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Duff Cooper, House of Commons
:''Because I was not a Jew.''
:''Because I was not a Jew.''
:''Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.''
:''Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.''
:[[Martin Niemöller]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Martin Niemöller: "First They Came For The Socialists..." |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392 |accessdate=March 8, 2014}}</ref>|group=note}} When [[Neville Chamberlain]] returned to [[Great Britain]] after he signed, behind the back of [[Czechoslovakia|Czecho-Slovakia]], the Munich Agreement ordering it to cede i.a. the [[Sudetenland]] to the [[Nazi]] [[Germany]], he, while waving the paper of the 'peace' agreement, famously declared:
:[[Martin Niemöller]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Martin Niemöller: "First They Came For The Socialists..." |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392 |accessdate=March 8, 2014}}</ref>|group=note}} Few hours before the [[Führer]]’s ultimatum related to territorial claims in [[Sudetenland]] at the expense of [[Czechoslovakia|Czecho-Slovakia]] would expire, [[Neville Chamberlain]], the Prime Minister of [[Great Britain]], asked Mussolini to „save the peace“ by intervening. In his reply, “Herr Hitler” agreed to postpone his mobilization for twenty-four hours and invited Chamberlain to meet in conference at Munich. After Chamberlain brought the news to [[House of Commons (UK)|House of Commons]], the whole house burst into a roar of cheering. Men all round, except few remaining in their benches, were shouting: ''“Get up! Get up! Thank God for the Prime Minister!”'' One man who remained silent and seated – with his head sunk on his shoulders, his whole demeanor depicting something between anger and despair, was [[Winston Churchill]].<ref name="Guinness">{{cite book|first=Os |last=Guinness|editor= Virginia Mooney Withrow|title=When no one sees: Character and leadership in an age of Image|publisher=[http://www.ttf.org/ TheTrinityForum.org]|location=McLean, Virginia|year=2007|pages=73-77|isbn= 1-57683-159-0}}</ref>
Chamberlain believed the Führer when latter vowed that restoring their beloved homeland to the mistreated Sudetendeutsche was his last claim. The Prime Minister treated Czechoslovakia, a “faraway country,” only as the “Czech problem” on his desk, and not as a land inhabited by real people. Churchill however adopted a different attitude, he had studied Adolf Hitler’s carrier with intensity, and was aware of remarkable history of broken promises and “last territorial claims” including [[Versailles Treaty]], the [[Causes_of_World_War_II#Munich_1938 |Locarno Pact]], the [[Rhineland]], and [[Anschluss|Austria]]. After the Four-Power Meeting began in [[Bavaria]], the Focus group was supposed to meet and draft and sign a telegram to the british Prime Minister adjuring him to make no further concessions at the expense of Czechoslovakia and warning him that if he did so he would have to fight the House of Commons on his return. Regrettably, one by one, the group drifted away. Some who had said they would come had not and finally declined to permit the use of their names, others made excuses of lacking the approval from their parties. They refused to put their names to their principles. Churchill commented: ''“What are they made of? The day is not far off when it won’t be signatures we’ll have to give but lives –the lives of millions. Can we survive? Do we deserve to when there is no courage anywhere?”'' and Nicolson wrote in his diary: they ''“sat there gloomily realisiing that nothing cold be done. …So far as one can see, Hitler gets everything he wants.”''<ref name="Guinness"/>
Later on, after he signed, behind the back of [[Czechoslovakia|Czecho-Slovakia]], the Munich Agreement, ordering it to cede i.a. the [[Sudetenland]] to the [[Nazi]] [[Germany]], Chamberlain returned to [[Great Britain]]. While waving the paper of the 'peace' agreement, the Prime Minister famously declared:
:''‘My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.’''<ref>{{cite web |title=Chamberlain and the Church |author=Jonathan Sarfati |publisher=creation.com |date=November 13, 2009 (last update)|url=http://creation.com/chamberlain-and-the-church |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>
:''‘My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.’''<ref>{{cite web |title=Chamberlain and the Church |author=Jonathan Sarfati |publisher=creation.com |date=November 13, 2009 (last update)|url=http://creation.com/chamberlain-and-the-church |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>
Less than a half-year later, Hitler broke his promises, took all of Czechoslovakia and then invaded [[Poland]], thus starting the World War II.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary">{{cite web |title=Rok 1938 - Mníchovská Zrada (The year of 1938 - Munich Betrayal)|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOyTeUf1Qc |quote=The aim of this tremendous national effort was to preserve the freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia, peace and order in Europe by standing firm against the threats of [[Fascism]]. On September the 23rd, there was hope that united democracies would save the peace and Czechoslovakia by forcing Hitler to abandon his invasion. Hitler summoned Chamberlain and Daladier to Munich on Thursday September the 29th. So long as the western democracies leaders had stood firm at many crisis, there was neither war nor surrender, but this time, they flew to obey. The [[Fascist]] powers did not win their battles by actual force, but by issuing the orders with confidence. ...president Beneš was forced to resign his office to make the way for a government that will take the orders from Berlin. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. ... The western democracies have sacrificed their prestige, the human race itself is and humiliated by these events. ...These are the immediate consequences of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence. The only hope to offer is that in the other lands there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip. Peace and freedom and the right to live - they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of '[[Mein Kampf]]' can newer become our supreme law.|language=English (Czech subtitles)}}</ref> According to [[Winston Churchill]], who opposed the agreement and called it "a total and unmitigated defeat" and "a disaster of the first magnitude" right from the time when it was signed, "There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action."<ref>{{cite web |title=Morally Paralyzed |author=Thomas Sowell |publisher=Townhall.com |date=Jul 24, 2007 |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2007/07/24/morally_paralyzed |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref> Today Czechs and Slovaks label the ''Munic Pact'' also as the ''Munich Dictate'' or the ''Munich Betrayal'' because the system of alliances in Central Europe guaranteed by [[France]] and [[Britain]] upon which [[Czechoslovakia]] had relied for her safety proved of no avail. Western democratic leaders did not manage to stand firm against the threats of [[Fascism]], representatives of which consequently gained confidence in the following their intentions openly described in the [[Mein Kampf]] as aiming at fascist mastery of Europe and eventual destruction of the world democracy.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary"/>{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"Behind the Nazi party stands the German people, who elected [[Hitler]] after he had in his book and in his speeches made his shameful intentions clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding."''<ref>{{cite book |title=Einstein. A life. |author=Denis Brian |publisher=J. Wiley |place=New York |year=1996 |pages=233 |isbn=9780471114598 |url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=plYcU56xENCv4QTG5YGoDg&hl=sk&id=jaXvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Brian+Einstein+A+life&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=speeches }}</ref>
==== Prophecies which made [[Jeremiah]] appear an optimist ====
Few days later, during the British Parliamentary Debate on the Munich Agreement, Duff Cooper described Hitler in his address as a dictator that does not understand the language of sweet reasonableness and that discards the old diplomatic methods and introduces a new vocabulary into Europe. He criticized the approach in which “we were always told that on no account must we irritate Herr Hitler; it was particularly dangerous to irritate him before he made a public speech, because if he were so irritated he might say some terrible things from which afterwards there would be no retreat. It seems to me that Herr Hitler never makes a speech save under the influence of considerable irritation, and the addition of one more irritant would not, I should have thought, have made a great difference, whereas the communication of a solemn fact would have produced a sobering effect.” He suggested that urging the mobilization of the Fleet and the mailed fist would be the kind of language which would be easier for Herr Hitler to understand than the guarded language of diplomacy or the conditional clauses of the Civil Service. While Chamberlain considered this to be the one thing that would had ruined the peace mission, Cooper argued it would be the one thing leading it to success and was highly critical of Chamberlain that he still believes he can rely upon the good faith of Hitler. Finally Cooper concluded that if he was a party to persuading, or even to suggesting to, the Czechoslovak government that they should accept ultimatum, he should never be able to hold up his head again: “I have ruined, perhaps, my political career. But that is a little matter; I have retained something which is to me of great value – I can still walk about the world with my head erect.”<ref>{{cite web |title= Munich: Blunder, Plot, or Tragic Necessity? |chapter=The British Parliamentary Debate on the Munich Agreement: Duff Cooper, House Of Commons, October 3, 1938. |author= Dwight E. Lee |url= https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/munich.htm |accessdate=November 1, 2014 }}</ref>
During his contribution to debate, occasionally interrupted by screams ''„Rude! Rude!“'' and ''„nonsense,“'' Churchill maintained that the utmost Chamberlain has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia and in the matters which were in dispute has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching his victuals from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course. Lord Maugham labeled Churchill an ''„agitator“'' who should be ''„shot or hanged.“'' [[The Times]] reported that Churchill had ''„treated a crowded House to prophecies which made Jeremiah appear an optimist“'' and referred patronizingly to his ''„dismal sincerity.“''<ref>{{cite book |title=The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 |author=William Manchester, Paul Reid |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |year=2013 |isbn=9780345548634|url=http://books.google.no/books?id=Jz2NnQEACAAJ&dq=W.+ManchesterThe+Last+Lion&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mxFVVIHGOMzhapXwgegP&redir_esc=y}}</ref>
Less than a half-year later, Hitler broke his promises, took all of Czechoslovakia and then invaded [[Poland]], thus starting the World War II.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary">{{cite web |title=Rok 1938 - Mníchovská Zrada (The year of 1938 - Munich Betrayal)|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOyTeUf1Qc |quote=The aim of this tremendous national effort was to preserve the freedom and democracy in Czechoslovakia, peace and order in Europe by standing firm against the threats of [[Fascism]]. On September the 23rd, there was hope that united democracies would save the peace and Czechoslovakia by forcing Hitler to abandon his invasion. Hitler summoned Chamberlain and Daladier to Munich on Thursday September the 29th. So long as the western democracies leaders had stood firm at many crisis, there was neither war nor surrender, but this time, they flew to obey. The [[Fascist]] powers did not win their battles by actual force, but by issuing the orders with confidence. ...president Beneš was forced to resign his office to make the way for a government that will take the orders from Berlin. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. ... The western democracies have sacrificed their prestige, the human race itself is and humiliated by these events. ...These are the immediate consequences of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence. The only hope to offer is that in the other lands there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip. Peace and freedom and the right to live - they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of '[[Mein Kampf]]' can newer become our supreme law.|language=English (Czech subtitles)}}</ref> According to [[Winston Churchill]], who opposed the agreement and called it "a total and unmitigated defeat" and "a disaster of the first magnitude" right from the time when it was signed, ''"There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action."''<ref>{{cite web |title=Morally Paralyzed |author=Thomas Sowell |publisher=Townhall.com |date=Jul 24, 2007 |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2007/07/24/morally_paralyzed |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref> Today Czechs and Slovaks label the ''Munic Pact'' also as the ''Munich Dictate'' or the ''Munich Betrayal'' because the system of alliances in Central Europe guaranteed by [[France]] and [[Britain]] upon which [[Czechoslovakia]] had relied for her safety proved of no avail. The mass demonstration of brokenhearted people of Prague after the surrender of Munich showed that thousands still had the will to resist, but in vain. Leaderless and betrayed, they could not stand against the Munich powers. The western democracies have sacrificed their prestige. The immediate consequence of yielding to Fascist threats of force and violence was that the only hope to offer was the very existence of the other lands where "there may still be men who do not tremble when Adolf Hitler cracks the whip". Western democratic leaders did not manage to stand firm against the threats of [[Fascism]], representatives of which consequently gained confidence in the following their intentions openly described in the [[Mein Kampf]] as aiming at fascist mastery of Europe and eventual destruction of the world democracy.<ref name="Munich Pact Documentary"/>{{#tag:ref|cf. ''"Behind the Nazi party stands the German people, who elected [[Hitler]] after he had in his book and in his speeches made his shameful intentions clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding."''<ref>{{cite book |title=Einstein. A life. |author=Denis Brian |publisher=J. Wiley |place=New York |year=1996 |pages=233 |isbn=9780471114598 |url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=plYcU56xENCv4QTG5YGoDg&hl=sk&id=jaXvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Brian+Einstein+A+life&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=speeches }}</ref>
*Hitler and other Nazi leaders repeatedly made clear their willingness to use force if necessary to achieve their purposes. They glorified war. Mein Kampf is replete with early evidence of such intentions, which subsequently were reaffirmed from time to time in the years preceding 1933
*Hitler and other Nazi leaders repeatedly made clear their willingness to use force if necessary to achieve their purposes. They glorified war. Mein Kampf is replete with early evidence of such intentions, which subsequently were reaffirmed from time to time in the years preceding 1933
*The Nazi leaders prior to 1933 had openly declared their intentions to subvert democratic processes as a means to achieve their purposes, and to this end to harass and embarrass democratic forces at every turn. Thus Hitler himself had declared that.
*The Nazi leaders prior to 1933 had openly declared their intentions to subvert democratic processes as a means to achieve their purposes, and to this end to harass and embarrass democratic forces at every turn. Thus Hitler himself had declared that.
|accessdate=August 2, 2014
|accessdate=August 2, 2014
|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Papen.html}}</ref>
|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Papen.html}}</ref>
*At the time of signing the Munich agreement, it was i.a. already known that, for example, in 1934, Nazis performed the so called ''Night of the Long Knives'' purge, one of the very first victims of which was Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action in Germany.<ref>{cite web
*At the time of signing the Munich agreement, it was i.a. already known that, for example, in 1934, Nazis performed the so called ''Night of the Long Knives'' purge, one of the very first victims of which was Erich Klausener, the leader of Catholic Action in Germany.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Remembering Dr. Erich Klausener, 1/25/1885 – 6/30/1934, German Catholic Action Leader Shot by Hitler’s Henchmen
|title=Remembering Dr. Erich Klausener, 1/25/1885 – 6/30/1934, German Catholic Action Leader Shot by Hitler’s Henchmen
|publisher=Sanity and Social Justice .net
|publisher=Sanity and Social Justice .net
|date=June 29, 2014
|date=June 29, 2014
|url=http://sanityandsocialjustice.net/?tag=erich-klausener
|url=http://sanityandsocialjustice.net/?tag=erich-klausener
|accessdate=August 2, 2104}</ref> Historians compare the harsh criticism this murderous event received abroad with relative ignorance shown within German nation.<ref>{{cite book
|accessdate=August 2, 2104}}</ref> Historians compare the harsh criticism this murderous event received abroad with relative ignorance shown within German nation.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Goebbels: A Biography
|title=Goebbels: A Biography
|author=Peter Longerich
|author=Peter Longerich
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xAdxAwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Longerich+Goebbels&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MTvdU8jXC-Oj0QWi3oHQBA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xAdxAwAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Longerich+Goebbels&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MTvdU8jXC-Oj0QWi3oHQBA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA
}}</ref>
}}</ref>
|group=note}} The case has become a byword for a failed act of [[appeasement]] toward a ruthless despot and/or [[totalitarian]] [[ideology]].
|group=note}} The Munich case has become a byword for a failed act of [[appeasement]] toward a ruthless despot and/or [[totalitarian]] [[ideology]]. Peace and freedom and the right to live - they can only be possible in lands where men are determined that totalitarian symbols such as the [[swastika]] shall not be raised in triumph and where the pages of totalitarian demagoguery such as the '[[Mein Kampf]]' can newer become the supreme law.
{| class="wikitable floatright"
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![[Winston Churchill|W. Churchill]]'s reaction to the Munich Agreement on October 5, 1938 in the House of Commons<ref>{{cite web |title=Speeches of Winston Churchill: The Munich Agreement |author=W. Churchill |chapter=1930 - 1938: The Wilderness |publisher=The Churchill Centre |url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/101-the-munich-agreement |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>
![[Winston Churchill|W. Churchill]]'s reaction to the Munich Agreement on October 5, 1938 in the House of Commons<ref>{{cite web |title=Speeches of Winston Churchill: The Munich Agreement |author=W. Churchill |chapter=1930 - 1938: The Wilderness |publisher=The Churchill Centre |url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/101-the-munich-agreement |accessdate=January 1, 2014}}</ref>
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|''‘We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat … you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi régime. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude. Do not let us blind ourselves to that. Many people, no doubt, honestly believe that they are only giving away the interests of Czechoslovakia, whereas I fear we shall find that we have deeply compromised, and perhaps fatally endangered, the safety and even the independence of Great Britain and France. … we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road … we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.’''
|''‘We have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat … you will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi régime. We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude. Do not let us blind ourselves to that. Many people, no doubt, honestly believe that they are only giving away the interests of Czechoslovakia, whereas I fear we shall find that we have deeply compromised, and perhaps fatally endangered, the safety and even the independence of Great Britain and France. … we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road … we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: '''“Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting”'''. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, '''the first foretaste of a bitter cup''' which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.’''
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