The Washington times., 1938-09-28
CzECHS C | R D
ANCIENT SWORD
ON GEN. SYROvY
It's Nations Answer to
HitIer's Sheer
BY H. r. KNICKERBOCKER
copyright, 1880

i NSOPyilBhts 4Soo'J
PRAGUE, Sept. % U.N.S0. .
Czechoslovakia took up the sword
today to defend her life if neces-
Sary.
The holy sword Of good King
Wenceslas, patron saint and
founder of Bohemia 1000 years
ago, was delivered to Gen. Jan
Syrovy, head of the government,
by Cardinal Archbishop Karel
Kaspar, primate of Czechoslo-
vakia.
1t is as though the sword Of Al
fred the Great were delivered TO-
day to Gen. ViscOunt GOrt, chief
of the imperial general staff of
Britain, or that of Napoleon to
Gen. Marie GuStave Gamelin, of
France, or that of Washington to
President Roosevelt, were the
United States under the desperate
danger that now threatens the
allied countries.
It Is the answer OF Czechoslo-
vakia to Hit'er's sneer that this
| IldUlOIl 10 1kO 11dIlO41 nO b4As
For the sword of st. WenceSlaS
helped create this nation in the
year $40, whec Germans were not
yet dreaming Of a nation called
Germany.
They took the sword from the
grave of WenceSlas in st. Vite'S
Cathedral and gave 1t for the first
time in a thousand years into the
hands of a living soldier. Thus
they made the warrior prime minis
ter, One-eyed General SyrOvy, in
heritOr and defender of all Czech
history.
The sword was drawn to protect
not merely the frontiers Of the
state, but the lives of all the in
habitantS, because the German
radio today carried the grim boast
of Sudeten Nazi chieftains now In
the Reich tina; when they return
to Czechoslovakia they will take
"one thousand times the revenge" !"
2 MILLION IMPERILED
Czech authorities said today
1
that if the territory demanded by
Hitler were given to him in the
manner he insists upon, at least
100000 inhabitants would be
compelled to flee to the interior
of the country, since $4,000
Czechs are included in the parts
he claims, while around 1000 900
Germans would for various rea-
sons prefer not to enjoy the privi-
leges of life in the Third Reich.
This number was indicated to-
day in a manifesto issued by 10
German organizations. Democrats,
Socialists, Catholics, Communists,
and many HenleiniSts in the Su-
detenland are protesting against
being handed over to Hitler and
appealing to the democracies,
France and England, to protect
them from Nazi concentration
camps.
REAL REASON FOR HASTE
The manifesto startlingly illu-
inmates the real reason for Hit
ler's otherwise inexplicable haste.
Under the Franco-BritiSh peace
plan, time would be allowed for
all non-Nazi Germans to. move
into the interior of CzechosloVakia.
But any such mass movement
would seriously undermine the
Fuehrer'S prestige.
Never before have Germans any
where had truly free choice. In
the Saar, they were already under
Nazi coercion and Austria was
captured too quickly for many to
get away. Therefore Hitler is in
sisting upon immediate occupa-
ton of all the territory he claims
by German troops and police.
They, while shutting out the
Czech armed forces, would shut in
all Germans, and submit them to
the same kind Of education which
gives the regime SO per cent ma
iorities in Reich plebiScites.
ON LARGER ISSUES
A general war is now, virtually
without a dissenting opinion, felt
inevitable. Soberly this country
appreciates Prime Minister Cham
berlain's radio remarks that war
will not be about Czechoslovakia,
but about larger issues"
Those issues here are defined
as human liberty, dignity and
civilization"-not for this country
alone, but for all Europe.
FiIm|and Agrees