On the occasion of the demarche on the questions of imprisonment and ill-treatment the Foreign Minister's deputy(1) requested in the conversation which followed that I too should exert my influence with the Foreign Ministry for the cessation of the German press and radio propaganda campaign against Czechoslovakia. Propaganda would render more difficult the execution of the Munich agreements, which in any case represented a very difficult problem for the Czechoslovak Government. The Deputy Foreign Minister emphasized at the same time that the Czechoslovak Government desired nothing more than the beginning of a new era in German-Czechoslovak relations. Now that all points of friction, including, for all practical purposes, the Russian pact, had been removed by the Munich agreements, the Government here hoped that the former enmity would give place to the coexistence of the great [German] and the small Czech people, inspired by mutual respect.(2) I replied that we too desired a smooth neighborly existence and urgently recommended the Deputy Foreign Minister to give proof of his desire for such an era by the immediate announcement of the release of Reich nationals from imprisonment.
HENCKE
(1). J. Krno, Director of the Political Department in the Foreign Ministry in Prague, with the rank and title of Minister. Back
(2) ". . . dass bisherige Feindschaft achtungsvollem Nebeneinanderleben Voll Gross and Klein tschechischen Volkes Platz machen werde." Back
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Source: Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945 Series D Volume IV United States Government Printing Office : Washington, 1955 |