| United Kingdom Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (March 18, 1869 – November 9, 1940) arrives at Flughafen Köln-Butzweilerhof (“Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport”) for talks regarding the Sudetenland crisis in Bad Godesberg. These talks resulted in the Munich Agreement 8 days later. The Munich Agreement was signed on September 30, 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and Fascist Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, where more than 3,000,000 people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is also known in some areas as the Munich Betrayal (Czech: “Mnichovská zrada”; Slovak: “Mníchovská zrada”), because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic. Chamberlain left Heston at 1045 Hours on the morning of September 22, bound for the spa town of Bad Godesberg near Cologne, the final part of the journey by car after his plane flight. He again addressed the assembled press on the tarmac. A peaceful solution of the Czechoslovakia problem is an essential preliminary to a better understanding between the British and German peoples; and that, in turn, is the indispensable foundation of European peace. European peace is what I am aiming at, and I hope this journey may open the way to get it. The plane in which he was to fly, a Lockheed 14 Super Electra, had “established a civil aviation record by flying from London to Stockholm and back in a single day,” the previous Sunday and was soon to be put into service on a new route to West Africa. The same 2 pilots that flew to Sweden were to be in charge of the Prime Minister’s flight. For this journey Chamberlain took with him not only Sir Horace J. Wilson (August 23, 1882 – May 19, 1972), but also a small Foreign Office team, comprising William Strang (January 2, 1893 – May 27, 1978), the head of the Central Department, Sir William Malkin (April 17, 1883 – July 4, 1945), the head of the Legal Department, and 2 secretaries. Malkin’s presence was a sure sign that Chamberlain hoped to use this meeting to deal with the practical intricacies of implementing the understanding he had already reached with Hitler at Berchtesgaden. The party landed at Cologne soon after 1230 Hours, where they were met by Sir Nevile M. Henderson (June 10, 1882 – December 30, 1942) and Sir Ivone A. Kirkpatrick (February 3, 1897 – May 25, 1964), as well as by a still more impressive welcoming committee than had greeted Chamberlain the previous week. Waiting on the tarmac was a “galaxy of dignitaries,” including Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop (April 30, 1893 – October 16, 1946), Staatssekretär (“State Secretary”) Ernst von Weizsäcker (May 25, 1882 – August 4, 1951) and Ambassador Herbert von Dirksen (April 2, 1882 – December 19, 1955) from the London embassy. Chamberlain was invited to inspect a Schutzstaffel (SS) “guard of honor of youthful giants, with black steel helmets, black uniforms, white collars and white gloves.” Meanwhile, the band of the SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler struck up with gusto their own rendition of “God Save the King.” From the airfield Chamberlain was driven to his hotel in a large black Mercedes, the Union Jack and swastika flying side by side on the hood; the roads were lined with cheering crowds, and decked out with alternately hung swastikas and Union Jacks. The sumptuous Hotel Petersberg sat on a hilltop across the Rhine from Godesberg, and enjoyed spectacular views from its terraces and windows over the river, the town, and the local countryside. “Hitler is Germany’s greatest travel agent,” the Daily Express breathlessly told its readers. “The season has been bad this year, but he has sold a trip to the Rhine to Britain’s Prime Minister.” Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) pressured Chamberlain to accept his conditions, creating the impression that Sudeten Germans were being threatened. Chamberlain acquiesced, with the condition that Hitler not have any designs on further Czechoslovak territories and ethnic Czech nationals evacuate by September 26, which Chamberlain moved to October 1. The Czechoslovak people backed full mobilization the next day. The agreement’s stipulations gave strength to those in Britain that wanted to confront Hitler immediately, but the Czechoslovak government agreed to the conditions. But on September 25, hitler added demands for ethnic Germans in Poland and Hungary. Later that evening, Hitler made his response in a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast; he claimed that the Sudetenland was “the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe” and gave Czechoslovakia a deadline of September 28 at 1400 Hours to cede the Sudetenland to Germany or face war. As Germany, Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia made ready for war, Chamberlain’s ambassador to Italy, Eric Drummond, 7th Earl of Perth (August 17, 1876 – December 15, 1951) called on Italy’s Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano (March 18, 1903 – January 11, 1944) to ask that Italian Duce and Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) broker a deal to avoid war. Mussolini was only too happy to be the intermediary between Chamberlain and Hitler; he responded by telephoning Italy’s ambassador to Germany and told him “Go to the Fuhrer at once, and tell him that whatever happens, I will be at his side, but that I request a twenty-four-hour delay before hostilities begin. In the meantime, I will study what can be done to solve the problem.” Chamberlain was in Parliament when the meeting was announced; he was roundly cheered by his peers for the achievement. Thus, a meeting between French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier (June 18, 1884 – October 10, 1970), Mussolini, Hitler, Chamberlain and their entourages was set for September 29 in Munich. The agreement was officially introduced by Mussolini although in fact the Italian plan was nearly identical to the Godesberg proposal: the German army was to complete the occupation of the Sudetenland by 10 October, and an international commission would decide the future of other disputed areas. On September 30, upon his return to Britain, Chamberlain delivered his controversial “peace for our time” speech to crowds in London. In April 1939, Hitler ordered the occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia, breaking the terms of the Munich Agreement. Chamberlain knew that he must meet Hitler’s aggression in the future with force. Chamberlain has been derided for the Munich Agreement, but modern assessments revealed that Britain was not in a condition for war in September 1938. Chamberlain used the 11 months leading up to the invasion of Poland to rebuild Britain’s military, mitigating some of the criticism he faced for the Munich Agreement. But many Czechs and Slovaks, who faced the longest occupation of their territory by the Germans, never forgave Britain or Chamberlain. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0514.jpg |
| Image Size | 277.71 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2037 x 1301 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 22, 1938 |
| Location | |
| City | Cologne |
| State or Province | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Country | Germany |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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