CRISIS IN EUROPE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1938, Page 4

CRISIS IN EUROPE

INTERESTING SURVEY VISITOR’S OBSERVATIONS. GERMAN GRIEVANCES. Speaking with authority based on 20 years’ knowledge of Czechoslovakia and conversations with Herr Konrad Henlein, Sudeten German leader, and the late Dr Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia, Captain V. A. Cazalet, Conservative M.P. for Chippenham, Wiltshire, for the past 14 years, gave a comprehensive survey of the series of events leading up to the recent European crisis in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club. Captain Cazalet said he first visitec} Czechoslovakia 20 years ago and since then had visited it frequently. He stayed with the late Dr Masaryk on several occasions and described him as one of the greatest men he had ever met.. He had a long talk with Herr Henlein in April of this year. That was his authority for asking his audience to listen to him on such a subject.

LEADERS AND PEOPLE. The policy of indicting a whole nation in time of international stress was condemned by the speaker, who said that people in any country were ranged into so many camps. Because people might dislike a particular form of Government and might not appreciate certain acts of Signor Mussolini or Herr Hitler, that was no reason to indict a whole nation or to condemn 70,000,000 Germans. There must be millions in those countries feeling a sense of relief that the clouds of war had been dissipated. “I am not trying to vindicate or excuse the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but you must remember the temper of public opinion in the days when the Peace Treaty was concluded,” added Captain Cazalet. “It would have been almost impossible, in view of the feelings of hatred created by four years of,war, to have formed any treaty differing from that signed which would have been approved by the Powers.” EVENTS SINCE VERSAILLES. Referring to the after-effects of Versailles, the speaker recalled how the American Congress later repudiated President Wilson and Versailles. France felt her one protection was gone and never disarmed. Germany, consequently, claimed that France’ had never observed the terms of the treaty. Then followed many other phases, including the neglect of Aus-’ tria, and the' present crisis had evolved.

“It was the absorption of Austria by Germany that must have precipitated the recent crisis,” continued the speaker. “Czechoslovakia sprawls across the centre of Europe in the shape of a lizard and since the anschluss the whole head of the lizard has been entirely surrounded by Germany. That made it economically and politically impossible for Czechoslovakia to survive unless she made terms with Germany.”

GEOGRAPHICAL MINORITY. Half the population of Czechoslovakia comprised minorities, said the speaker. Of the 14,000,000 the Slovaks numbered 2,000,000, the Germans 3,5uv,000, Hungarians 800,000, Poles 200,000 and Ruthenians 200,000. The Slovaks allied with the Czechs in matters of foreign policy. It was often asked why Czechoslovakia was created such a geographical anomaly. The framers of me conference were faced with the problem that if the boundaries were drawn according to race it would have rendered Czechoslovakia uneconomic, and she would not have existed at all. To create an economic unit they were bound to include minorities.

“When x I had conversations with Herr Henlein in April and when I saw him in London a few weeks later he made no mention whatever ,of his districts being absorbed by Germany,” the speaker added. “There was no cry for separation from Czechoslovakia. What they asked for was a settlement of their difficulties and grievances and a measure of self-government.

OTHER MINORITIES. “The Germans in Czechoslovakia had their grievances and difficulties and the Czechs had been slow to remedy them,” said the speaker. “The Sudetens later were no longer calling the tune, but Herr Hitler. He was dictating the policy.” Peace had been preserved, Captain Cazalet added. People were grateful, but they had to ask themselves how far it was a real peace and how far 'did Herr Hitler mean what he said when he indicated that he had no other territorial desires in Europe. What of the German minorities in Italy, Danzig, the Polish Corridor and Silesia? Was Hitler going to abandon those minorities? If he was it was a very big thing and we could look forward to a long period of peace.

Gardening hint: When your wife says: “Look how nice they keep their lawn next door.”