Adolf Hitler Visits
Czechoslovakia
Hitler visited Czechoslovakia twice in
1938-1939. The first occasion was a series of one-day
visits in early October 1938, after Germany had annexed the
Sudetenland. This region of Bohemia, running along the German border and stretching for
several miles into Czechoslovakia, had long been settled by ethnic Germans and had been
part of Austria until 1919. These Sudeten Germans lived as their German neighbors across
the border, speaking German and living in places with German names. After the economic
recovery of Germany in the 1930s, the Sudeten Germans clamored to become part of the
Reich. Accordingly, Hitler made a treaty with England, France, and Italy on 30 September
1938 (the infamous Munich Agreement, after which British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain made his famous "peace in our time" statement), which gave the
Sudetenland to Germany. The next day German troops entered the region, followed by
Hitler's entourage, all being greeted by ecstatic crowds of Sudeten Germans.

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Hitler
crossed into the Sudetenland on 3 October 1938 at the old border
crossing of Wildenau. The original German border control building is
still there, along with stones marking the 1938 border, just on the
German side of the present-day border crossing between Selb (Germany)
and Asch (Aš in the Czech Republic). (from Heinrich
Hoffmann, "Hitler befreit Sudetenland" ("Hitler Liberates the
Sudetenland"), Berlin, 1938) (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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Hitler's
column traveled through Asch (Aš) to Franzensbad (Františkovy Lázně) and
on to Eger (Cheb). In the spa town of Franzensbad Hitler and Himmler
(above) were treated to glasses of the curative spring waters of the
Francis Spring. The pavilion built over the spring in 1832 remains
almost exactly as when Hitler visited in 1938. Below, the center of
Franzensbad as it appeared as Adolf Hitler Platz in a period postcard,
and the same view today. (from Heinrich
Hoffmann, "Hitler befreit Sudetenland" ("Hitler Liberates the
Sudetenland"), Berlin, 1938) (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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Hitler visits the
Marktplatz in downtown Eger (now called Cheb), the capital of the Egerland
district of the Sudetenland. To his left is Konrad Henlein, head of the Nazi Party in Czechoslovakia, and
Reichskommissar for the Sudetenland. Henlein became Nazi governor of Czechoslovakia
following the German takeover of the country in March 1939. (from Heinrich
Hoffmann, "Hitler befreit Sudetenland" ("Hitler Liberates the
Sudetenland"), Berlin, 1938 (author's collection) (MapQuest
Map Link) |

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Crowds of Sudeten
Germans gather in the Eger (Cheb) Marktplatz to greet their liberator. The
original spires of the Church of St. Nicholas (in the upper left) were severely damaged by Allied
bombing in April 1945, and not rebuilt to their original height until
2008. (above - "Illustrierter Beobachter," 13 October
1938; below - Life Collections) |
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Above,
Hitler walks along the famous street of "crooked buildings" near
the Eger Marktplatz, on the way to the speaker's platform. Below, Hitler
greets the crowd in Eger. (Hans Quassowski, ed., "Zwölf
Jahre: 1.Kompanie Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler," Rosenheim, Deutsche
Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989) |
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View of the Eger Marktplatz during Hitler's
speech. Little has changed today except the church spires. (from Baldur von Schirach, "Das Reich
Adolf Hitlers," Munich, Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1940 (author's collection) |
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In
December 1938 the Reichs Arbeits Dienst (Labor Service) held a rally in
the Eger Marktplatz. |
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British
Army vehicles drive through the Eger Marktplatz in May 1945. The church
tower is missing in the right background, because the Church of St.
Nicholas was severely damaged in an April 1945 bombing attack - the
church roof seen in the modern photo is also missing in the period
image. |

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On 4
October 1938 Hitler again entered the Sudetenland, to visit the famous
spa town of Karlsbad (now called Karlovy Vary). In this view, Hitler leads a column
between an honor guard and Pzkw. I and Pzkw. II tanks, along what is now Nová Louka
street. The distinctive building on the left is the Atlantic House, with
the Military Spa just behind it to the left. Across the street to the
right is the famous Sprudel hot spring, around which Karlsbad was
founded (the 1879 building seen in the period photo was replaced in the
1970s by a rather tasteless Communist-era concrete building). (from Heinrich
Hoffmann, "Hitler befreit Sudetenland" ("Hitler Liberates the
Sudetenland"), Berlin, 1938)
(MapQuest
Map Link) |

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Hitler visited
Czechoslovakia again in mid-March 1939, after the German takeover of the country.
Here an honor guard forms up inside the first courtyard of the Prague Castle (Hradschin).
(Heinrich Hoffmann, "Hitler in Böhmen, Mähren, Memel," Berlin, 1939
(author's collection) MapQuest
map link to Prague
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Hitler arrives and
reviews the honor guard inside the first courtyard of the Prague Castle (Hradschin).
Later, the crowd cheers Hitler as he appears at one of the castle windows. (left
- U.S. National Archives, RG 242-HB; right - Heinrich Hoffmann, "Hitler in Böhmen, Mähren,
Memel," Berlin, 1939) |

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German troops march
through the famous ornate gate into the first courtyard of the Prague Castle. (Heinrich
Hoffmann, "Hitler in Böhmen, Mähren, Memel," Berlin, 1939) |

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German motorcycle troops
outside the first courtyard of the Prague Castle. (U.S. National
Archives, RG 242-HB) |

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In contrast to the
German occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, the takeover of Czechoslovakia was not
entirely popular with the natives, especially in Prague. Here German Pzkw. II tanks parade
in Wenceslas Square. (U.S. National Archives, RG 242-HB) |

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Here German armored cars
patrol the main square in the old part of Prague. In the background is the Tyn Church,
burial place of the astronomer Tycho Brahe. ("Unser Führer," special
edition of the "Illustrierter Beobachter" for Hitler's 50th birthday, 20 April
1939, Munich, Franz Eher Verlag (author's collection) |
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Hitler
visited Brünn (modern Brno), the capital of Moravia, on 17 March 1939. German troops with Pzkw.
I tanks had entered the city two days earlier (photo below). These
photos were taken in the center of the city, on either side of St.
Jacob's Church. (Fritz Maier-Hartmann, "Dokumente des
Dritten Reiches," Vol. 2, Munich, 1939; modern photos courtesy Mike
Dolezal) |
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Adolf
Hitler Platz (main city square) in Brünn (Brno), from a 1939-dated
postcard. The modern view is from a slightly different perspective. (modern
photo courtesy Mike
Dolezal) |

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The
Faculty of Law building in Brünn (Brno) served during the period
1939-1945 as the seat of SS Einsatzkommando VI; the rooms were turned into
offices and prison cells. Today the premises serve their original purpose,
i.e. it is again the Faculty of Law, part of the Masaryk University of
Brno. (left - City of Brno Archive; info and photos courtesy Mike
Dolezal) |
It should be noted that, following the end
of World War II in 1945 as part of Allied agreements, the Czech government expelled some three million ethnic Germans
from the Sudetenland. These people were forced to leave their homes and their property,
and become refugees with nothing but what they could carry. This was one of the tragedies
of 1945 that receives little notice now.
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