The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was an administrative entity on the territory of the Czech lands, proclaimed by Nazi Germany in March 1939 after the occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia. It was created by a decree of Adolf Hitler of 16 March 1939.[1][2]
Preceding events
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes states that in March 1939 the consequences of the events surrounding the Munich Agreement led to the end of the independent Czechoslovak state. On 7 March 1939 Arthur Seyss-Inquart met Jozef Tiso and Karol Sidor in Bratislava, and they discussed the proclamation of an independent Slovakia. The Czech government sent troops to Slovakia under the command of General Bedřich Homola; the operation began on the night of 10 March. President Hácha dismissed Tiso's government, and on 11 March Karol Sidor became the new Slovak prime minister.[1]
On 13 March Tiso met Hitler in Berlin, who presented him with two options: the creation of an independent Slovak state, or an invasion of Slovakia by Hungarian units. Tiso agreed to the demand, and on 14 March 1939 the Slovak Diet voted for the creation of the Slovak State. On the same day Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Czechoslovak government demanding the evacuation of Subcarpathian Rus, and Hungarian units entered the territory.[1]
Occupation
President Emil Hácha travelled to Berlin with Foreign Minister František Chvalkovský. The negotiations with Hitler ended at about one o'clock after midnight, when Hitler announced that within a few hours he would occupy the rest of the Czech lands and annex them to the Third Reich. He threatened to bomb Prague in the event of resistance. Hácha and the Czech government eventually agreed to the occupation.[1]
German troops entered the territory of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 and occupied the Czech lands over the course of the day. The occupation began at six in the morning and, according to the Vojenský historický ústav Praha, was immediately followed by Gestapo operations and the arrest of political figures and persons suspected of anti-Nazi activity.[2] The army, bound by the decision of the politicians, could not offer armed resistance. Nevertheless, members of the 3rd battalion of the 8th Silesian regiment began fighting the occupiers in Místek.[1] A day later Hungary gained Subcarpathian Rus, which was attached to it as the autonomous territory of Karpatsko.[1]
Executive power was taken over by a military administration headed by General Walther von Brauchitsch, the commander of the German army. In Bohemia it was exercised by General Johannes Blaskowitz, and the civil administration was led by Konrad Henlein. In Moravia the military administration was led by General Wilhelm List, while the civil administration was taken over by Josef Bürckel.[1]
Status of the protectorate
By the decree of 16 March 1939 Hitler established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The protectorate had no statehood and became an integral part of the Third Reich. It was not allowed to have its own army; the so-called government troops were symbolic in character and performed auxiliary services. Parliament was dissolved and political life was simplified even further. The protectorate administration was represented by State President Emil Hácha and a government headed by a prime minister.[1]
Reactions and consequences
The former Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš, living in exile, sent protest telegrams against the establishment of the protectorate as early as 16 March 1939. He addressed them to the American president Roosevelt, the British prime minister Chamberlain, the French prime minister Daladier, the Soviet people's commissar for foreign affairs Litvinov and the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, Joseph Avenol.[2] According to the Vojenský historický ústav Praha, Czechoslovakia lost its independence for six years from 15 March 1939. The occupiers executed participants in the resistance, persons who distributed anti-state materials, and those who violated the rationing system.[2]