English Translation

hh 32 - III. Autconome's political life. 1. State and administrative life. During the reporting period, the state department of the Protectorate was in the midst of a government crisis that brought down the "bad spirit" of the government, Minister of Transport Dr.Havelka, His successors, the former Director General of the Railways Dr.Kamenicky as Transport Minister and the former section head in the Chancellery of the President Dr. Ritter von Popelka as their new Board of Directors, have not yet emerged politically. On the occasion of the events in Yugoslavia, the Czech editor Krychtálek had been asked by the head of the press of the Reich's protector to obtain Czech Minister's interviews for development in Yugoslavia. Krychtálek informed the Prime Minister Eliáš of this and at the same time addressed the ministers Havelka, Ježek and Krejči. It was then decided at a government meeting not to make any comments, since the position of government members as co-workers of President Hácha was clear. Havelka had already explained to Krychtálek that the desire put forward was naive, even if it was pronounced by the German side; it would be contrary to the previous practices. When, on the other hand, the Prime Minister Eliáš was informed of the astonishment about such behaviour, there were heated disputes within the government. Prime Minister Eliáš said that he had been influenced by Havelka, who had informed him that the President's wish was that none of the members should give the interview requested by Krychtálek. However, the President of the Republic had not been properly informed by Havelka, for he had not, above all, been aware of the fact that the German declarations had been wished for, and this and other incidents proved that Havelca was becoming more and more questionable in the choice of the means of achieving political objectives. Finally, he tried to bring his merits to the fore in German and Czech places and to win the press for his Zvke, so he bribed the editor of a Moravian newspaper to write against the activist writers.