44 Days in Prague

The Runciman Mission and the Race to Save Europe

Ann Shukman, Ann Shukman

• Publisher: Hurst Publishers
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781911723042
• eBook ISBN: 9781805261377
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

After a chance discovery that her grandmother had pro-German sympathies, Ann Shukman resolved to investigate her grandfather Walter Runciman's 1938 Mission to Prague. This delegation, sponsored by the British Government, sought to broker peace between Czechoslovakia's government and its Sudeten German minority--a dispute that Hitler was aggravating with virulent anti-Czech propaganda and threats of invasion.

Drawing fresh evidence from personal diaries, private papers and Czech publications, 44 Days in Prague exposes the misunderstandings and official ignorance that provoked a calamitous series of betrayals, eventually ensuring the failure of the Mission. It reveals that, while Walter Runciman always supported the integrity of the Czechoslovak republic, his wife Hilda--ultimately a vital part of the Mission--was publicly favouring the German cause.

This is a moving portrayal of Walter's declining influence as tensions mounted, from the couple's efforts to court the old aristocracy--some pro-German, others pro-Czech--at weekend shooting parties and other glittering social occasions, to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's fatal undermining of the Mission, in his abrupt decision to fly to Berchtesgaden for direct negotiations with Hitler. Shukman's vivid narrative combines personal insight with meticulous research to shine new light on this pivotal yet tragic episode of European history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• 1.Nomination: The man and the moment
• 2.Preparations: President Beneš, the Sudeten German Party, and the Mission team
• 3.Days One to Four: Arrival—the press, the politicians, and the intractable problem
• 4.Days Four to Six and the First Weekend: The sporting Kinskýs and lessons in Bohemian history
• 5.Days Seven to Ten: Social life in a heatwave—pacifists and an anti-appeaser
• 6.Days Eleven to Thirteen and the Second Weekend: Walking the woods with the Ulrich Kinskys
• 7.Days Fourteen to Sixteen: The Mission’s first suc-cesses and ‘the Chicken’ comes to roost
• 8.Days Seventeen to Twenty and the Third Weekend: Hilda suc-cumbs to flattery, an idyll in the Schwarzenberg forests, and Ashton-Gwatkin engages with Henlein
• 9.Days Twenty-One to Twenty-Three: President Beneš breaks the deadlock, Ashton-Gwatkin flies to London, and Runciman is pro-posed as emissary to Hitler
• 10.Days Twenty-Four to Twenty-Seven and the Fourth Weekend: The SdP’s militaristic response to Beneš’s initiative, nervousness at Teplitz, and Hilda makes a significant new friend
• 11.Days Twenty-Four to Thirty and the Fourth Weekend Con-tinued: Ashton-Gwatkin negotiates with Frank and Henlein at Rothenhaus, the Runcimans with daughter Margie join them
• 12.Days Twenty-Seven to Thirty-One: All attention on Henlein but a rebuke arrives from London; Henlein and Hitler; Beneš delivers his report to the Mission, Walter misunderstands and Beneš is aggrieved
• 13.Days Thirty-Two to Thirty-Three and the Fifth Weekend: Panic in London; Beneš’s Fourth Plan; Henlein ceases to cooperate; and Walter appeals to the Cardinal Archbishop
• 14.Days Thirty-Four to Thirty-Seven: Widespread protests against the Fourth Plan, the riots at Moravská Ostrava, the SdP reveals its true face, and a lethal blow received from The Times in London
• 15.Days Thirty-Eight to Forty and the Sixth Weekend: With the Czernins at Petrohrad, and a provocative demonstration by the SdP
• 16.Days Forty-One to Forty-Four: Hitler’s Nurem-berg speech, the Sudetenland uprising, martial law imposed, Henlein breaks off all negotiations, Walter loses hope
• 17.Aftermath: The Mission back in London, the ‘Runciman Report’, Chamberlain takes over, Walter betrayed
• Postscript
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover