Germans in the country were automatically citizens of the Third Reich while Czechs had their own government, though the Nazis took over the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, communications and customs. The next morning he signed a declaration that officially created the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. That day Hitler made his first and last visit to Prague. A photo of first democratic president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, later destroyed by the Nazis, on Old Town Square. Numerous Czechs gathered in Wenceslas Square, where they sang the national anthem. Czechs hurled snowballs at the vehicles and refused to give lost Germans directions. (Earlier, at the Munich Conference in September of 1938, Hitler had acquired the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.) While German citizens of the capital city saluted and waved swastika flags, some Czechs let out heartwrenching sobs while others displayed anger as they were horrified, overcome with powerlessness and hopelessness. Burns March 15, 1939: a horrific day in historyĪdolf Hitler got his wish to conquer Czechoslovakia when German troops, fighting off a ravaging snowstorm and vehicles’ technical problems, marched into Prague Maand took over Bohemia and Moravia.
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