page_title: Karlsbader Programm
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Karlsbader Programm / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Zentralbild / 16.9.1938 / Premierminister Chamberlain bei Hitler 1938 Am 13.9.1938 schlug Chamberlain Hitler eine Aussprache über die Abtrennung des Sudetengebietes vor. Das Ergebnis der Münchener Konferenz zeigte auch Chamberlains Verrat am Weltfrieden und der Unabhängigkeit der Völker. UBz: Chamberlain stattet Hitler auf dem Obersalzberg am 15.9.1938 einen Besuch ab. 1. von rechts: der Reichsminister des Auswärtigen von Ribbentrop. 12279-38 [Scherl Bilderdienst]
context_page_description: The Karlsbader Programm was an eight-point series of demands presented by Konrad Henlein, the leader of the Sudeten German Party, to the government of the First Czechoslovak Republic on 24 April 1938 in Karlsbad. The Karlsbader Programm demanded complete equality between the Sudeten Germans and the Czech people, self-government and the legal recognition of the Sudeten Germans. Following pressure from Nazi Germany, Britain and France during the Sudeten crisis of 1938, the President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Beneš, gave in to the demands of the Sudeten Germans.
context_section_description: The Czechoslovak government responded by rejecting the demands but stated that it was willing to provide more minority rights to the German minority but was initially reluctant to grant them autonomy.
  As the previous appeasement of Hitler had shown, the governments of both France and Britain were intent on avoiding war. The French government did not wish to face Germany alone and took its lead from Britain's Conservative government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain considered the Sudeten German grievances justified and believed Hitler's intentions were limited. Both Britain and France, therefore, advised Czechoslovakia to accede to Germany's demands. Beneš resisted and on 19 May initiated a partial mobilization in response to possible German invasion. On 20 May, Hitler presented his generals with a draft plan of attack on Czechoslovakia codenamed Operation Green. Ten days later, Hitler signed a secret directive for war against Czechoslovakia, to begin not later than the 1 October. In the meantime, the British government demanded that Beneš request a mediator. Not wishing to sever his government's ties with Western Europe, Beneš reluctantly accepted. The British appointed Lord Runciman and instructed him to persuade Beneš to agree to a plan acceptable to the Sudeten Germans.
  During August, the German press was full of stories alleging Czechoslovak atrocities against the Sudeten Germans, with the intention of forcing the Western Powers into putting pressure on the Czechoslovaks to make concessions. Hitler hoped the Czechoslovaks would refuse and that the Western Powers would then feel morally justified in leaving the Czechoslovaks to their fate. In August, Germany sent 750,000 soldiers along the border of Czechoslovakia officially as part of army maneuvers. On 4 or 5 September Beneš submitted the Fourth Plan, granting nearly all the demands of the Munich Agreement. The Sudeten Germans were not intent on conciliation and were under instructions from Hitler to avoid a compromise, and after the SdP held demonstrations that provoked police action in Ostrava on 7 September in which two of their parliamentary deputies were arrested, the Sudeten Germans used this incident and false allegations of other atrocities as an excuse to break off further negotiations.
  On 12 September Hitler made a speech at a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg on the Sudeten crisis in which he condemned the actions of the government of Czechoslovakia. Hitler denounced Czechoslovakia as being a fraudulent state that was in violation of international law's emphasis of national self-determination and accused President Beneš of seeking to gradually exterminate the Sudeten Germans. Hitler stated that he would support the right of the self-determination of fellow Germans in the Sudetenland.
  On 13 September, after internal violence and disruption in Czechoslovakia ensued, Chamberlain asked Hitler for a personal meeting to find a solution to avert a war. The two met at Hitler's residence in Berchtesgaden on 15 September and agreed to the cession of the Sudetenland; three days later, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was invited to these discussions. On the same day, Hitler met with Chamberlain and demanded the swift takeover of the Sudetenland by the Third Reich under threat of war. The Czechs, Hitler claimed, were slaughtering the Sudeten Germans. Chamberlain referred the demand to the British and French governments; both accepted. The Czechoslovak government resisted, arguing that Hitler's proposal would ruin the nation's economy and ultimately lead to German control of all of Czechoslovakia. The United Kingdom and France issued an ultimatum and on 21 September, Czechoslovakia capitulated.
  With no end in sight to the dispute, Chamberlain appealed to Hitler for a conference. On 28 September, Hitler met with the chiefs of governments of France, Italy and Britain in Munich. The Czechoslovak government was neither invited nor consulted. On 29 September, the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Italy,
caption: Adolf Hitler greets British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on the steps of the Berghof, 15 September 1938
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