English Translation

Sehrveatrauliel149 III. Influence of the alignment measures of Group 30x Post by the Transport Measures Group. 1.) At the time of the establishment of the Protectorate, the reorganization of the postal and telegraph system of the protectorate, which was intended by the Regulation of 20 January 1969, was pending, was to be carried out in a more or less private enterprise, by means of which a complete merger of the post with the railway was to take place. The implementation of this intention has been prevented by the intervention of the Reichsprotektor, Gruppe Poste, ver =:with government decree of 13.7.39 all affairs of the postal and telecommunications system have been transferred to the Pro= tektoratspost, at the head of which is a Director General directly under the responsibility of the Minister of Transport. In the implementation of this measure, the Reichspro=tektor was largely supported by the Reich Post Minister and by the High Command of the Army. However, the opinion of the Transport Group (Reichsbahn) was at least reluctant. Apart from the fact that she repeatedly hesitated to sign the draft regulation on the grounds that she had not yet received instructions from the Reich Transport Minister, her representatives occasionally explained on several occasions to the discussions with them that in Reichs= railway circles the unification of mail and rail in the Protectorate was regarded as an interesting attempt. As late as June 1939, the Head of the Transport Group collected documents to indicate that an association of mail and rail would be appropriate and desirable, at least in the Ministry of Transport, under a joint Directorate-General and a summary of the assets of the two administrations. These documents seem to have been used in the "Opinion of the Reich Transport Minister on the Separation of Rail and Post in the Protectorate", which was directed to the Reich Minister of the Interior and in which a little= part of the association was recommended. The attitude of the Transport Group was certainly not without influence on the attitude of Transport Minister Dr. Havelke, who tried to establish the union of mail and rail with extreme tenacity. While the. Group Post has so far avoided the involvement of the railway in fundamental organisational questions, the behaviour of the group Ver= transports