Bidspirit auction | How Czechoslovakia Became a Protectorate

How Czechoslovakia Became a Protectorate of Nazi Germany and Was Effectively Wiped Off the Map in 1939 with the Help of the Western Powers – A Severe Indictment Against the Western Powers - La Tragédie Tchécoslovaque. De septembre 1938 à mars 1939 – ”The Tragedy of Czechoslovakia during the Critical Months between September 1938 (the Munich Agreement) and March 1939 (the Full German Occupation of Bohemia and Moravia), including Never-Before-Published Documents from the Slovak White Paper.” By Pierre Buk. Editions du Sagittaire, Paris, 1939 – Published in France immediately following the Munich Crisis and the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Extremely rare. French translation by Hans Jacob, with an afterword by Jean Castet. A detailed account of the political developments that led Czechoslovakia to surrender to Nazi Germany, step by step, as events unfolded. It reveals how Czechoslovakia was handed over to Hitler by the representatives of the Western powers, the events that took place behind the scenes as Britain (Neville Chamberlain) and France (Édouard Daladier) met with Hitler and Mussolini in Vienna and signed the Munich Agreement, granting the Sudetenland to Germany without Czechoslovakia being represented. It describes how Czechoslovakia was forced to relinquish the region, losing its defensive infrastructure (the fortified line) and its ethnic German population, and the subsequent events that led to the occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. This is, in effect, a publicist-documentary indictment of the West’s abandonment of the Czech state and its exposure to the German onslaught. Pierre Buk presents in his book the sequence of events in Czechoslovakia between September 1938 and March 1939 as a national and European tragedy, taking place under the watchful eyes of the Western powers. He begins with a gradual depiction of German blackmail against the Prague government, Hitler’s pressure to claim the Sudetenland under the pretext of minority rights for ethnic Germans, and the mounting threat of military invasion. The book portrays the Munich Agreement and the capitulation of Britain and France as a conscious abandonment of a democratic ally under the guise of preserving peace. Buk spares no words in describing what he views as the West’s hypocrisy, particularly the destructive consequences of the agreement on European stability. Simultaneously, the book presents the internal reality within Czechoslovakia: the gradual breakdown of sovereignty, the psychological collapse of the leadership, the fear of unilateral military resistance against Germany, and the public shock in realizing that no one would come to the country’s aid. He describes the dismantling of the Czechoslovak army, the collapse of state institutions, and the final capitulation of Prague in March 1939 when Germany annexed Bohemia and Moravia and established the German protectorate. The book interweaves original documents from the “Czechoslovak White Paper, ” presented as evidence to uncover the truth: correspondence with European leaders, intelligence reports, and explicit warnings that were ignored. It also includes testimonies from the field, diplomats, military personnel, civilians, and political representatives who warned, protested, or surrendered. For Buk, this period represents not only the political collapse of a single nation, but of the entire European ideal of collective security. In his view, what happened to Czechoslovakia in 1938–1939 was a broader attempt by tyranny to exploit fear, cynical calculations, and a lack of moral resolve to throw easy prey into the jaws of a murderous regime, while the West stood by and ignored its duty. The author, Pierre Buk (full name Franz Carl Weiskopf), was a Czech-German writer and journalist (d. 1955). Extremely rare. Only one copy recorded in the WorldCat global library catalog, held at the Royal Library of Belgium. 207 [1] pages. Good condition. Handwritten underlining and marginal notes throughout the pages of the book.