THIS WEEK IN WORLD WAR II
PEACE IN OUR TIME

From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.

European powers ceded the Sudetenland portion of Czechoslovakia to Germany in the Munich Pact of 1938.
Although the agreement was to give into Hitler’s hands only the Sudetenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia’s coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. It also left the Czech nation open to complete domination by Germany.

Hitler as ventriloquist with Marshal Petain as his puppet. Bernard Partridge cartoon Punch Magazine 1941
It was Neville Chamberlain who would be best remembered as the champion of the Munich Pact, having met privately with Hitler at Berchtesgaden, the dictator’s mountaintop retreat, before the Munich conference.
Chamberlain, convinced that Hitler’s territorial demands were not unreasonable (and that Hitler was a “gentleman”), persuaded the French to join him in pressuring Czechoslovakia to submit to the Fuhrer’s demands. Upon Hitler’s invasion of Poland a year later, Chamberlain was put in the embarrassing situation of announcing that a “state of war” existed between Germany and Britain. By the time Hitler occupied Norway and Denmark, Chamberlain was finished as a credible leader.
“Depart, I say, and let us have done with you!” one member of Parliament said to him, quoting Oliver Cromwell. Winston Churchill would succeed him as prime minister soon afterwards.
It is a shame that this man truly wanted peace but fell for the “charms” of Hitler. It is weird for me to say Hitler was charming especially when you see him in old news reels of the earl;y 30’s. Even then he seemed nuts to me. From what i have read and heard, though, Hitler could be charming and that is a huge warning sign. One has to “turn on” the charm and there is always a reason behind the charm. When I look at that first picture. Chamberlain looks proud of his “accomplishment” but the french guy looks fearful and dubious. Did i ever tell you that my mom met Hitler?
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Wow that must have been an experience for your mom.
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Reblogged this on Suppressing Fire.
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Thanks for the reblog
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