English Translation

R.0n 274 homdu Dr.von Burgsdorff Under-Secretary of State Prague, 19 November 1940. Mats atn tai Yesterday the minister called me Havelka and told me the following: As governor of the postal savings bank, in agreement with us the section chief Piepek was scheduled, when then the general manager of the post had died, the protector government wanted to appoint the section head Piepeks as governor general. In a telephone conversation between Kinisterialrat Hroch and Minister Havelke, Ministerialrat Hroch asked to wait with the appointment. Havelka concluded that we have other plans with the 'occupation of the post of general manager of the Post Office'. He correctly suspects that this post should be filled by a German pach official. I have by no means denied that considerations are being pursued in this direction, and I have explained to him these considerations by the fact that a faster alignment of the postal and telecommunications system, which would be backward here, would be necessary to the conditions in the Old Kingdom. Minister Havelka has expressed his most serious technical and then political concerns about it. The technical concerns are that, once on his side and on the part of the post office, everything had been done to fulfil our wishes and that the occupation of the Director-General's post with a German would make a very bad impression on the Czech Beam- tenschaft, especially as this would be among some gentlemen who could well hold the position of Director- General. The appointment of German senior officials at the same time Ci. S.82a