Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Never-Used Fortifications
As soon as Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933,
Czechoslovakia grew nervous about invasion. The area around
Slavonice was part of the so-called Sudetenland: It belonged
to Czechoslovakia, but was predominantly inhabited by ethnic
Germans (see sidebar on page 186). Czechoslovakia began
constructing a ring of fortifications along its borders. Iron-
enforced concrete bunkers were connected by underground
tunnels.
By September 1938, when Hitler met with the French and
the British in Munich to claim the Sudetenland, these fortifica-
tions were filled with 1.5 million mobilized Czechs and Slovaks.
Morale was high, and nobody doubted that the French and
British would honor treaties with Czechoslovakia and help the
young democracy. But instead, British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain proclaimed to the British public, “Why should
we care about the fate of a quarreling people about whom we
know nothing?”—and signed off on the Munich Agreement,
ceding the German areas of Czechoslovakia to Hitler with-
out even inviting Czech representatives to the negotiations.
(Chamberlain won a Nobel Prize for this appeasement pol-
icy.) Alone, the Czechoslovak army—outnumbered by the
Germans three to one—stood no chance. The frustrated sol-
diers were ordered home, and Czechs were forced out of the
Sudetenland. Half a year later, Hitler occupied the rest of the
territory.
Today, the never-used bunkers along the hiking trails
around Landštejn stand witness to the futility of appease-
ment policies and to the Czechs' bitter sense of betrayal. At
the close of the war, this feeling led to the Czechs' siding
with the Soviet Union, rather than with the unreliable French
and British Allies. Ironically, the Munich Agreement probably
saved Czechoslovakia from the fate of Poland, which was
reduced to rubble during the war. Nevertheless, it took until
1989 for the Czechs to get over the frustration of the Munich
Agreement in 1938, the communist take-over in 1948, and
the failed “Prague Spring” uprising in 1968—moments when
instead of being able to win their freedom, the Czechs had to
give up without firing a single shot.
gun emplacements built by the Czechs in the 1930s, in anticipation
of the Nazi takeover (see “The Never-Used Fortifications,” above).
The camouflaged mini-forts, barbed wire, and toy-like tank bar-
riers evoke the futility of standing up to the Nazi war machine
and cause you to ponder the fine line between heroism and folly.
A local duo is working to turn this area into the Museum of
Fortifications. To get there, hike from Slavonice (1.25 miles) along
the red-marked trail in the direction of Landštejn (see “Suggested
