English Translation

74 - who wanted to destroy the land reform, one of the greatest works of the first republic, and enforce the expropriation of Czech land in favour of the Germans, with special thoroughness the former soldiers, who had to take action against the Henlein rebels in the moving days of the Sosmers and autumn 1938 in the Sudente area and in their service, although they did only their natural duty, are sentenced to long prison sentences and very often executed. From the very beginning, the German regime introduced the system of mass punishments for the actions of individuals. This was a fitting way to arrest and torture people against whom no other Vorvand could be found.The excesses committed by German soldiers or police officers were very often an opportunity for reprisals.In the first weeks after the German occupation, mass arrests took place in Washim, Rakonitz and other smaller Czech cities. In the large industrial city of P,lsen, the uniform of a German soldier was stained with acid. As punishment, fifty Jewish Birger and fifty "Harxists", i.e. known followers of the Social Democratic Party were arrested, sent to concentration camps and the city was fined a very high amount. Three Jews and Dr. Ealer, a Kathölan lawyer, were tortured to death in prison. In the mountain town of Kladno near Prague, a German policeman was killed in June 1939 by a drunken German soldier in S, riding for the favor of a prostitute. Since it was not possible to assume that a representative of the higher race could die under such dishonorable circumstances, a whole drama was raised.