English Translation

-11- 12 which had taken over the task of mediators, i.e. Great Britain and France, strongly advised in the hope that by accepting the conditions which President Chamberlain agreed with Chancellor Hitler in Berchtesgaden, we would not only secure peace for Czechoslovakia, but also for the whole world. The two governments added that if we do not accept these requests, France would not be able to comply with its promise of aid to the Alliance, in case we were attacked, and England would also be unable to show any interest in the further fate of Czechoslovakia. In order not to be accused that we had thwarted the possibility of creating general peace for Europe and thus for the whole world, we accepted the harsh conditions and followed the advice of the two great powers. With our positive response, Prime Minister Chamberlain then travelled to the German Reich Chancellor. Arbitrarily new demands But hardly had the Prime Minister of Great Britain presented our positive response in Godesberg when he received quite different proposals, which went much further than had been agreed in Berchtès-gaden before. Here again, the well-known tactic of the other side showed that every time a concession is granted, under an arbitrary pretext, immediately increased demands follow. From Godesberg, the Prime Minister of Great Britain brought with him the new requests and conditions of Germany, which were communicated to the Czechoslovak government yesterday morning. The new conditions The Prime Minister of Great Britain, when he accepted these new conditions in Godesberg, was already aware that neither the Government of the United Kingdom, nor the French Government, will be able to recommend the acceptance of these new terms to Czechoslovakia and that it is not possible to continue to advise Czechoslovakia to remain passive and not to prepare for custody. That is why, on Friday, 23 September, at 8.15 p.m., the French and English ambassadors, on the official mandate of their governments of our government, declared that neither England nor France can take responsibility for advising us on the passivity and that they can no longer recommend us not to make the necessary military preparations. Zax At the same time they hinted at us that they would convey the Godesberg Memorandum to us, but without any further advice regarding our further action. This meant that the great powers themselves did not regard the new conditions as a reliable document for the granting of an agreement. The Czechoslovak government met immediately after this briefing of the two envoys at 8 p.m. on Friday, and succeeded in achieving the result that the international situation made it essential to take defensive measures for all eventualities - all the more so because, at the same time, there was an increase in the activity of armed gangs armed with foreign weapons and carrying out attacks on our isolated customs offices and security guards from abroad. Our government had previously ordered all border authorities and guards to strictly observe every action and especially not to use the firearms, not even in the palle of the eminence.