English Translation

4.M.1PM 290 - 3 - Talks with the homeland: Dr. Drtina speaks : (from the press office of the President.) - In the last 4 weeks we have talked to you about the efforts made by Dr. Benesch to cooperate with the Germans. In the period from l934 - l937 Hitler tried three times Dr. He was not able to persuade Benesch to take a more bilater position, but he did not succeed. Dr. Benesch had never intended to betray his friends and friends of Czechoslovakia. Dr Benesch himself once said: I never believed Hitler's words and never believed the reliability of his contracts. "The two-sidedness of Czechoslovakia which Hitler wanted was only an effort to destroy the republic. All we have reported to munk biszagen is far from all we could say, but that is to be lifted for another time. It is then to be treated in detail. Dr. Benesch has always kept quiet and open, without any lies, his policy. He could never have done anything that would have been dishonorable or false and humiliated the Czech people. We know how difficult the oppressions that you have to suffer in your homeland are. You have to go through a lot during this very time. Perhaps some of you ask, why do we have to go through so much if politics was such an open and honorable thing? Then why this openness and honorability, if it only leads to our misfortune. Wasn't Dr. Benesch's politics the fault that a Munich has come? Yes, you measure yourself much- easy. But we want to give you the answer. All that happened was with our firm will. We did all this so that we can see that the Czech problem is a world problem. So it was not politics that blamed us. The Czech problem was a particularly difficult one, which should receive due attention in the eyes of the world. That was what sehon Masaryk wanted and Palacky, Hitler, wanted to get rid of this problem, and he will not succeed, because we are opposed to it. The world could not see so quickly the danger that comes from the Germans, because it did not have the ability to have the ascents to them, as we did during the situation of our country, but we have had our particular feeling and our instincts and have recognized this danger much earlier than all the others. Therefore it had to come to Munich because in the world the Czech thing has not yet been understood. But now it has become different. Because one just now begins to understand the matter properly, England åie Republik has also recognized from 1.9.l939. And therefore Mr. Churchill has also explained that Munich no longer exists. It is all the more significant that one is doing this in London, because Munich has been prepared in London. Chrurchill understands the whole thing now and now also knows that Dr. Benesch wanted only the best for the Republic and still wants it today. England is trying to make up for the mistakes that it made before it came to light. All Chamberlain did in Munich was a mistake, and all that Germany has done here was fraud. Our fate would not be better today and we would have lost our honor if we had been included in Hitler's proposals and had to endure eternal reproach and shame. So we have kept our people clean, neither from dishonesty, by Dr. Benesh and the great Masaryk remained faithful. We have thus continued the history of the Premislids, we have followed our great men, Komensky, Havlicek and saved our honor. Our ancestors do not need to be ashamed of their sons. We remained faithful to our past.