| United Kingdom Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (March 18, 1869 – November 9, 1940) greets Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) at the Führerbau (“the Führer’s building”) in Munich to discuss the Sudeten Crisis. Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Italian Duce and Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier (June 18, 1884 – October 10, 1970) signed the Munich Agreement. Discussions began at the Führerbau immediately after Chamberlain and Daladier arrived, giving them little time to consult. The meeting was held in English, French, and German. A deal was reached on September 29, and at about 0130 Hours on September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement. The agreement was officially introduced by Mussolini although in fact the Italian plan was nearly identical to Hitler’s Bad Godesberg proposal of September 24. The next day after he issued the proposal, however, Hitler added new demands, insisting that the claims of ethnic Germans in Poland and Hungary also be satisfied. In the Munich Agreement, The German Heer (“Army”) was to complete the occupation of the Sudetenland by October 10, and an international commission would decide the future of other disputed areas. The 3rd Reich would essentially control Czechoslovakia without occupying the rest of it. On September 30, after some rest, Chamberlain went to Hitler’s apartment in the Prinzregentenstraße and asked him to sign a statement calling the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 18, 1935 “symbolic of the desire of our two countries never to go to war with one another again.” After Hitler’s interpreter translated it for him, he happily agreed. Chamberlain’s Lockheed Electra landed at Heston Aerodrome that same day, and he spoke to the spectators there: “The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine [shows paper to crowd]. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains, but I would just like to read it to you: “We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0516.jpg |
| Image Size | 721.42 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2759 x 3480 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 29, 1938 |
| Location | |
| City | Munich |
| State or Province | Bavaria |
| 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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