The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia... that was the name for Czech lands occupied by the
Germans, but why was it called as such? To what extent was it really a protectorate?
Well that is what you're going to learn in this video; we're going to have an in-depth
look at the German occupation of the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Keep watching!
Hey good have you back on the channel; if you're new: I'm Stefan. I am a Dutch history teacher. I like
to cover history, preferably on location. I'm overlooking Prague right now; if you find this
content interesting, consider subscribing. Hit that notification bell! Earlier I did make a video about
the Czech lands or Czechia during WW2 and now we're gonna get a more in-depth
look to the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The state of Czechoslovakia was declared
towards the end of October 1918. It was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before which was
crumbling by now. The new state was endorsed by the Allies. Inside Czechoslovakia there were not
only Czechs and Slovaks living but also many Germans, as well as Ruthenians, Hungarians and Poles. Now in
this mixed population gave problems in the years to come: in 1938 the Sudan Crisis occurred. Adolf
Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, wanted to claim this territory and it was because of the many
ethnic Germans living in that territory. The British and the French they applied a policy of
appeasement: giving in to Hitler's demands hoping he would stop and there was conference in Munich
where the prime ministers of Britain and France: Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier
came together to meet Hitler. Also Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was there... who wasn't
there with the representatives of the Czechoslovak Republic. Hitler was granted the Sudeten Area and
thus what remained of Czechoslovakia was a weak rump state that would be at the mercy of their
neighboring countries. Eventually Czechoslovakia was dismembered: Slovakia became a Nazi puppet
state; the Poles got some; the Hungarians got some and Germans took over the remaining Czech lands.
On Hitler's orders of 16th March, 1939, he formally guaranteed the Protectorate of Bohemia
and Moravia. “The Protectorate had neither its own representation abroad nor rights to an independent
army. The government’s army was assigned a symbolic role and filled only ancillary services. Parliament
was dissolved and political life was simplified.” So it was called the Protectorate of Bohemia
and Moravia. Let's first address the word 'protectorate': a protectorate is a form of political
relationship between two states where one state agrees to protect the other from external threats.
In exchange for control over certain aspects of the protected state's affairs. The logic
Nazis used was that the Czech lands had to be protected from neighboring countries such as
Poland and Hungary. Most of the times a protected state enjoys somewhat of autonomy. I'll
get to that later, and Bohemia and Moravia were basically the geographical names of the Czech
lands. “It is difficult to assess the impact of German administration of the Protectorate in any
fair and dispassionate way. On the one hand there is the view of apologists for the German regime that
argued that Germany brought greater efficiency to the business sector, providing jobs and improving
the social welfare of the workers – Czech as well as German.” To what extent was that the case here?
Well after the German takeover there was one month of military rule; mid-April the civilian rule of the
so-called Reichsprotektor began. The German Reichsprotektor was some kind of governor of the area
and the first governor of the Protectorate became Konstantin von Neurath: he was not an fervent
Nazi. Actually he was more of a career diplomat and his goal was to let the Germans and Czechs
live in harmony. He was against harsh policies he wanted to treat the Czechs in an appropriate way
and favored autonomy. The Czech press continued to exist albeit on the German censorship but it
did give the Czechs a feeling of freedom, yet got a competitor: Frank became the head of the
administration. Frank was a Sudeten German and a fervent Nazi. On top of all that the Gestapo and
the SS became independent from Von Neurath. On economic terms the Czech businesses came in German
hands quick. The German authorities seized to Czech gold and also applied an unfavorable exchange rate
for the Czechs and this here gave the Czechs the feeling that our country was being looted by the
Germans. In July there was a census with the goal of the German administration to determine who was
Jewish and who or not. All this information was needed by the German authorities because
each name would be checked against the synagogue records which had been seized when the Germans
entered the Sudetenland and the Protectorate; in this way they would be able to check who had been
born Jewish and had later been baptized. In Nazi eyes conversion to Christianity made no difference; the
person remained Jewish. President Emil Hácha remained on his position and was allowed to
found a new mass organization the National Partnership (Národní souručenství). With this he hoped to strengthen
Czech independence. Other political parties were abolished; a new government was sworn in on the
28th of April:their job was to find work for the unemployed Czechs, most of who came from the now
disband and Czechoslovak Army. Many of them found work in Germany and then there were also the Czech
fascists who manifested themselves via different organizations. Some of them were observed in a new
government while others went to Germany and took German citizenship to become part of the German
police forces. When Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939 and Britain and France
declared war on Germany shortly after, many Czechs hoped that Germany would be defeated in war and
that the country would soon be liberated. Czech demonstrations against the Germans followed where
Czechoslovak flags were shown. The German police opened fire killing one person and wounding a
student: his name was Jan Opetal and he would soon die because of his wounds. Now this person
became a symbol of the Czech resistance; after his funeral students sung the Czechoslovak anthem.
As a result many students were arrested and the ring leaders were executed. 1 000 were sent to
Oranienburg concentration camp. Von Neurath found this too severe and he gradually released the
students. But more repression followed as Hitler ordered the Czech universities to be closed in
November. When September 1941 came around Hitler had made up his mind. He found Von Neurath too mild
and he installed Reinhard Heydrich as Deputy Reichsprotektor. He nicknamed Heydrich the 'Man with the
Iron Heart' and he soon got the nickname the 'Butcher of Prague'. “Tall and blond, he appeared to be the ideal Aryan. […]
After being appointed to Himmler’s staff in 1931 he gradually became his right-hand man.
He also proved completely amoral, unrestrained by law or social convention and a brutal psychopath.
He was entirely suitable for this next stage in Hitler’s policy towards the Czechs.” Heydrich created
a reign of terror: he made a census of the Jewish population and he also established Terezín (Theresienstadt)
to become a Jewish ghetto from where many Jews would be deported to the death camps.
He established a Standgerichte that carried out 770 death penalties and 1 000 imprisonments in a concentration camp.
None of the judges had in this Standgerichte had any expertise but as
long as they were committed Nazis they would do. Now these trials were carried out in secret and
death sentences were carried out immediately. Heydrich put the administration under his
control and appointed own nominees among which Czech collaborating officer Emanuel Moravec,
known as the Czech Quisling. Heydrich was assassinated on 27 May 1942 by Jan Kubiš, a Czech,
and Josef Gabčík, a Slovak; two members of the Czechoslovak military group who had
been parachuted into the Protectorate in December 1941. More than 1 500 people died and more than
3 000 were arrested and villages of Lidice and Ležáky were razed and their citizens murdered
or deported. Martial law was imposed after Heydrich's death. Authority passed to State Secretary Karl
Hermann Frank. In August 1943 Wilhelm Frick was appointed Reichsprotektor. As German losses on
Eastern Front increased more checks were recruited to work in the German factories. Also the German
administration in towns and villages was simplified to release as many German men for service. Many
Czechs were aware that Germany was losing the war. More agents were dropped in the region by the
British on the initiative of Edvard Benes who was the leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile
but they were not able to set up an effective resistance. There were communists in the country
that were joined by British POWs that had escaped to form squads, but they lacked the expertise and
the weaponry to carry out effective resistance. An uprising did occur in neighboring Slovakia which
was crushed by the Germans. Until late in the war it remained relatively quiet in the Czech lands.
In May 1945 the Czech resistance launched an uprising in Prague. As the German signed the document of
capitulation in Rheims the Battle of Prague raged on; in the outlying districts as well in the city
center. On 8 May German General Rudolf Toussaint signed a protocol which allowed their retreat west.
This is not stop the battles immediately. Eventually on the early hours of the 9th of
May the unconditional surrender was a fact and the first Soviet tanks entered the Czech capital.
Feel free to add any more information you have below. If you wanna learn the full story about Czechia
during World War II, click here. And if you want to know how things fared in Greece, I did make an
episode of the Greek collaborationist government. You can find that one right here. See you later.