English Translation

14 Chapter I 1. The historical circumstances of the creation of the Protectorate The morning of March 15, 1939 ruled the entire territory of Bohemia and Moravia extremely unpleasant weather. The thermometer showed 0°C. At 5:30 pm announced the radio regulation of the Main Staff of the MNO, which informed all the crew headquarters that at 6.00 pm the German army would begin the occupation of the Republic and that any attempt to resist would be in vain. On the same night, he arrived at Prague Castle A. Hitler with Reich Interior Minister W. Frick, Foreign Minister J. Ribbentrop, head of the Imperial Office H.H. Lammers, State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior W. Stuckart and Friedrich Gaus, Head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others. (1) Hitler's arrival did not take place triumphantly, but with maximum possible secrecy. When Hitler settled in, he held a small celebration. On this occasion, he broke his vegetarian and abstinent principles and had a Prague ham and a pilsner beer for evening refreshment. (2) Only the upcoming night showed the real reason for Hitler 's sudden and unexpected arrival in Prague. As a result of his consultation with Ribbentrop and Stuckart (3), which took place until late nights, the Reichskanzlers vom 16. März 1939 über das Protectorat Böhmen und Mähren, which was published on the same day in the radio appearance of Ribbentropa, became the result of its consultation with the Czech Republic and Stuchart (3) on 16 March 1939. (4) In Article 1 (1) the Protectorate, which included 48 989 km2, was defined as a German army in March 1939 occupied by the territory of the former Czech-Slovak Republic, belonging from now on to the area of the Great German Empire."