From Prague After Munich

Diplomatic Papers, 1938-1940

George Frost Kennan

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780691010632
  9780691056203
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400868537
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

In August 1938 George F. Kennan was assigned as Secretary of Legation in Prague. After the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he stayed on in that country when most other Western observers had left. These diplomatic papers, letters, and notes are on-the-spot observations by a skilled and sensitive historian and diplomat. They offer a unique record of one of the tragic events in modern European history. Depicted here are the attempts at Germanization of Czech life, the cynical exploitation of various native organizations, the German insistence on a program of anti-Semitism, the take-over of Czech business and industry, the problems of currency and inflation.

Originally published in 1968.

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Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Historical Introduction
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Personal notes on the Munich crisis, written in early October 1938
• Chapter 2: Excerpts from a personal letter of December 8, 1938
• Chapter 3: Excerpts from a personal letter of January 6, 1939
• Chapter 4: Report on conditions in Slovakia, written in January 1939
• Chapter 5: Excerpts from a despatch of January 12, 1939, from Mr. Raymond E. Cox, Chargé d’Affaires at Prague, to the Department of State, concerning German-Czechoslovak relations
• Chapter 6: Excerpts from a despatch of February 1, 1939, from the Honorable Wilbur J. Carr, American Minister at Prague, to the Department of State, concerning German-Czechoslovak relations
• Chapter 7: Excerpts from a despatch of February 17, 1939, from George F. Kennan (as Secretary of Legation at Prague) to the Department of State, on the Jewish problem in the new Czechoslovakia
• Chapter 8: Report on conditions in Ruthenia, written March 1939
• Chapter 9: Excerpts from despatch of March 9, 1939, from Minister Carr to the Department of State, on Slovak-Czech relatiens. (This despatch contained other portions drafted by Minister Carr and by Secretary of Legation C. Burke Elbrick. The portion reproduced here was drafted by George F. Kennan.)
• Chapter 10: Personal notes, dated March 21, 1939, on the March crisis and the final occupation of Prague by the Germans
• Chapter 11: An undated letter, drafted in the last days of March 1939, signed by Mr. Irving N. Linnell, Consul General at Prague, and addressed to the American Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning efforts of the “Ukrainian” elements in Ruthenia to enlist foreign support against the Hungarians
• Chapter 12: Report of March 29, 1939, on the new regime in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 13: Excerpts from a personal letter of March 30, 1939
• Chapter 14: Letter of April 3, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning certain armed clashes that had occurred along the new Slovak-Hungarian border
• Chapter 15: Letter of April 7, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning the arrival in Prague of the Reichsprotektor, Baron von Neurath
• Chapter 16: Letter of April 14, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, commenting on the general situation in the Protectorate
• Chapter 17: Excerpts from two memoranda of April 14, 1939, for the Consul General, summing up certain aspects of the constitutional and juridical situation prevailing in the Historic Provinces and Slovakia
• Chapter 18: Letter of April 17, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin concerning the problem of a Slovak currency
• Chapter 19: Letter of April 18, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning conditions in Slovakia
• Chapter 20: Letter of April 21, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning the celebration of Hitler’s birthday in Prague
• Chapter 21: Report, written about April 26-27, 1939, on conditions in the Moravska-Ostrava district
• Chapter 22: Report, written about May 1, 1939, on conditions in Slovakia
• Chapter 23: Letter of May 4, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning the appointment of the new government of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 24: Despatch of May 10, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the new law limiting the rights and activities of Jews in Slovakia
• Chapter 25: Letter of May 11, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Chargé d’Affaires at Berlin, concerning the political situation in Bohemia
• Chapter 26: Despatch of May 15, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on conditions in Slovakia
• Chapter 27: Memorandum of May 15, 1939, on the trend of developments in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 28: Despatch of May 23, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, concerning the situation in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 29: Despatch of June 6, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, concerning the situation in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 30: Despatch of July 3, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on general conditions in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 31: Despatch of July 12, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, concerning appointment of a new Interior Minister in the Protectorate Government
• Chapter 32: Report of July 13, 1939, on conditions in Slovakia
• Chapter 33: Despatch of July 17, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the situation in the Protectorate
• Chapter 34: Despatch of July 24, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the new Slovak constitution
• Chapter 35: Despatch of August 19, 1939, from Consul General Linnell to the Department of State, on the general trend of developments in Bohemia and Moravia
• Chapter 36: Report, written October 1940, on “A Year and a Half of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia”
• Epilogue
• Glossary
• Index