English Translation

Declaration of members of the old families due to the inviolability of the territory of the Czech State This declaration was submitted to the President of the Republic of Edvard Beneš on 17 September 1938 in a special audience at Prague Castle. The author of the Declaration was Karel Schwarzenberg, read by František Kinský in the name of the signatories, representatives of 10 old families. In these days, all the states and classes of our nation are united in their will to prevent the breach of the old borders of our state. Therefore, a number of members of the ancient families of our homeland have commissioned us to come to you with a similar speech. Loyalty to the Czech state, which our ancestors helped to build and to maintain for a thousand years, is so common to us that we have decided to explicitly emphasize it. We consider it our duty to preserve the heritage of our fathers, the Land of the Crown of Bohemian were together for so many ages and there were so many storms that we hope to cross these times of unrest and violence. Our desire for the old borders of the Czech Crown to remain intact is certainly also based on concern for the future of our descendants and the sense of responsibility for the freedom and well-being of the Germans. Our ancestors have always sought a friendly relationship between the two nations in the country established and so we also desire that our fellow Germans can share with us the love of a divided homeland. We trust that this can happen. In particular, we hope that Christian principles will keep order and education in this country. By expressing faith in a better future, we assure that we are aware of our inherited responsibilities to our homeland and to the state that has been home to our ancestors and whose old rights we have always wanted and want to defend today. Karel Schwarzenberg, Jan z Lobkowicz, Z.R. Kinský. František Kinský . Zdeněk z Kolowrat. Rudolf Czernín, Leopold Sternberg, W. Colloredo-Mansfeld, Karel Parish, Jindřich Dobrženský, Hugo Strachwitz, Karl Belcredi. September 17, 1938