THE GODESBERG LETTERS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22520, 30 September 1938, Page 14

THE GODESBERG LETTERS

MR CHAMBERLAIN AND HERR HITLER A PUBLICATION AS WHITE PAPER BRITISH ENDEAVOURS FOR NEGOTIATION (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPT&TQBT.) (Received September 29, 9 p.m.) LONDON, September 28. The exchange of letters between Mr Chamberlain and Herr Hitler at Godesberg last week when the talks were interrupted was the subject of a White Paper published to-day. Frequent references to this correspondence were made by Mr Chamberlain during his speech in the House of Commons "this afternoon. Mr Chamberlain's letter to Herr Hitler on Friday, September 23, said: "I am ready to put to the Czech Government your proposal for enabling an examination of the suggested provisional boundary. , „ . The difficulty I see in that, connexion is your proposal oi yesterday that the areas should in thy immediate future be occupied by Gorman troops. I recognise the difficulty oi' conducting a lengthy investigation under existing conditions, and doubtless the plan you propose would, if acceptable, immediately ease the tension. Ido not think you realised the impossibility of my agreeing to put forward any plans unless I have reason to suppose they will be considered by public opinion in my country and France, and indeed in the whole world, as carrying out the principles already agreed upon in an orderly fashion, free from the threat of force."

"Unbearable Situation"

Herr Hitler's reply of September 23 stated: "I am grateful that after 20 years the British Government has decided on steps to end a situation which is becoming hourly more unbearable. If the Czech behaviour was formerly brutal, it is now madness. One hundred and twenty thousand refugees have been driven out. This situation is unbearable and will be terminated by me. I emphasise that these Germans are coming back to the Reich, not because of the gracious sympathy of other nations, but on the ground of their own -will and the irrevocable decision of the Reich to give this will effect. There is no international power or agreement that can have the right of precedence over German right." Mr Chamberlain in his second letter on September 23 asked Herr Hitler that "no action should be taken, particularly in the Sudeten territory, by the forces of the Reich, to prejudice any further mediation which may be found possible." Avoidance of Force After his return to London, Mr Chamberlain in a further letter to Herr Hitler on September 26 stated: "A settlement by negotiation remains possible, and with a clear recollection of our conversations and equally clear appreciation of the consequences which must follow the abandonment of negotiation and the substitution of force, I ask your Excellency to agree that representatives of Germany should meet Czech Government representatives to discuss immediately the situation with a view to settling by agreement the way in which the territory is to be handed over. I am convinced that these discussions could be completed in a very short time. If you and the Czech Government desire it, I am willing to arrange that the British Government should be represented at the discussions."

Herr Hitler's reply to Mr Chamberlain on September 27, after Sir Horace Wilson's visit, said the immediate occupation of the Sudeten areas represented no more than a i security measure intended to guarantee the quick and smooth achievement of a final settlement. Otherwise the Czech Government would be in a position to drag out the negotiations to any point it liked. "I cannot," Herr Hitler wrote, "place such confidence in Prague's assurances. Surely Britain is not in a position, to dispose of this danger by the use of diplomatic pressure. Prague is distorting the meaning of my proposals in order to mobilise support in other countries, especially England and France, and thus achieve the possibility of a world conflagration. I leave it to your judgment to take the opportunity to spoil such manoeuvres and bring Prague to reason at the very last hour."

APPEAL TO GERMAN WOMEN

CABLE MESSAGE FROM NATIONAL COUNCIL

[ Miss Frances L. Cooper, honorary Dominion secretary of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, which is composed of 216 women's organisations, representing approximately 80,000 New Zealand women, has, at the request of the council, sent a cable message to Baroness Pol Boel, president of the International 'Council . of Women, urging her, as 'international president of the council, to appeal urgently to German women to endeavour to prevent war and safeguard peace.-