Sudeten German question

Jan Kuklík, Jan Němeček - The Route to Munich: Czechoslovakia in the Eyes of American Diplomats in 1938
Abstract

The presented edition brings a selection of ten published documents from March to September 1938 written by American diplomats on the then Czechoslovak crisis. It aims to supplement previously published documents, especially within the official US diplomatic edition Foreign Relations of United States. The documents are mainly related to Czechoslovak internal development but, naturally, foreign policy aspects of the crisis and issues of the possibility of Soviet military assistance to Czechoslovakia are also addressed. The edition is introduced by a brief historical summary of developments in Czechoslovakia in the spring and summer of 1938 in relation to national issues, especially the so-called Sudeten German question and American diplomats’ views of it.

Jiří Plachý - The Rutha Affair and the Trial Against the Werner Weiss Group in Autumn 1937
Abstract

The study deals with the case of Heinrich Rutha (1897–1937), one of the highest-ranking politicians of the Sudeten German Party (SdP), sometimes referred to as its Foreign Minister, Konrad Henlein’s personal friend and one of the main promoters of philosopher Othmar Spann’s ideas in the Czech lands. Rutha worked in the Sudeten German youth movement, where he tried to create his own educational concept. In 1926, he established, more precisely made independent, the Sudetendeutsche Jugendschaft youth organization and was at the birth of an organization that be- came known under the abbreviated designation Kameradschaftsbund. Its aim, in the spirit of Spann’s theories, was to create an elite layer of leaders who would take over the leadership of Sudeten German society. He was also involved in the sports organization Deutscher Turnverein (DTV). However, he resigned from the prestigious position of the head of the Ještěd-Jizera Division of the DTV in October 1935 as his homosexual orientation was revealed. Two years later, as a result of the denunciation of “old Nazis” (i.e. former members and supporters of the dissolved DNSAP), his homosexuality was also reported to the Czechoslovak police. At the beginning of October 1937, Rutha was arrested for homosexual intercourse, which was criminal at that time. Having been convicted by several of his former partners, he committed suicide on 5 November 1937. Twelve young men were eventually brought to court, seven of whom were found guilty and sentenced to one to eight months’ suspended sentences.