The Sudeten German Party : an instrument of Germany's policy on Czechoslovakia, 1937-1938

In 1938 with the signing of the Munich Pact, Germany set in motion the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, a goal which Adolf Hitler sought for both personal and strategic rea- songs. The Sudeten German minority, the ally of the Reich in fomenting the Czech crisis which led to the Munich Pact of 1938, wanted the end of Czechoslovakia because of long-standing political and economic differences with the Czech Government. The chief political agent of the Sudetens was the Sudeten German Party. Under the leadership of Konrad Henlein and with Reich guidance and financial aid, it had grown to be the most powerful political party in Czechoslovakia. From 1933 through 1938 the Reich maintained contact with the Party through a succession of agencies. In November, 1937, the increasingly grave threat of German intervention in Czechoslovakia caused Henlein to take the first step in putting the Sudeten German Party under the complete control of the Reich. The Anschluss of Austria in March, 1938, caused Henlein to take the final step in making the Sudeten German Party the instrument of Nazi Germany's operations against Czechoslovakia. [...]