Advertisement

CZECH PROFESSOR HITS MUNICH PACT AS NO REAL PEACE

Emerson Predicts an Era Dominated by Force and Power; 200 in Audience as Lane Presides

"Make the world safe for reaction," and "The brutal shall inherit the earth" are the mottoes of a new era inaugurated by the Munich pact, Karl Deutsch, Sudeten German and Professor at the University of Prague told an audience of 200 attending an H. S. U. sponsored forum in Emerson D last night.

Rupert Emerson '22, Associate Professor of Government also delivered a brief address in which he minimized the chances for lasting peace under the Munich Treaty.

Predicting that Hitler's acquisition of the industrial Sudeten area will aggravate, not alleviate, Germany's need for expansion into agricultural areas. Professor Deutsch bitterly attacked the four-power pact for tearing apart areas which have lived together for 1000 years.

Czechoslovakia Economic Unit

The Sudeten Mountains have been the traditional Austro-German frontier, he stated. Successive attempts at domination of Central Europe have never stamped out the small nationalities, and the Versailles Treaty merely recognized in Czechoslovakia what had always been an economic unit, the anti-Nazi professor continued.

Advertisement

In the partition the Czechs have lost important industries, natural resources, and will be subjected to terrific German economic pressure, while the Sudetens have lost their chief markets, are cut off from raw materials, and will suffer increased unemployment, Deutsch said.

"No Real Sudeten Grievances"

There never was any real Sudeten grievance before the inundation of German propaganda, he continued, pointing out that unemployment in Sudetenland was two or three times as bad as in the rest of the country because of the particular nature of Sudeten industries.

Of the international situation focused on the recent crisis, and the Munich pact, Professor Deutsch said, "We are back in an era of secret treaties and diplomacy, of a new division of the world with no regard for small nations." He accused Chamberlain of deliberately creating a war scare in Great Britain.

"Forced to Retreat"

"We have been forced to retreat, but we have done it in good order," Deutsch said.

As he concluded on an optimistic note Deutsch suggested that Czechoslovakia's unity and determination may yet maintain her independence. Hitler's statement, "It is Benes or I", symbolizes the world struggle between democracy and dictatorship he said. And as to which side they are on, "The people of Czechoslovakia have made up their minds."

No real peace can come out of the Munich pact, Emerson said, predicting Italy as the next scene of trouble. "We are up against a reign of force," he stated, and suggested that Hitler's tactics and extraordinary success are the logical culmination of an international system of which force is the basis.

Robert E. Lane '39, national president of the American Student Union presided at the meeting.

Advertisement