Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1939–1945 | |||||||||
Anthem: Reich Protector | | ||||||||
• 1939–1943 | Konstantin von Neurath | ||||||||
• 1941–1942 (acting) | Reinhard Heydrich | ||||||||
• 1942–1943 (acting) | Kurt Daluege | ||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Wilhelm Frick | ||||||||
State President | |||||||||
• 1939–1945 | Emil Hácha | ||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1939 (acting) | Rudolf Beran | ||||||||
• 1939–1941 | Alois Eliáš | ||||||||
• 1941–1945 | Jaroslav Krejčí | ||||||||
• 1945 | Richard Bienert | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• German surrender | 8 May 1945 | ||||||||
Currency | Protectorate koruna | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Czech Republic |
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
After the Munich Agreement of September 1938, the Third Reich had annexed the German-majority Sudetenland to Germany from Czechoslovakia in October 1938. Following the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic on 14 March 1939, and the German occupation of the Czech rump state the next day, German leader Adolf Hitler established the protectorate on 16 March 1939, issuing a proclamation from Prague Castle.[6] The creation of the protectorate violated the Munich Agreement.[7]
The protectorate remained nominally autonomous and had a dual system of government, with German law applying to ethnic Germans while other residents had the legal status of Protectorate subjects and were governed by a puppet Czech administration. During the
The state's existence came to an end with the surrender of Germany to the Allies in May 1945. After the war, some Protectorate officials were charged with collaborationism, but according to the prevailing belief in Czech society, the Protectorate was not entirely rejected as a collaborationist entity.[10]
Background
Hitler's interest in Czechoslovakia was largely driven by economic demands [citation needed]. The Four-Year Plan that Hitler launched in September 1936 to have the German economy ready for a "total war" by 1940 was faltering by 1937 owing to a shortage of foreign exchange to pay for the vast economic demands imposed by the ambitious armaments targets as Germany lacked many of the necessary raw materials, which had to be imported.[11] The British historian Richard Overy wrote the huge demands of the Four Year Plan "...could not be fully met by a policy of import substitution and industrial rationalization"..[12] In November 1937 at the Hossbach conference, Hitler announced that to stay ahead in the arms race with the other powers that Germany had to seize Czechoslovakia in the very near-future.[12] Czechoslovakia was the world's 7th largest manufacturer of arms, making Czechoslovakia into an important player in the global arms trade.[13]
After Czechoslovakia accepted the terms of the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938, Nazi Germany incorporated the ethnic German majority Sudetenland regions along the German border directly into Nazi Germany. Five months later, the Nazis violated the Munich Agreement, when, with Nazi German support, the Slovak parliament declared the independence of the Slovak Republic, Adolf Hitler invited Czechoslovak President Emil Hácha to Berlin and accepted his request for the German occupation of the Czech rump state and its reorganization as a German protectorate to deter Polish and Hungarian aggression.
Hitler's wish to occupy Czechoslovakia was largely caused by the foreign exchange crisis as Germany had exhausted its foreign exchange reserves by early 1939, and Germany urgently needed to seize the gold of the Czechoslovak central bank to continue the Four Year Plan.[14] The British historian Victor Rothwell wrote that the Czechoslovak reserves of gold and hard currency seized in March 1939 were "invaluable in staving off Germany's foreign exchange crisis".[14]
On 16 March when Hitler proclaimed the protectorate, he declared: "For a thousand years the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia formed part of the Lebensraum of the German people."[15]
There was no real precedent for this action in German history. The model for the protectorate were the Princely states in India under the Raj. In just in the same way that Indian maharajahs in the Princely states were allowed a nominal independence, but the real power rested with the British resident stationed to monitor the maharajah, Hitler emulated this practice with the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia as the German media quite explicitly compared the relationship between the Reich Protector, Baron Konstantin von Neurath and President Emil Hácha to that of a British resident and an Indian maharajah.[16] Neurath seems to be chosen as Reich Protector in because as a former foreign minister and a former ambassador to Great Britain, he was well known in London for his avuncular, but dignified manner, which were the personality traits associated with the popular image of a British resident. Hitler believed that emulating the Raj would make this violation of the Munich Agreement more acceptable to Britain, and as that proved not to be the case the German media launched a lengthy campaign denouncing British "hypocrisy".[17] The German authorities intentionally allowed the protectorate "all the trappings of independence" in order to encourage the Czech inhabitants to collaborate with them.[18] However, despite the protectorate having its own postage stamps and presidential guard, real power lay with the Nazi authorities.[18]
History
The population of the protectorate was mobilized for labor that would aid the German war effort, and special offices were organized to supervise the management of industries important to that effort. The Germans drafted Czechs to work in coal mines, in the iron and steel industry, and in armaments production. Consumer-goods production, much diminished, was largely directed toward supplying the German armed forces. The protectorate's population was subjected to rationing. The Czech crown was devalued to the Reichsmark at the rate of 10 crowns to 1 Reichsmark, through actual rate should have been 6 crowns for 1 Reichsmark, a policy that allowed the Germans to buy everything on the cheap in the protectorate.[19] Inflation was a major problem throughout the existence of the protectorate, which was made worse by the refusal of the German authorities to raise wages to keep up with inflation, making the era a period of decreasing living standards as the crowns brought less and less.[19] Even members of the volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) living in the protectorate complained their living standards had been higher under Czechoslovakia, which was quite a surprise to most of them, who expected their living standards to rise under German rule.[19]
German rule was moderate by Nazi standards during the first months of the occupation. The Czech government and political system, reorganized by Hácha, continued in formal existence. The
The Czechs demonstrated against the occupation on 28 October 1939, the 21st anniversary of Czechoslovak independence. The death on 15 November 1939 of a medical student,
During
On 4 June 1942, Heydrich died after being wounded by Czechoslovak Commandos in
For the Czechs of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia,
The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) was virtually annihilated, with over 75,000 murdered.[27] Of the 92,199 people classified as Jews by German authorities in the Protectorate as of 1939, 78,154 were murdered in the Holocaust, or 85 percent.[31]
Many Jews emigrated after 1939; 8,000 survived at the
Politics
After the establishment of the Protectorate all political parties were outlawed, with the exception of the National Partnership (Národní souručenství). Membership of the Národní souručenství was closed to women and Jews.[33] In the spring of 1939, about 2,130,000 men joined the group, amounting to between 98%-99% of the Czech male population.[33] However, much of the registration for the Národní souručenství was done in the style of a census (a traditional outlet for nationalist feeling in the Czech lands), and the messages advocating joining the Národní souručenství emphasized that the group existed to affirm the Czech character of Bohemia-Moravia.[33]
One spy for the government-in-exile in London reported: "The original, observable chaos and later fear of Gestapo informants and uncertainty has changed to courage and hope. The nation is coming together, not only in the National Solidarity Movement, which the majority did only to avoid losing our national existence, but individuals are coming together and one begins to feel if the nation has a backbone again".[33] This local Czech Fascist party was led by a ruling Presidium until 1942, after which a Vůdce (Leader) for the party was appointed.
German government
Ultimate authority within the Protectorate was held by the Reich Protector (Reichsprotektor), the area's senior Nazi administrator, whose task it was to represent the interests of the German state.[33] The office and title were held by a variety of persons during the Protectorate's existence. In succession these were:
- 16 March 1939–20 August 1943:
- 27 September 1941–30 May 1942:
Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office) or RSHA. He was officially only a deputy to Neurath, but in reality was granted supreme authority over the entire state apparatus of the Protectorate.
- 31 May 1942–20 August 1943:
Kurt Daluege, Chief of the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police) or Orpo, in the Interior Ministry, who was also officially a deputy Reich Protector.
- 20 August 1943–5 May 1945:
Wilhelm Frick, former Minister of the Interior (1933–1943) and Minister without Portfolio (1943–1945).
Next to the Reich Protector there was also a political office of State Secretary (from 1943 known as the State Minister to the Reich Protector) who handled most of the internal security. From 1939 to 1945 this person was
Czech government
The Czech State President (Státní Prezident) under the period of German rule from 1939 to 1945 was
Aside from the Office of the Minister President, the local Czech government in the Protectorate consisted of the Ministries of Education, Finance, Justice, Trade, the Interior, Agriculture, and Public Labour. The area's foreign policy and military defence were under the exclusive control of the German government. The former foreign minister of Czechoslovakia
The most prominent Czech politicians in the Protectorate included:
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Czech State President | 16 March 1939 | 9 May 1945 | NS | ||
Minister President | Independent | ||||
19 January 1942 | 19 January 1945 | NS | |||
January 1945 | May 1945 | NS | |||
Leader of the Party | Josef Nebeský | 1939 | 1941 | NS | |
Josef Fousek | 1941 | 1942 | NS | ||
Tomáš Krejčí | 1942 | 1945 | NS | ||
Minister of Justice | 1939 | 1945 | NS | ||
Minister of Interior | 1939 | 1942 | NS | ||
1942 | 1945 | NS | |||
Minister of Finance | 16 March 1939 | 5 May 1945 | NS | ||
Minister of Economics | 1942 | 1945 | NSDAP | ||
Minister of Agriculture | Independent | ||||
February 1940 | January 1942 | NS | |||
19 January 1942 | 5 May 1945 | NS | |||
Minister of Traffic | Independent | ||||
April 1941 | 5 May 1945 | NS | |||
Minister of Education | 16 March 1939 | 19 January 1942 | NS | ||
19 January 1942 | 5 May 1945 | NS | |||
Minister without Portfolio | Independent |
Population
The area of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia contained about 7,380,000 inhabitants in 1940. 225,000 (3.3%) of these were of German origin, while the rest were mainly ethnic
In March 1939, Karl Frank defined a "German national" as:
Whoever professes himself to be a member of the German nation is a member of the German nation, provided that this profession is confirmed by certain facts, such as language, upbringing, culture, etc. Persons of alien blood, particularly Jews, are never Germans. . . . Because professing to be a member of the German nation is of vital significance, even someone who is partly or completely of another race—Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Hungarian, or Polish, for example—can be considered a German. Any more precise elaboration of the term "German national" is not possible given current relationships.[34]
The Nazis aimed for the protectorate to become fully Germanized. Marriages between Czechs and Germans became a problem for the Nazis.[35] In 1939, the Nazis did not ban sexual relations between Germans and Czechs and no law prohibited Jews from marrying Czechs.[35] The Nazis made German women who married any non-Germans lose their Reich citizenship whereas Czech women who married German men were accepted into the German Volk.[35] Czech families aiming to improve their lives in the protectorate encouraged their Czech daughters to marry German men as it was one way to save a family business.[35]
Hitler had approved a plan designed by Konstantin von Neurath and Karl Hermann Frank, which projected the Germanization of the "racially valuable" half of the Czech population after the end of the war.[36] This consisted mainly of industrial workers and farmers.[36] The undesirable half contained the intelligentsia, whom the Nazis viewed as ungermanizable and potential dangerous instigators of Czech nationalism. Some 9,000 Volksdeutsche from Bukovina, Dobruja, South Tyrol, Bessarabia, Sudetenland and the Altreich were settled in the protectorate during the war.[36] The goal was to create a German settlement belt from Prague to Sudetenland, and to turn the surroundings of Olomouc (Olmütz), České Budějovice (Budweis), Brno (Brünn) and the area near the Slovak border into German enclaves.[36]
Further integration of the protectorate into the Reich was carried out by the employment of German apprentices, by transferring German evacuee children into schools located in the protectorate, and by authorizing marriages between Germans and "assimilable" Czechs.[36] Germanizable Czechs were allowed to join the Reich Labour Service and to be admitted to German universities.[36]
Education
In common with the other "submerged" nations of Eastern Europe, the Czech intelligentsia had an immense prestige as the bearers and protectors of the national culture, who would keep the Czech language and culture alive when the Czech nation was "submerged". No segment of the Czech intelligentsia faced more pressure to conform to the occupation policy than school teachers.[37] Frank called the teachers "the most dangerous wing of the intelligentsia" while Heydrich referred to the teachers as "the training core of the opposition Czech government [in exile in London]".[37] To keep their jobs, teachers were required to demonstrate fluency in German and were supposed to greet their students with the fascist salute while saying "Sieg Heil!" ("Hail Victory!").[37] School inspectors made surprise visits to the classrooms and all chairpersons of the exam boards had to be ethnic Germans.[37] Some teachers and students were Gestapo informers, which spread a climate of mistrust and paranoia across the school system as both teachers and students never knew whom to trust.[37] One teacher recalled: "The Gestapo even had informers and agents amongst the children. Uncertainty and mistrust destroyed any feeling of comradeship among the children".[37]
Despite these pressures, a number of Czech teachers quietly inserted "anti-Reich" ideas into their lessons while refusing to greet their students with "Sieg Heil!".[37] Especially under Frank, the teachers suffered harshly. In the first six months of 1944, about 1,000 Czech teachers were either executed or imprisoned.[37] By 1945, about 5,000 Czech teachers were imprisoned in the concentration camps, where a fifth died.[37] By the end of the occupation, about 40% of all Czech teachers had been fired with the figure reaching 60% in Prague.[37]
Administrative subdivisions
Protectorate districts
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013) |
For administrative purposes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was divided into two Länder: Böhmen (Bohemia) and Mähren (Moravia). Each of these was further subdivided into Oberlandratsbezirke, each comprising a number of Bezirke.[38]
Böhmen | |
Budweis
|
Wittingau
|
Königgrätz
|
Semil, Turnau
|
Pilsen | Schüttenhofen, Strakonitz, Taus
|
Prag | Seltschan, Tschaslau
|
Mähren | |
Brünn
|
Wischau, Zline
|
Iglau
|
|
Mährisch-Ostrau
|
Proßnitz, Wallachisch-Meseritsch, Wesetin
|
NSDAP districts
For party administrative purposes the
- Reichsgau Sudetenland
- Gau Bayreuth (Bavarian Eastern March)
- Reichsgau Niederdonau (Lower Danube)
- Reichsgau Oberdonau (Upper Danube)
The resulting government overlap led to the usual authority conflicts typical of the Nazi era. Seeking to extend their own powerbase and to facilitate the area's
Military commander
Like in other occupied countries, the German military in Bohemia and Moravia was commanded by a Wehrmachtbefehlshaber. Through the year, the headquarter received several different names because of the complex structure of the Reichsprotektorat: Wehrmachtbevollmächtigter beim Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren, Wehrmachtbefehlshaber beim Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren and Wehrmachtbefehlshaber beim deutschen Staatsminister in Böhmen und Mähren. The commander also held the position of the Befehlshaber im Wehrkreis Böhmen und Mähren.[citation needed]
Commanders
- General der Infanterie Erich Friderici (1 April 1939–27 October 1941)
- General der Infanterie Rudolf Toussaint (1 November 1941–31 August 1943)
- General der Panzertruppen Ferdinand Schaal (1 September 1943–26 July 1944) (arrested after the 20 July plot)
- General der Infanterie Rudolf Toussaint (26 July 1944–8 May 1945)
Identity card of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia citizens
See also
- List of rulers of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
- Government Army
- German occupation of Czechoslovakia
- Prague Offensive
- History of Slovakia
- Concentration camps Lety and Hodonín
- Out Distance
- Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
References
Informational notes
- ^ German: Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren; Czech: Protektorát Čechy a Morava; the Nazis called its territory Resttschechei ("remnant Czechia").[5]
- Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in 1942[citation needed]
- ^ Joined the London-based Czechoslovak government in 1940.[citation needed]
Citations
- ISBN 978-80-87041-42-0.
- ^ "Hudba v Čechách a na Moravě v období německého protektorátu 3". 25 July 2007.
- ^ a b c Gruner 2015, p. 104.
- ^ 12 - The Slovak state, 1939–1945 in Slovakia in History, Ivan Kamenec; Mikuláš Teich, Dušan Kováč and Martin D. Brown eds. Cambridge University Press, 7 October 2011
- ^ Gruner 2015, p. 103.
- ^ Decree of 16 March 1939 establishing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (in German)
- ISBN 9781350160095.
- ISBN 978-1-78920-285-4.
- ISSN 2408-9192.
- ^
ISSN 2408-9192.
- ^ Overy 1999, p. 199-200.
- ^ a b Overy 1999, p. 200.
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 269.
- ^ a b Rothwell 2001, p. 99.
- ^ Milan Hauner, Hitler: A Chronology of His Life and Time, page 139.
- ^ Strobl 2000, p. 62-63.
- ^ Strobl 2000, p. 63.
- ^ a b Strobl 2000, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b c Bryant 2009, p. 48.
- ISBN 9780521361071.
- ^ "Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression Volume I Chapter XIII Germanization & Spoliation Czechoslovakia". Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ "Hitler's Plans for Eastern Europe – Selections from Janusz Gumkowski and Kazimierz Leszczynski 'Poland Under Nazi Occupation'". Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-415-36974-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-70689-6.
- ISBN 978-1-137-56144-2.
- ISBN 9780271058627.
- ^ ISBN 9780817944926.
- ^ Šír, Vojtěch (3 April 2011). "První stanné právo v protektorátu" [The First Martial Law in Protectorate]. Fronta.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 24 June 2018.
- ^ K.Z. (24 December 2011). "Resting in glory". The Economist. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-6001-6.
- ^ Fawn, Rick, and Jiří Hochman (2010). Historical dictionary of the Czech State. 2nd ed. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. p. 128.
- ^ "Theresienstadt" (PDF). yadvashem.org. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Bryant 2009, p. 45.
- ISBN 9780691122342.
- ^ ISBN 978-0674034594.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-820873-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bryant 2009, p. 193.
- ^ "Amtliches Deutsches Ortsbuch für das Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren". www.hartau.de. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-0521431552.
Bibliography
- Bryant, Chad. Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
- Gruner, Wolf (2015). "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". In Gruner, Wolf; Osterloh, Jörg (eds.). The Greater German Reich and the Jews: Nazi Persecution Policies in the Annexed Territories 1935–1945. War and Genocide. Translated by Heise, Bernard. New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78238-444-1.
- Overy, Richard (1999). "Germany and the Munich Crisis: A Multilated Victory?". In Igor Lukes & Erik Goldstein (ed.). The Munich Crisis, 1938, Prelude to World War II. London: Frank Cass. pp. 191–215. ISBN 0714680567.
- Miller, Daniel (2005). "The Czech Republic". In Richard C. Frucht (ed.). Eastern Europe An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. Santa Monica: ABC-CLIO. pp. 203–283. ISBN 9781576078006.
- Rothwell, Victor (2001). The Origins of the Second World War. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719059582.
- Strobl, Gerwin (2000). The Germanic Isle: Nazi Perceptions of Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521782651.
Further reading
- Seidl, Jan (2018). "Legal Imbroglio in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia". In Régis Schlagdenhauffen (ed.). Queer in Europe during the Second World War. ISBN 978-92-871-8464-1.
- Adam, Alfons (2019). "Die tschechische Protektoratspolizei: Ihre Rolle bei der Verfolgung von Juden, Roma und Tschechen" [The Czech Protectorate police: Their role in the persecution of Jews, Roma, and Czechs]. In Black, Peter; Rásky, Béla; Windsperger, Marianne (eds.). Collaboration in Eastern Europe during the Second World War and the Holocaust. new academic press / ISBN 978-3-7003-2073-9.
External links
- Maps of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
- Amtliches Deutsches Ortsbuch für das Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren
- Map at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 October 2012)
- Hungarian language map, with land transfers by Germany, Hungary, and Poland in the late 1930s.
- Maps of Europe Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine showing the breakup of Czechoslovakia and the creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia at omniatlas.com
- State Secretary in the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1945
- German State Ministry of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1945
- History Hustle: The Czech Lands during World War II (1938 – 1945) on YouTube