume the responsibility for all further consequences. If they are agreed to, peace will be maintained. The memorandum adds that all Sudeten areas in which there are more than 70 per cent. Germans, will be occupied immediately after the expiry of the time limit. Other districts, in which there is a lesser percentage of Germans, shall hold e plebiscite, after which the exchange of Czech and German populations will be carried out.

Germany agrees to guarantee the new Czech frontier if Poland and Hungary also give a similar guarantee.

It is reliably reported that under Herr Hitler's memorandum, Prague must indicate by October 1, its intention immediately to withdraw Czech troops and police from the Sudeten area and permit the immediate occupation of the territory by German troops and police. The Reich press chief told the "Daily Mail": "Herr Hitler, in his memorandum, undertakes not to use force for a few days. The memorandum lays down his scheme for the evacuation of the Sudeten territory by the Czechs and its occupation by German troops by a series of progressive movements in much the same way as the German troops evacuated Alsace-Lorraine. "The British and German differences are not on matters of principle but on methods. If the Czechs are reasonable and consent to evacuate the Sudeten territory already allotted to Germany by the British and French plan, there will be no conflict." The French Foreign Office states that Mr Chamberlain sent Herr Hitler's memorandum to Czechoslovakia without comment. It is understood that no, pressure is being exerted on Czechoslovakia. PESSIMISM SHOWN IN ITALY ROME, September 24. Pessimism is the keynote of the Italian press comment. Dr. Gayda states: "The situation is most dangerous. It has grown worse in the last 24 hours." Government circles fear that Germany may be compelled to take military action.