English Translation

Copy MOoT Kult.Gen.2278/41 Record In the morning, the Italian Consul General in Prague, C a r u s o, accompanied by a secretary of the Italian Embassy, visited me in Berlin to inquire about the state of the negotiations conducted in Rome, concerning the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague. I informed the Italian visitors that a fundamental agreement had been reached between the ambassador of Bismarck (German Embassy, Rome) and the ambassador de Cicco (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). After that, we agreed that the Italian cultural institute could continue to work in rag,where, against the Italian side, the obligation was assumed to limit the further cultural and linguistic activities of the institute to the Reich Germans in Prague. I added that de Cicco, the Italian consul-general, had proposed a written fixation of the Italian admission with this regulation.The Italian Consul General Caruso also asked whether the Czechs, since they belonged to the Great German Empire in the wider sense, should not be treated and admitted by the Italian Cultural Institute as Reich German. I denied this question and told the gentlemen what the term "Reichsdeutsche" meant for us. On that, Signor Caruso said that then the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague would no longer have anything to do with it. I thought that we were of the opinion that the regulation now agreed with the envoy de Cicco was already a far-reaching approach from our side. We would have preferred, as he knows, to have the cultural institute moved from Prague to Berlin. Signor Caruso then wanted to know further whether the new regulation would mean that the Czechs, who are still registered for the next winter semester, would now have to be reduced for the courses of the Italian Cultural Institute. I am in favour of this question by saying that the regulation is already clear and definitely agreed, even if its written fixation is still pending; it therefore shows that soon the necessary steps will be taken to remove the Czechs from the language courses and events of the Italian Cultural Institute inPrague. Consul General Caruso promised to do the necessary things in this sense after his return to Prague. Finally, Mr Carusro raised the question he had already raised several times in Prague whether it was not possible to continue the subsidies of the protectorate government for the Italian cultural institution in Prague. I disagreed with this question on the basis of our previous position that, in our view, any cultural propaganda of an external state should be financed from its resources and not from the host country's treasury. When Signor Caruso raised the question of legal obligations again, I turned the conversation to general considerations, which meant that since we took over the external relations of the Protectorate, we felt entitled to determine also the measure of the cultural contact of the Czechs with foreign countries. Herewith Mr. Head of Department Cult submitted for approval. Berlin, 23 October 1941 gez.Granov.