Bohemian areas of German Austria
The Bohemian areas of German Austria were never part of the republic, as the area was incorporated into the Czechoslovak state territory .
On October 28, 1918, Czechoslovakia proclaimed itself an independent state. In the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia and Moravian-Silesia, which are predominantly populated by Germans, the majority of residents refused to be included in the new state. Two provinces ( German Bohemia and Sudetenland ) as well as the districts Böhmerwaldgau and German South Moravia have declared their connection to German Austria . Czechoslovakia insisted on the "historic lands of the Bohemian crown" and in November 1918 Czech troops occupied these areas. The Treaty of Saint-Germain of September 10, 1919 confirmed that the areas inhabited by Germans would remain in Czechoslovakia.
history
End of the monarchy and proclamation of the Republic of German Bohemia
Projected province of German Bohemia as a desired part of German Austria
In 1918 the question of nationality in Bohemia was discussed again. The Austrian Prime Minister Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg wanted to prevent the separation of Bohemia from Austria-Hungary by setting up administrative districts, which should be divided according to the nationality of the residents. His successor, Prime Minister Max Hussarek Heinlein , offered the Czechs on 26 September 1918 considerable autonomy in kk in Austria. This came too late, however, as Czech exiles had already achieved the status of allies in the United States of America and with the Triple Entente during the First World War and the Imperial and Royal Government in Vienna was no longer viewed as a serious power factor by the soon-to-be victorious powers.
On October 14th, Raphael Pacher , together with the Social Democrat Josef Seliger , managed to unite all German parties and MPs from Bohemia and Moravia into a coalition. In preparation for the founding of the Republic of German Bohemia, this coalition, chaired by Pacher, appointed a twelve-member committee. One day after the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic , the province of German Bohemia with its seat in Reichenberg was proclaimed on October 29, 1918 . The first governor was Pacher, who handed over his office to Rudolf Lodgman von Auen on November 5th .
This province of German Bohemia consisted of a contiguous area in northern and western Bohemia, which stretched from the Egerland to the Braunauer Ländchen along the border with the German Empire. The Böhmerwaldgau administrative unit, which was to become part of Upper Austria , was established in southern Bohemia . German Bohemia in the Eagle Mountains and in the Landskron area united to form the Sudetenland province . The Bohemian district of Neubistritz was added to Znojmo and should therefore be administered by Lower Austria. The judiciary for the Sudetenland and German Bohemia was located in Reichenberg, while Vienna was responsible for the other German regions .
On November 22, 1918, the province of German Bohemia declared itself part of the state of German Austria . Also on November 22, 1918 , the scope of German Austria was defined by law of the Provisional National Assembly , which included German-Bohemian and German-Moravian MPs (former Reichsrat MPs).
In addition to the establishment of the state administrative organization, the creation of the higher authorities was tackled. So the financial directorate, the state economic office and the higher regional court Reichenberg as well as a postal and a railway directorate were to arise.
For geographical reasons, however, a territorial solution would only have been possible if these areas had been annexed to Germany together with Austria. However, this was opposed by the Allied connection ban.
Occupation by Czechoslovak troops
In contrast to the Czechs, whose politicians in exile had been preparing the establishment of the state for years, German Austria had taken no precautions to secure its territorial claims militarily if necessary. War fatigue and poor supplies were cited as explanations for this. The inclusion of German Bohemia and German Moravia in German Austria therefore failed.
The Czech government continued to insist on a unitary state and refused to recognize the aforementioned German administrative districts. Under the orders of Lieutenant Field Marshal Jan Diviš , the occupation of the areas claimed by German Austria began on November 13th by Czechoslovak troops (actually Czech, as Slovakia had not yet been annexed). The Volkswehr detachments set up at the instigation of the German-Bohemian state government under the orders of the state commander Field Marshal Lieutenant Anton Goldbach could do little to counter the advancing troops; they could perform police but not military tasks.
The state government in Reichenberg could only give the instruction that protests should be raised against the occupation of the individual places. Nevertheless, there were clashes between the German population and Czechoslovak troops in the Brüx area and near Kaplitz . Several civilians were killed in the process. In some places martial law was even imposed and resistance was immediately pursued.
State Chancellor Karl Renner , a Social Democrat from South Moravia, complained on November 13, 1918 at the beginning of the occupation:
“There is almost no other imperialism on the mainland today than that of the Czech nation. The Czechs want the most prosperous parts of German Austria [...] to submit. Unfortunately, the Czech socialists, who have always had an unclear position in the ranks of the proletariat, have made themselves leaders of this imperialism. They send military patrols into our area, they deploy [...] military formations. [...] We admit it openly, we have no power to defend ourselves; the Republic of German Austria has nothing but clear law. "
In order to preserve its freedom of action, the German-Bohemian state government fled to the parliament in Vienna on December 14, 1918 . There she continued the business (probably only theoretically) until the decision of the peace negotiations in Paris on September 10, 1919 and proclaimed the right of self-determination of the German-Bohemian population.
Until February 1919, the German-Bohemian, German-Moravian and Austrian-Silesian regions were represented in the Provisional National Assembly for German Austria by their Reichsrat members elected in 1911 . In the elections to the Constituent National Assembly on February 16, 1919, which she prepared, the Prague government forbade Germans in the Bohemian lands to cast their votes.
When the elected parliament met in Vienna on March 4, 1919, without representatives of the Germans in Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia, the German-Bohemian state government called for demonstrations for the granting of the right to self-determination. Many citizens of all party directions followed this request and gathered for initially peaceful demonstrations. The Czechoslovak military tried to prevent this and shot into the crowds. In the cities of Kaaden , Eger , Karlsbad , Mies , Aussig , Sternberg and other places, 54 dead and numerous injured were to complain about. On March 5, State Chancellor Karl Renner complained in the National Assembly that more Germans (including South Tyrol ) had been denied the right to self-determination “than Switzerland has inhabitants”.
Treaty of Saint Germain
German Austria continued to insist on its claim. In the German-Austrian peace delegation in Paris, Lodgman von Auen was an expert on German Bohemia. Negotiations did not take place, however, as the German-Austrian delegation was not allowed to enter the negotiating room, but had to wait for the outcome of the negotiations in the anteroom. Because of this situation, the term Dictation of Saint-Germain arose in German Austria and in the German Empire .
The Prague government, on the other hand, was able to represent its interests on the side of the victorious powers with its representative Edvard Beneš and the French experts Ernest Denis and Louis Eisenmann without direct counter-speech from German-Austria and did so successfully. In the memoranda for the conference , she demanded the indivisibility of the Czech Republic with reference to Les Tchécoslovaques, leur histoire et civilization and labeled the opposite side with Leproblemème des Allemands de Bohème . Within five minutes of the start of the meeting, the delegates of the responsible commission agreed to comply with the wishes of the Prague government.
In the Versailles Treaty of June 28, 1919, the German Empire was determined to respect Austria's independence. German Austria's accession to the German Reich, the " German Republic ", decided on November 12, 1918 , was thus excluded. This contributed significantly to the consolidation of Czechoslovakia's unrestricted authority over Bohemia and Moravia, as it would have been extremely difficult to rule the German areas in the north of the country across an uncooperative neighboring country from Vienna. The Treaty of Saint-Germain , which (German) Austria had to conclude with the victorious powers on September 10, 1919, definitively excluded German Bohemia and German Moravia from Austria. After this state treaty , which was perceived as a dictate , the German-Bohemian state government resigned. An amnesty was issued by the Prague government .
See also
literature
- Wilhelm Weizsäcker: Source book for the history of the Sudetenland. Published by the Collegium Carolinum published by Robert Lerche, Munich 1960.
- Alfred Bohmann : The Sudeten Germanism in numbers. Edited by the Sudeten German Council, Munich 1959.
- Eugen Lemberg: History of Nationalism in Europe, Curt E. Schwab, Stuttgart 1950.
- Emil Franzel : Sudeten German history. Mannheim 1978, ISBN 3-8083-1141-X .
- Ferdinand Seibt : Germany and the Czechs. History of a neighborhood in the middle of Europe. 3rd edition, Piper, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-492-11632-9 .
- Jan Berwid-Buquoy: Integration and separation of the Sudeten Germans in the ČSR 1918–1920. Theories of nationalisms. (Dissertation), České Budějovice 2005, ISBN 3-924933-08-1 .
- Julia Schmid: "German Bohemia" as a construct of German nationalists in Austria and the German Empire. In: Bohemia 48/2 (2008), pp. 464-479.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law, StGBl. No. 40 and State Declaration , StGBl. No. 41/1918 (= p. 51).
- ↑ Manfred Alexander : The Germans in the First Czechoslovak Republic: Legal Status and Identity Search. In: Umberto Corsini, Davide Zaffi, Manfred Alexander (eds.): The minorities between the two world wars. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-09101-9 , p. 127.
- ^ Bulletin of the Sudetendeutschen Landsmannschaft, 2002, No. 4, p. 2.
- ↑ Les Tchécoslovaques, leur histoire et civilization , German translation: Hungarian Institute Munich (PDF; 83 kB)
- ↑ Leproblemème des Allemands de Bohème , German translation: Hungarian Institute Munich (PDF; 35 kB)