Five Brothers and a War

The Sudetenland

The meeting in München began with Mussolini proposing what was described as his idea to resolve the matter quickly. In reality, it was an orchestrated version of Hitler’s previous proposal, whereby the German army would occupy the Sudetenland. France and Britain were thrilled to avoid war and agreed. After midnight, the deal was signed, and it stated that Germany would assume control of the Sudetenland beginning October 1. The Czech representative, who was present in München, but was not permitted to participate in the meetings, was then summoned and informed of the agreement. On Saturday, October 1, Germany took over the Sudetenland. Chamberlain reported that the resolution should pave the way for peace in Europe. In the meantime, Germany had now made three major moves without a shot being fired. The message to Hitler could not have been more clear. He had total contempt for his adversaries, and could bully his way into whatever he wanted. Within three weeks of the signing of the accord, Hitler ordered his generals to prepare to take over the rest of Czechoslovakia by use of force. Hitler now turned again to his “Jewish Problem”. A young Jewish man living in Paris created the spark Hitler needed when he went to the German embassy and shot a junior embassy official to death. The evening the staffer died became Kristallnacht , the Night of Broken Glass. The SA Stormtroopers, SS, and Hitler-jugend (“Hitler Youth”) rampaged through Jewish neighborhoods in Austria, Germany and the Sudetenland. 267 synagogues were burned. Torahs were desecrated, thousands of Jewish businesses were looted, and homes were broken into, with 91 people murdered, and an unknown number of females raped. 25,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Göring determined that all of the destruction was going to create a hardship on the insurance companies, and so it was decided that the blame for Kristallnacht should be placed on the Jewish community and they were then fined the equivalent of US(2014)$6,473,000,000, meaning that all payouts from insurance companies went to the state, and not to the individuals.

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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