Konrad Henlein

Konrad Henlein (May 6th 1898 - May 10th 1945) is a politician pro Nazi in the Czechoslovakia of the inter-war period and the leader of the German Parti Sudètes (SdP - Sudetendeutsche Partei ) preaching separatism. He is regarded as a war criminal by the Tribunal of Nuremberg.

Biography

He is born on May 6th, 1898 in Maffersdorf (today Vratislavice nad Nisou, suburbs of Liberec) from a German father, Konrad Henlein and of a Czech mother, Hedwiga born Dvořáčková whom he will disguise, for political reasons, in Dworatschek.

He begins his career as professor of gymnastics. He marries Emma Luisa Geyer, the girl of a café owner of Aš, in 1926.

Leader of SdP

Founded in 1933, the patriotic Face of Sudètes ( Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront - SHF, later, in 1935, Sudetendeutsche Partei - SdP), radio-controlled from Berlin, draws its voices in the German areas of the north of the Bohemia and the south of the Moravie. Resulting from the modest layers, these Germans were hostile besides with the German middle-class of Prague.

Konrad Henlein founds the Czech Nazi party with Karl Hermann Frank, future Secretary of State of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravie, then bookseller in bankruptcy with Karlovy Vary.

With the elections of 1935, one year only after the accession of Hitler to the capacity, the German party of Sudètes, SdP, obtains a great success.

Vis-a-vis the nationalist tensions, the Czechoslovakian authorities try to calm the play. In 1937, the Prime Minister Milan Hodza tries to improve the condition of the German minorities living in the border regions. But time plays against him and covetousnesses of Germany already threw Des. In February 1938, Hitler declares, in a public short speech, that by attaching the Czechoslovakian territories with German settlement to Reich, it would release from the " million Germans living " abroad;.

With the congress of SdP, which is held with Karlovy Vary in April 1938, Konrad Henlein evokes in eight points the program of the party of which the creation of an autonomous German territory. The real goal and not acknowledged is integration within Germany. While waiting for this close day, the partisans of Henlein maintain agitation at the borders.

Mid-May, the troops hitlériennes are deployed at the Czechoslovakian border. In reaction to this situation, the Czechoslovakian government issues the partial mobilization of the army.

In June, the British government dispatches in Czechoslovakia the mission of Lord Walter Runciman to convince the Czechoslovakian government to adopt the claims of SdP. Prague yields but that does not suffice for Henlein which seeks the conflict. In a made speech with Nuremberg at the end of the congress of NSDAP, on September 12th, Adolf Hitler invites the Germans of Sudètes to rise. SdP thus organizes several actions of provocation which make eight dead and seventeen wounded. The Czech government intervenes: he issues the martial Loi, occupies the places of the riots and, on September 16th, prohibited the Sudetendeutsche Partei . Henlein and its comparses are obliged to flee towards Germany.

The Accords of Munich give win to Hitler and Henlein. SdP amalgamates immediately with the NSDAP. Henlein becomes then S Gruppenführer and appointed Reichstag. The first May 1939 it is named Gauleiter of Sudètes, position which it occupies until the end of the war. June 21st, 1943, it is promoted S Obergruppenführer.

In May 1945, under the American bolts with Plzeň, it Suicide while cutting the veins with glass of its broken glasses. It is buried anonymously in the common grave of the central cemetery of the city.

See too

Left German Sudètes
German of Sudètes

External bonds

Konrad Henlein on Britannica {{in}}

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