Volume XXIIi No. 10 October, 1968 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN Robert Weltsch the powerless peoples into a feeling of security which, in fact, lasts only as long as it pleases the great powers. Most statesmen nurtured this illusion by constant rhetorical platitudes about self-determination and respect for TfflRTY YEARS AFTER MUNICH sovereignty. The shock which the occupation of not only a sovereign, but even an " allied " country entails is not at all explained by the overt destruction of this cherished illusion, Just thirty years ago this October, Gennan realised to what extent their democratic even if we take into account the reality of Nazi troops invaded the outer ring of country had been abandoned by those whom recognised spheres of influence. Bohemia, the so-called Sudetenland. This they regarded as their—oflScial or unofficial Writing in a Jewish journal, we naturally was the beginning of a world-wide catastrophe —allies. ask ourselves about repercussions which may which later extended to many countries and It was a portentous omen for the Jews who follow for the Jews. Such reflections should nations, caused indescribable destruction and rightly assumed that after the unconditional not be misunderstood as though, faced with ultimately led to the extinction of European surrender of democratic statesmen to Hitler such a tragedy, we were concerned only with Jewry. A huge literature has sprung up about the last brake would be removed on his treat­ our own affairs. But in these columns our the policy which led to the Munich Confer­ ment of those Jews who were then under his comments are of necessity limited to the ence of September 30, 1938, where Czecho­ jurisdiction (German, Austrian and Czech). To Jewish context. slovakia's fate was decided in her absence, as his own surprise Hitler had learned that he a deal among the big powers which gave could get away with the most outrageous There are two obvious elements of Jewish Hitler a free hand. It happened on the name- actions. A foretaste of this attitude of foreign aspects. One is the position of the State of day of Saint Wenceslaus, whose statue in powers had been—only two months earlier— Israel, against which ruthless Soviet propa­ Prague has served as a centre of non-violent the intergovernmental Conference of Evian ganda has been directed for more than a resistance against the Russian invasion these (July, 1938), which had been convened at the year; the second is the peculiar position of days. the Jewish intellectual who, wherever clashes initiative of President Roosevelt; there the of this sort occur, is always a target for Especially in Britain fierce discussion about delegates of 22 States deplored the ordeal of potential persecution. This is not only the the controversial policy of appeasement goes the refugees and would-be refugees from the concern of the individuals directly involved; on. What followed in Czechoslovakia after Greater Reich, but anxiously avoided blaming it is the fearful experience that powerful Munich has been impressively described by the German Government for what it was doing factors, especially where they enjoy a mono­ the then American representative in Prague, with its own citizens, on the principle that poly of propaganda, still trust they can make Mr. George Kennan, the famous " Mr. X," nobody was entitled to interfere with the their case more palatable to the masses by who in 1947 invented the slogan of " Contain­ internal afl[airs of a sovereign power. More­ describing the detested side as Jewish, ment" of Communism. It is an ironical over, in spite of the expressions of horror Jewish-inspired, or, according to the most incident that his new book* on that period and compassion, the representatives of recent fashion, " Zionist ". In the language of came out exactly at the time when the brave governments insisted that admission of refu­ the Communist block, Zionism during the Czech people again face the ordeal of foreign gees could take place only within the limits last year has been translated into a synonym occupation, this time by a power which was of existing immigration laws—which means for reaction, aggression, counter-revolution, believed to be ethnically and ideologically that no pompous conference would have been etc., one of those forces which (to the linked to them but now does not conceal its needed. Now Hitler felt completely secure believers) are branded as hostile, if not out­ determination to subjugate them to its own in the handling of " his" Jews, and the immediate consequence was, first, the dump­ right criminal. purpose. The topicality of Kennan's book lies This quest for exploiting the latent, or not also in his description of the dilemma of the ing of Polish or stateless Jews resident in Germany into a no-man's land on the Polish so latent, antisemitic feelings of the ordinary Czech leaders in 1938, and how they had to man shows us that such a prejudice is still adapt themselves, step by step and often frontier and, subsequently, the " Crystal Night" of November 10, 1938. regarded as efiective. Even if only a few indi­ against their own will and conscience, to the viduals are specifically named, their inclu­ policy prescribed by the omnipotent overlord, "This time, we hope, there will be no direct sion into the category of Jew is intended to including, at that time, to his determination consequences specifically for the Jews, if throw a sinister light on the camp of the to destroy the Jews. It seems, however, that only because very few Jews are left in adversary. That must be a shocking disap­ more quislings were at hand in 1938, especi­ Central Europe. But we are stunned by the pointment to many people who thirty years ally in Slovakia, than appear to be today, tragedy of a whole people, heir of a most ago regarded Communism as the most at least at the time of writing. inspiring history of non-conformism, the efiicient counterpoise to Nazism. What a In any case, at that—now remote—time of country which, according to a saying by depressing spectacle it is to learn that terri­ Munich, which is legend to the new genera­ Bismarck, was the very key to Europe. Per­ fied Czech youth, still under the trauma of tion, one thought that world war had been haps the most depressing aspect of the events the Hitler invasion of 1938 from which the avoided by choosing the lesser evil, at the is the impotence of all those who, much to Soviet forces had "liberated" them, had to expense of the Czech people. That it spelled their own humiliation, can proffer nothing paint swastikas on the Russian tanks in the disaster for the Jewish community of that but verbal outbursts of indignation. It streets of Prague! But that also hits the country could not affect the course of events. may be an example of the necessity to use of anti-Jewish slogans practised now in The similarity of developments in 1968 with subordinate " minor " or marginal matters to some Communist quarters. the overriding interest of maintaining world those in 1938 naturally induced the whole The manner in which the anti-Israel propa­ world to look back at the earlier occupation, peace; no wonder that this gave rise to the rumours of alleged silent connivance by ganda was conducted had shown that the but we would have remembered it anyhow. Jewish State, far from "solving" what was For the Jews Munich was a decisive date, America whose motives may be similar to those of the appeasers of 1938. The Great called the Jewish problem, had evoked a the unleashing of ruthless persecution which new variety of antisemitism as a political made the world aware of their situation. Power of today, like the great powers of yesterday, is reluctant to unleash a world weapon. At the same time it makes one Munich was, of course, a terrible and unex­ conscious of the dependence of such a State, pected blow to the Czechs who had not war. the more so as this time it would be nuclear. If this allegation is correct it however ready to defend itself, on the vacil­ lations of Great Power politics —a point • George F. Kennan. From Prague After Munich. requires re-thinking of the current theory of Diplomatic Papers. 1938-1940. London. 1968 : Oxford independence of small States, apt to mislead University Press. 266 pp. 62s. Continued on next page, column 1 Page 2 AJR INFORMATION October, 1968 U.K. CITIZENS WITH RESIDENCE ABROAD THIRTY YEARS AFTER MUNICH Effects of New Immigrants Act A recent case with which I had to deal Continited from page 1 shows that the extent of the regulations of the new Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 1968, is not as well known as it should be. •which Israeli diplomats certainly have not of these—predominantly Jewish—writers of Whilst under the preceding Acts the restric­ missed. fifty years ago. The protocols of these pro­ tions of entry into the U.K. only applied to Attacks on Jewish intellectuals are not a ceedings were published both in Czech and Commonwealth citizens, the Commonwealth new device. It was used in Czechoslovakia in German. The German version of the last Immigrants Act, 1968, Section 2, also subjects seventeen years ago, together with the conference appeared only recently under the to immigration control certain categories of accusation of Zionism, in the notorious title " Weltfreunde "t, a name taken from one U.K. citizens. Broadly speaking, the effects Slansky trial at the heyday of Stalinism, of the well-known poems of Franz Werfel.