THE CZECH PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 23375, 19 September 1939, Page 11

THE CZECH PROBLEM

DANGER TO GERMANY INFLUENCE IN A CRISIS There is as yet no organised resistance to German rule in Bohemia and Moravia, wrote the diplomatic correspondent of the ‘ Manchester Guardian ’ recently. Nevertheless, the Germans are not at all satisfied with the state of affairs in their new “ protectorate.” Czech national unity has not been broken. The entire Czech people detest German rule and are waiting for “ the day ” when they will throw it off. All the war material which the Czechs had was taken over intact by the Germans except for small arms and ammunition,. _ which disappeared in great quantities. In spite of housesearching and the fearful penalties that are inflicted on those who are found in possession of firearms, there is little doubt that a large part of the Czech population will be found to be armed if “the day” comes. Frequent incidents, a demonstratively sullen ill-will, acts of minor sabotage or reprisal, and so on. are an indication of the national spirit and a constant warning to the Germans. Hatred of the Germans has become general in Slovakia also. The Slovaks realise now that the Germans have brought them _ vassalage, not liberty. The Slovak is more _ primitive than the Czech, but he is also quicker, more' imaginative, and more passionate, and has not the same dour patience that can, while waiting, accept wrong and provocation with apparent impassivity. A FIERCE HATRED. The hatred which the Slovaks felt for their “ liberators ” burns fiercely and often openly. Disorders and demonstrations, such ns do not occur in Bohemia and Moravia, arc giving the Germans a good deal of trouble in Slovakia. The German authorities seem unable to make up their minds how to deal with discontent. Conciliation will not work, because economic exploitation must remain, seeing that ft was one of the main reasons for the seizure of Czecho-Slovakia. On the other hand, ruthless repression might stir up rebellion. The economic situation in Slovakia grows steadily worse and helps to increase anti-German feeling. Stocks of food and of industrial produce have been commandeered, as the Germans call it, or stolen, as the Slovaks call it. The Slovak Government has been forced to cut down vast stretches of forest as the Germans are in urgent need of timber—this ruinous measure is unaccompanied by afforestation. Apparently the Germans also mean to. commandeer the timber in the Slovak timber yards and sawmills. German control is much tighter in the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia than in the “ autonomous ” State of Slovakia. The trade and industry of the protectorate are being rapidly Germanised. Jewish shops and firms have passed not into Czech, but into German hands. Numerous non-Jewish firms have come under complete or partial German control in so far as the Germans have, thanks to the financial and administrative pressure .they are able to’exercise, secured majorities on the boards of directors. WORKMEN DISMISSED. Czech workmen arc being dismissed by thousands and are being replaced by German workmen from the Reich. At the same time close on 40,000 Czech workmen have been sent to work on the railways and in the factories of the Reich. The executive is almost completely in German hands. A large number of offences, including treason, incitements to indiscipline, and so on, are tried'not before Czech, but before German courts. The Czech police are under close German control, and there are strong forces of both ordinary German police and of the Gestapo in the protectorate. German rule, r hick seemed relatively mild at first, is becoming distinctly terroristic. Those Sudeten Germans who now have authority over the Czechs are behaving with such arrogance that the authorities from the Reich have had to interpose on several occasions. They—and the Gestapo—are doing most to increase a hatred that is growing so deep and so general that some of the more coolheaded Czech patriots fear a premature rebellion.. This would bo a disaster, for it would be ruthlessly crushed by the Germans and would have served no purpose. A .Czech rebellion could only be successful as part of a general war against Germany. Considering the great strategic and ecoonomic importance of Bohemia and Moravia, the Czech—and especially the Czech industrial—workmen would be important allies of the Western Powers in the evehnt of war, not perhaps in the early stages, but when the pressure on Germany began to tell. If Germany were suffering reverses sabotage and rebellion in Bohemia and Moravia would certainly hasten defeat considerably.