Konrad Henlein

[Cd.]

http://www.manions.com/trendline/trendline210.asp

Henlein was born on May 6, 1898 in Bohemia, at Maffersdorf. His father was German, his mother was a Czech. As a young man, as with most of his Generation, he served in the World War, being captured by the Italians and returning to his home in 1919. Following the World War, he entered a commercial college and found legitimate employment as a bank clerk. His entry into the fiercely contested world of national politics can be traced to his assuming the role of a gymnastics instructor of an ethnic or Sudeten German sports club in 1925. In many cases, these so-called “clubs” were front organizations where nationalistic thought could be taught to the members: under the guise of “meetings” to celebrate the love of sports, treason could be hatched. It was not long before Henlein “advanced” in his career, first becoming a leader of the German Gymnastic Union in Czechoslovakia and then, by 1933, coming forth as the founder of the German Heimatfront.

In all actuality, the Heimatfront replaced the outlawed NSDAP or Nazi Party in Czechoslovakia. With the help of the parent organization in Germany, the Heimatfront, by 1935, had assumed its true form, now being called the ‘Sudetendeutsche Partei (SPD). The political Programme was very simple—advocation of Nazi principles and preparing the way for Hitler to absorb Czechoslovakia by claming that Greater Germany was only concerned for the fate of the ethnic Germans then living in Czechoslovakia.

After 1935, Henlein led the new SPD openly, receiving at least 15,000 marks a month from a Party organization and the active support of Hitler who called him “my viceroy.”

Subverting all pro-nationalist Czech organizations, Henlein’s SPD prepared the way for the absorption of the whole of Czechoslovakia into Germany.

He was well rewarded for his treachery to the Czechs: in October of 1938 Henlein was appointed Gauleiter of Czechoslovakia; he became a member of the Reichstag and on May 1, 1939 he was appointed head of the Civil Administration in the Sudeten Deutsche area. Promotion in the SS also flowered him with Hitler’s favors. By June 21, 1943 he was now an SS Obergruppenfuher in the SS.

The end of the war brought a personal end to Henlein’s treachery: he was captured by soldiers of the American 7th Army early in May of 1945. Destined to be tried as a ‘Major Offender,’ Henlein escaped the judgment at Nuremberg by slashing his wrists on May 10, 1945. A razor blade, hidden in a cigarette case, proved the tool that would end his days

[Cd.]

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc...02-11-06.shtml

The Henleinists terrorised the non-Henlein population and the Nazi Gestapo crossed into the border d1stricts to carry Czechoslovak citizens across the border into Germany. In several cases, political foes of the Nazis were murdered on Czech soil. Nazi agents murdered Professor Theodor Lessing in 1933, and Ing. Formis in 1935. Both men were anti-Nazis who had escaped from Germany after Hitler came to power and had sought refuge in Czechoslovakia.
Sometime afterwards, when there was no longer need for pretence and deception, Konrad Henlein made a clear and frank statement of the mission assigned to him by the Nazi conspirators. I offer in evidence Document 2863-PS, an excerpt from a lecture by Konrad Henlein quoted in the book Four Fighting Years, a publication of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I quote from Page 29. This book has been marked for identification Exhibit USA 92, but without offering it in evidence, I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. I shall read from Page 29. This lecture was delivered by Henlein on 4th March, 1941, in the auditorium of the University of Vienna, under the auspices of the Wiener Verwaltungsakademie. During a thorough search of libraries in Vienna and elsewhere, we have been unable to find a copy of the German text. This text, this volume that I have here, is an English version. The Vienna newspapers the following day carried only summaries of the lecture. This English version, however, is an official publication of the Czech Government and is under the circumstances, the best evidence that we can produce of the Henlein speech.

In this lecture on "The Fight for the Liberation of the Sudetens" Henlein said:

"National Socialism soon swept over us Sudeten Germans. Our struggle was of a different character from that in Germany. Although we had to behave differently in public we were, of course, secretly in touch with the National Social1st revolution in Germany so that we might be a part of it. The struggle for Greater Germany was waged on Sudeten soil, too. This struggle could be waged only by those inspired by the spirit of National Socialism, persons who were true followers of our Fuehrer, whatever their outward appearance. Fate sought me out to be the leader of the national group in its final struggle. When in the autumn, 1933, the leaders of the N.S.D.A.P. asked me to take over the political leadership of the Sudeten Germans, I had a difficult problem to solve. Should the National Social1st Party continue to be carried on illegally or should the movement, in the interest of the self- preservation of the Sudeten Germans and in order to prepare their return to the Reich, wage its struggle under camouflage and by methods which appeared quite legal to the outside world? For us Sudeten Germans only the second alternative seemed possible, for the preservation of our national group was at stake. It would certainly have been easier to exchange this hard and mentally exhausting struggle for the heroic gesture of confessing allegiance to National Socialism and entering a Czechoslovak prison. But it seemed more than doubtful whether, by this means, we could have fulfilled the political task of destroying Czechoslovakia as a bastion in the alliance against the German Reich."

[Sulla the Dictator]

The end of the war brought a personal end to Henlein’s treachery: he was captured by soldiers of the American 7th Army early in May of 1945. Destined to be tried as a ‘Major Offender,’ Henlein escaped the judgment at Nuremberg by slashing his wrists on May 10, 1945. A razor blade, hidden in a cigarette case, proved the tool that would end his days

Its too bad he didn't stand tall before the wagon.