Sudetenland Medal The Sudetenland Commemorative Medal ( " Die Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1 . Oktober 1938 " ) was a decoration of Nazi Germany awarded in the interwar period . Description . Instituted on October 18 , 1938 , the medal commemorated the union of the Sudetenland to Germany . Once again Hitler employed skillful diplomacy , using brinkmanship as a tool to bring the Sudetenland under German control and paving the road for the annexation of Czechoslovakia . The medal was awarded to all German ( and as well Sudeten ) State officials and members of the German Wehrmacht and SS who marched into Sudetenland . Later it was awarded to military personnel participating in the occupation of the remnants of Czechoslovakia on March 15 , 1939 . It was awarded until December 1 , 1939 . In all 1 , 162 , 617 medals and 134 , 563 bars were awarded . Background . The so - called Sudetenland was a region comprising border areas of Bohemia with mostly German speaking inhabitants , named after the Sudeten Mountains . Following World War I the treaty of St . Germain incorporated the area together with the rest of Bohemia into the Czechoslovak Republic . This had caused deep resentment among many Sudeten Germans who wanted to be , together with the new republic of German Austria , united with Germany . Throughout the 1930s , economic troubles and unemployment drove many to the pro - German stance of Konrad Henlein and his cohorts , who founded the Sudeten German Party . In the summer of 1938 , Hitler voiced support for the demands of the German population of the Sudetenland to be incorporated into the Reich . This grew to outright demand from Hitler to annex the area , and threatened war against the advice of his Generals who were sure Germany was not ready to stand up in a new widespread European conflict . Czechoslovakia mobilized , realizing that most of their fortifications and their natural barriers were on their borders and losing these would leave them defenceless . It was under these circumstances that the Munich Conference was held . Present in Munich on September 29 were Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom , Prime Minister Édouard Daladier of France , Benito Mussolini of Italy , as well as Hitler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop . Representatives of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were not invited . Fearing another war and in the most infamous case of appeasement , the Sudetenland was turned over to Germany . On October 1 , 1938 , German forces entered the Sudetenland and annexed the area to the Third Reich . In order to commemorate this event , Hitler ordered the creation of the Sudetenland medal , which was instituted on October 18 , 1938 . Design . The medal was similar in appearance as the Anschluss Medal , the reverse only differed in the date . It was designed by Professor Richard Klein . It is round and of the obverse there is a man standing of a podium with the Third Reich coat of arms and holding the Nazi flag , he holding the hand and helping him get on the podium of another man who had a broken shackle on his right hand , this symbolize the joining to the Reich of Austria . On the reverse side is the inscription " 1 . Oktober 1938 " ( October 1 , 1938 ) . The date is surrounded with the words " Ein Volk , Ein Reich , Ein Führer " ( One People , One Empire , One Leader ) . The medal was dye - struck and high in detail , with a bronze finish . The medal was suspended from a black ribbon with a red stripe in the middle , these being the colors of the Sudetenland . Prague Castle Bar . For those who had participated in both the occupation of the Sudetenland and the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia on March 15 , 1939 , a bronze Bar ( " Spange Prager Burg " in German ) was approved on May 1 , 1939 . This Bar featured the Prague Castle on the obverse with two triangular prongs in the back , which held it on the ribbon . The bar , like the medal , die - struck and high in detail , with a bronze finish .