Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
edvard Beneš and the german Question
Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, when the vast, multieth-
nic Habsburg Empire broke into smaller nations after losing
World War I. The principle that gave countries such as Poland,
Czechoslovakia, and Romania independence was called “self-
determination”: Each nation had the right to its own state within
the area where its people were in the majority. But the peoples of
Eastern Europe had mixed over the centuries, making it impos-
sible to create functioning states based purely on ethnicity. In
the case of Czechoslovakia, the borders were drawn along his-
torical rather than ethnic boundaries. While the country was
predominantly Slavic, there were also areas with overwhelmingly
German and Hungarian majorities. One of these areas—a fringe
around the western part of the country, mostly populated by
Germans—was known as the Sudetenland.
At first, the coexistence of Slavs and Germans in the new
republic worked fine. German parties were important power
brokers and participated in almost every coalition government.
Hitler's rise to power, however, led to the growth of German
nationalism, even outside Germany. Soon 70 percent of Germans
in Czechoslovakia voted for the Nazis. In September 1938, the
Munich Agreement ceded the Sudetenland to Germany—and the
Czech minority had to leave (for more on the Munich Agreement,
see “The Never-Used Fortifications,” page 219).
Edvard Beneš was the first Czechoslovak secretary of state
(1918-1934) and later became the country's second president
(1934-1948). Beneš led the Czechoslovak exile government in
London during World War II. Like most Czechs and Slovaks,
Beneš believed that after the hard feelings produced by the
Munich Agreement, peaceful coexistence of Slavs and Germans
in a single state was impossible. His postwar solution: move the
Sudeten Germans to Germany, much as the Czechs had been
forced out of the Sudetenland before. Through skillful diplomacy,
before devastating the people of Český Krumlov, and in 1715—as
thanks to God—they built the plague monument that stands
on the square today. Much later, in 1938, Hitler stood right here
before a backdrop of long Nazi banners to celebrate the annexation
of the Sudetenland. And in 1968, Russian tanks spun their angry
treads on these same cobblestones to intimidate locals who were
demanding freedom. Today, thankfully, this square is part of an
unprecedented time of peace and prosperity for the Czech people.
• The following three museums are grouped around the main square.
Puppet Museum:
You'll see fascinating displays in three
small rooms of more than 300 movable creations (overwhelmingly
of Czech origin, but also some from Burma and Rajasthan). At
the model stage, children of any age can try their hand at pulling
