View source for Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

: See also ''[[Moravia]]''
{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name = ''Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren''<br>''Protektorát Čechy a Morava''
|conventional_long_name = Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
|common_name = Bohemia and Moravia
|continent   = Europe
|status      = Protectorate
|empire      = National Socialist Germany
|status_text = [[Protectorate]] and autonomous component of [[National Socialist Germany]]<ref name="Lemkin">[http://books.google.nl/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C&pg=PA343&dq=protectorate+of+bohemia+and+moravia+german+reich&hl=nl&ei=-gM5TNPMIcHKOMj-gYoK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=protectorate%20of%20bohemia%20and%20moravia%20german%20reich&f=false Lemkin, Raphaël: ''Axis Rule in Occupied Europe'', page 343. Harold Bold Verlag, 1944.]</ref>
|era         = World War II
|year_start  = 1939
|event_start = Established
|date_start  = March 15
|year_end    = 1945
|event_end   = Invasion of Allied forces
|date_end    = May 13
|p1          = Second Czechoslovak Republic
|flag_p1     = Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg
|s1          = Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
|flag_s1     = Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg
|image_flag   = Flag of Bohmen und Mahren.svg
|flag         = Flag of Czechoslovakia
|image_coat   = Bohemia Moravia Greater Arms 1939-1945.svg
|symbol       = Coat of arms of Czechoslovakia
|image_map    = Czechoslovakia 1939.SVG
|image_map_caption = Borders 1939–1945
|capital      = [[Prague]]
|currency     = Bohemian and Moravian koruna
|common_languages = [[German language|German]], [[Czech language|Czech]]
|leader1      = [[Konstantin von Neurath]]
|year_leader1 = 1939–1943
|leader2      = [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (acting)
|year_leader2 = 1941–1942
|leader3      = [[Kurt Daluege]] (acting)
|year_leader3 = 1942–1943
|leader4      = [[Wilhelm Frick]]
|year_leader4 = 1943–1945
|title_leader = State protector (''Reichsprotektor'')
|deputy1      = Emil Hácha
|year_deputy1 = 1939–1945
|title_deputy = State President
|stat_year1   = 1940
|stat_pop1     = 7380000
}}

The '''Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia''' ({{lang-de|Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren}}; {{lang-cs|Protektorát Čechy a Morava}}) was the [[protectorate]] which [[National Socialist Germany]] established in the rump remains of the truncated [[Czechoslovakia]] following the secession of the [[Sudetenland]],  [[Slovakia]]n [[independence]], the invasion of [[Teschen]] by [[Poland]] and the recovery of [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] by [[Hungary]]. The Protectorate was requested by the Czech [[government]]. It was established on 15 March, 1939 by Proclamation at [[Prague]] Castle, following the unanimous declaration of independence of [[Slovakia]] the previous day by the Slovak Diet. 

[[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] became autonomous [[German]]-administered territories which the [[National Socialist Germany|German]] state considered part of ancient Teutonic lands (being until 1919 [[Austria]]n Crown Lands). The Protectorate's existence came to an end with the invasion of the [[Soviet Union|Red]] army and USA army in April 1945.

==Immediate background==
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-1202-505, Prag, Burg, Besuch Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|285px|[[Adolf Hitler]] on his visit to [[Prague]] Castle after the establishment of the [[protectorate]]]]
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0210-504, Alois Elias.jpg|thumb|285px|[[Alois Eliáš]], first [[Prime Minister]] of the Protectorate, 1939–1941. He was found to be in regular contact with saboteurs and the illegal Czech Government in exile, and executed.]]
[[Image:Krejci Jaroslav sx.jpg|thumb|285px|[[Jaroslav Krejčí]], who succeeded Eliáš as Prime Minister (28 Sept 1941 to 19 Jan 1945) giving a speech in [[Tábor]]. After the war, Krejčí was sentenced by the Czech [[communists]] to 25-years in prison, where he died.]]
[[File:Heydrich in Farbe.png|thumb|285px|''[[SS-Obergruppenführer]]'' and General of Police [[Reinhard Heydrich]], ''Reichsprotektor'' (Reich Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia]]

The [[Sudetenland]] constituted a considerable part of the borderlands of Czechoslovakia with [[Germany]] and Austria and contained a majority of [[ethnic]] German inhabitants. Under the [[Munich Agreement]] it was detached from Czechoslovakia and incorporated directly into Greater Germany on 10 October, 1938. Five months later, after the Slovak Diet unanimously declared the independence of [[Slovakia]], the Czech President [[Emil Hácha]] and his Foreign Minister travelled to [[Berlin]] and persuaded [[Hitler]] into accepting his remaining rump state as a Protectorate. 

'''Post-war [[propaganda]]''', however, claims [[Reichskanzler]] Hitler demanded them to not resist the [[Wehrmacht|German troops]] about to enter Czechia. [[Hermann Göring]], in order to "accelerate the whole [[matter]]", allegedly threatened the bombing of [[Prague]], should the German occupation be met with resistance, though no such intention actually existed and there is no evidence of this 'threat'. Thus, under duress, as the war trial documents of the victors claim, Hácha accepted Czechia becoming a protectorate of the German Reich.<ref>[https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/03-14-46.asp]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/trialsofwarcrimi12inte/page/906/mode/2up?q=Milada+]</ref> Seemingly, a primary motivation for Germany doing so was German intelligence on the looming Soviet threat, and Czechia acting as a "Russian air base" against an exposed and vulnerable Germany. However, this is all speculation as there are no Minutes or other evidences to support these allegations.

==The Protectorate==
Bohemia and Moravia were subsequently declared a Protectorate of Germany and were placed under the supervision of the first ''Reichsprotektor'', 65 year-old Baron [[Konstantin von Neurath]], a diplomat. It was declared to be "autonomous and [[self]]-administrative" except for Foreign Affairs. It would also form part of the German Reich customs area.<ref>Woodward, Prof. E.L., Butler, Rohan, & Lambert, Margaret, ''Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939'', Third Series, vol.iv, His Majesty's Stationary Office, [[London]], 1951, p.288.</ref> Hácha remained as Head of State with his title of State President; German officials were included in departments analogous to cabinet ministries, while small German control offices were established locally. The Czech government and [[political]] system, reorganized by Hácha, continued in formal existence.

The [[Gestapo]] [political police] also established themselves in the Protectorate. Their activities were directed mainly against renegade Czech politicians and the [[intelligentsia]] opposing the loss of Czech sovereignty, communists, and other enemies of the State.  [[jews]] were dismissed from the civil service and placed in an extra-legal position. Political parties were banned, and as a result many [[Communist]] Party of Czechoslovakia [[leaders]] and members fled to the [[Soviet Union]].

German involvement in the government was generally moderate during the early period of the Protectorate.

==Internal opposition==
On October 18, 1939, the anniversary of the 1919 State, groups of Czechs demonstrated against the German Protectorate. The death on November 15, 1939 of a medical student who had been wounded in this October violence, precipitated widespread student demonstrations, and the authorities naturally retaliated. Politicians considered to be overtly sympathetic to Czech [[nationalism]] were arrested, as were an estimated 1,800 students and teachers known to be trouble-makers. On November 17 nine student leaders were executed, and hundreds were sent to [[concentration camp]]s in Germany.{{fact}} All universities and colleges in the Protectorate were then closed.

On September 27, 1941, the Reich Government adopted a more radical policy in the Protectorate. SS official [[Reinhard Heydrich]] was appointed Deputy Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. Under his authority Prime Minister [[Alois Eliáš]] was arrested, having maintained contact with the government-in-exile. Because of his participation also in the anti-[[Nazi]] resistance he was later executed. Heyrich reorganised the Czech government and all Czech cultural organizations were closed. The Gestapo also carried out arrests. The deportation of jews to concentration camps was to be organized, and the fortress town of Theresienstadt was made into a ghetto station for [[jewish]] families. On June 4, 1942, Heydrich died from septicaemia after being wounded by a [[terrorist]] assassin who had been parachuted into the Protectorate by the British RAF. Heydrich's successor, [[Colonel]] General of Germany's Order Police, [[Kurt Daluege]], ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the village of [[Lidice]] as a reprisal and a lesson to all as to what would happen if anything like this occurred again. 

==War effort==
The population of the protectorate was mobilized for labour that would aid the German war effort, and special offices were organized to supervise the management of industries important to that effort. Additional Czechs were drafted to work in coal mines, the iron and steel industry, and armaments production which already existed in the Protectorate. Consumer goods production, much diminished, was largely directed toward supplying the German armed forces. The protectorate's population was subjected to the same strict rationing throughout the Reich.

In 1943 the German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of [[Karl Hermann Frank]], German Minister of State for the entire police network in Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech labourers were dispatched to Germany proper. Within the Protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war. As in [[France]], the few resistance groups were mostly communists.

===German Administration===
Ultimate authority within the Protectorate was held by the Reich Protector (''Reichsprotektor''), the area's senior [[National Socialist]] administrator whose task it was to represent the interests of the German state. The Office and title were held by a variety of persons during the Protectorate's existence. In succession these were:
[[File:Vládní vojsko - uniforma (VHU).png|thumb|285px|Uniform of the army of the Protectorate (''Vládní vojsko'')]]
*16 March 1939 - 20 August 1943:
[[Konstantin von Neurath]], former Foreign Minister of [[National Socialist Germany|Germany]], Minister without Portfolio until 1943. He was removed from office after Hitler's dissatisfaction with his "soft policies" in 1941, although he still held the title until his official resignation in 1943.
*27 September 1941 - 30 May 1942:
[[Reinhard Heydrich]], chief of the Reich Security Main Office or RSHA (''Reichssicherheitshauptamt''). He was officially only a deputy to von Neurath, but in [[reality]] was granted supreme authority over the entire state apparatus of the Protectorate.
*31 May 1942 - 20 August 1943:
[[Kurt Daluege]], Chief of the ''Ordnungspolizei'' in the Interior Ministry, who was also officially a deputy Reich Protector.
*20 August 1943 - 5 May 1945:
[[Wilhelm Frick]], former General Plenipotentiary for the Reich Administration in Germany proper.

Next to the Reich Protector there was also a political office of State Secretary (from 1943 known as the State Minister to the Reich Protector) who handled most of the internal security. From 1939 to 1945 this person was [[Karl Hermann Frank]] the senior [[SS and Police Leader]] in the Protectorate.  A "paper command" of the [[Allgemeine-SS]], with no operational authority, was also established known as the SS-Oberabschnitt Böhmen-Mähren.

===Czech Government===

The Czech [[State President]] (Státní Prezident) under the period of German rule from 1939 to 1945 was [[Emil Hácha]] (1872–1945), who had been the President of the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]] since November 1938. [[Rudolf Beran]] (1887–1954) initially still held the office of [[Minister President]] (Předseda vlády) after the German take-over. He was soon replaced by [[Alois Eliáš]] on 27 April 1939, who was himself also sacked on 2 October 1941 not long after the appointment of [[Reinhard Heydrich]] as the new Reich Protector. Because of his contacts with the [[Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile]] Eliás was sentenced to death, with the execution carried out on 19 June 1942 shortly after Heydrich's [[Operation Anthropoid|own death]]. From 19 January 1942 the government was led by [[Jaroslav Krejčí]], and from January to May 1945 by [[Richard Bienert]], the former police chief of [[Prague]]. When the official dissolution of the Protectorate was proclaimed after the [[Prague Offensive|Liberation of Prague]] a radio call was issued for Bienert's arrest. This resulted in his conviction to a three-year prison term in 1947, during which he died in 1949.

Aside from the Office of the Minister President, the local Czech government in the Protectorate consisted of the Ministries of Education, Finance, [[Justice]], Trade, the Interior, Agriculture, and Public Labour, so still quite a considerable control over civilian matters. The Protectorate's foreign policy and military defence were under the exclusive control of the German government. The former foreign minister of Czechoslovakia [[František Chvalkovský]] became a [[Minister without Portfolio]] and permanent representative of the Czech administration in Berlin.

The most prominent Czech politicians in the Protectorate included:
*[[Alois Eliáš]] (1890–1942), a former Czech General who was eventually executed in 1942 for his secret contacts with the so-called [[Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile]] and internal terrorists. He was Minister-President from 1939 till his death.
*[[Ladislav Karel Feierabend]], Minister of Agriculture from 1939 to 1940. Fled in 1940 and joined the Czechoslovak 'government' in London.
*[[Jiří Havelka]], Minister of Traffic from 1939 to 1941.
*[[Josef Ježek]], Interior Minister from 1939 to 1942.
*[[Jan Kapras]], Minister of Education from 1939 to 1942. Suspected of [[subversion]] he was dismissed.
*[[Josef Kalfus]] (1880–1956), Minister of Finance from 1939 to 1945.
*[[Josef Nebeský]], party leader of the [[National Union]] from 1939 to 1941.
*[[Josef Fousek]] (1875–1942), party leader of the [[National Union]] from 1941 to 1942.
*[[Jaroslav Krejčí]] (1892–1956), Minister of Justice from 1939 to 1945, as well as Minister President from 1942 to 1945. After the war the communists sentenced him to 25-years in prison, where he died.
*[[Jindřich Kamenický]], Minister of Traffic from 1941 to 1945.
*[[Walter Bertsch]], Minister of Economics from 1942 to 1945.
*[[Richard Bienert]] (1881–1949), Interior Minister from 1942 to 1945, as well as the last Minister President in 1945. At the end of the war the communists prosecuted him for "[[treason]] and collaboration", but because of many mitigating circumstances he was sentenced only to three years in prison. He died in 1949.
*[[Adolf Hrubý]] (1893–1951), Minister of Agriculture from 1942 to 1945.
*[[Tomáš Krejčí]], [[Führer]] (Vůdce) of the [[National Union]] from 1942 to 1945.
*[[Emanuel Moravec]], Minister of Education from 1942 to 1945. Committed suicide at the end of the war.
*[[František Chvalkovský]], last Foreign Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. After the Foreign Ministry was closed in 1939, Chvalkovský became an envoy of the Protectorate in Germany. He was killed on a highway outside [[Berlin]] during an Allied Air raid on 25th February 1945.

==Population and the future plan==
In 1936 the population of [[Czecho-Slovakia]] was 15,187,000, of which 7,300,000 were Czechs, 2,300,000 Slovaks and 3,231,688 [[Germans]] plus numerous other nationalities including Hungarians, Ruthenians and jews.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica - Book of the Year 1938'', London, 1938, p.188.</ref> The Czechs made up approx. 43% of the population. However it is difficult to assess the exact population of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia after the [[Sudetenland]] and [[Slovakia]] [[left]] the former state as no census was subsequently taken. 

Hitler had approved a plan designed by [[Konstantin von Neurath]] and [[Karl Hermann Frank]], which projected the Germanization of the "racially valuable" half of the Czech population after the end of the war.<ref [[name]]="kroener255">{{cite book |last1=Kroener|first1=Bernhard R.|last2=Müller|first2=Rolf-Dieter|last3=Umbreit|first3=Hans|title=Germany and the Second World War:Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of power. Wartime administration, economy, and manpower resources 1942-1944/5|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2003|page=255|isbn=0198208731}}</ref> This consisted mainly of  industrial workers and farmers.<ref name="kroener255"/> The undesirable half was said to contain the troublesome so-called   intelligentsia, whom the National [[Socialists]] viewed as un-Germanizable and potentially [[DANGEROUS|dangerous]] agitators of Czech  nationalism, with their [[Great War]] disruptions and treachery during the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] still well within living memory. Some 9,000 [[Volksdeutsche]] from [[Bukovina]], [[Dobruja]], [[South Tyrol]], Bessarabia, Sudetenland and the [[Altreich]] were settled in the Protectorate during the war.<ref name="kroener255"/> The goal was to create a German settlement belt from Prague to Sudetenland, and to turn the surroundings of Olmetz, Budweis, [[Brünn]] and the area near the Slovak border into German enclaves.<ref name="kroener255"/> 

Further [[integration]] of the protectorate into the Reich was carried through by the employment of German apprentices, by transferring German evacuee children into schools located in the protectorate, and by authorizing marriages between Germans and assimilable Czechs.<ref name="kroener255"/> Germanizable Czechs were allowed to join the [[Reich Labour Service]] and be admitted to German universities.<ref name="kroener255"/>

==Administrative Subdivisions==
[[Image:Protektorat Bohmen-Mahren.png|thumb|right|285px|Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]]
[[File:Sudetenland.png|thumb|285px|''[[Reichsgau Sudetenland]]'', also short ''Sudetengau'', and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 1938/39 until 1945]]
===Protectorate Districts===
For administrative purposes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was divided into two Lands; Böhmen (Bohemia) and Mähren (Moravia). Each of these was further subdivided into ''Oberlandratsbezirke'', each comprising a number of ''Bezirke''.

{| border=0
|-
||'''Böhemia'''
|-
| [[Budweis]]
| [[Budweis]], [[Gumpolds]], [[Ledeč nad Sázavou|Ledetsch]], [[Pelhřimov|Pilgrams]], [[Tábor|Tabor]], [[Wittingau]]
|-
| [[Königgrätz]]
| [[Chrudim]], [[Hohenmauth]], [[Jitschin]], [[Königgrätz]], [[Königinhof]], [[Leitomischl]], [[Nachod]], [[Nový Bydžov|Neu-Bidschow]], [[Nymburk|Neuenburg]], [[Pardubitz]], [[Rychnov nad Kněžnou|Reichenau]], [[Semil]]
|-
| [[Plzeň|Pilsen]]
| [[Klattau]], [[Kralovice|Kralowitz]] [[Plzeň Region|Pilsen-Land]], [[Plzeň|Pilsen-Stadt]], [[Pisek]], [[Schüttenhofen]], [[Strakonice|Strakonitz]], [[Taus]]
|-
| [[Prag]]
| [[Beneschau]], [[Beraun]], [[Český Brod|Böhmisch-Brod]], [[Brandeis]], [[Jungbunzlau]], [[Kladno]], [[Kolin]], [[Laun]], [[Mělník|Melnik]], [[Pibrans]], [[Prag|Prag-Land-Nord]], [[Prag|Prag-Land-Süd]], [[Prag|Prag-Stadt]], [[Rakonitz]], [[Raudnitz]], [[Schlan]], [[Seltschan]], [[Čáslav|Tschaslau]]
|-
|'''Moravia'''
|-
| [[Brünn]]
| [[Boskowitz]], [[Brno|Brünn-Land]], [[Brno|Brünn-Stadt]], [[Kyjov (Hodonín District)|Gaya]], [[Hodonín|Göding]], [[Uherský Brod|Ungarisch-Brod]], [[Uherské Hradiště|Ungarisch-Hradisch]], [[Wischau]], [[Zlín|Zline]]
|-
| [[Iglau]]
| [[Velké Meziříčí|Groß-Meseritsch]], [[Iglau]], [[Moravské Budějovice|Mährisch-Budwitz]], [[Nové Město na Moravě|Neustadtl]], [[Třebíč|Trebitsch]]
|-
| [[Mährisch-Ostrau]]
| [[Frýdek-Místek|Friedberg]], [[Kremsier]], [[Litovel|Littau]], [[Ostrava|Mährisch-Ostrau]], [[Hranice na Moravě|Mährisch-Weißkirchen]], [[Olmütz|Olmütz-Land]], [[Olmütz|Olmütz-Stadt]], [[Prerau]], [[Proßnitz]], [[Valašské Meziříčí|Wallachisch-Meseritsch]], [[Vsetín|Wesetin]]
|-
|}

===NSDAP Districts===
For party administrative purposes the [[National Socialist Party]] extended its [[Gau]]-system to Bohemia and Moravia when the Protectorate was established. This step divided the remaining parts of Bohemia and Moravia up between its four surrounding ''Gaue'':
*[[Sudetenland]];
*[[Gau Bayreuth|Bayreuth]] (Bavarian Eastern March);
*[[Lower Austria|Lower Danube]];
*[[Upper Austria|Upper Danube]].

The resulting government overlap led to the usual authority conflicts typical of the [[Third Reich]] era. Seeking to extend their own [[powerbase]] and to facilitate the area's "[[Germanization|Aryanization]]" the [[Gauleiter]]s of the surrounding districts continually agitated for the liquidation of the Protectorate and its direct incorporation into the German Reich. [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] stated as late as 1943 that the issue was still to be decisively settled.<ref>[http://books.google.nl/books?id=zfxITVc66KMC&pg=PA274&dq=gaue+bohemia+and+moravia&hl=nl&ei=Cwc5TM-RENyUOMq7hYoK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gaue%20bohemia%20and%20moravia&f=false Teigh, Mikulas: ''Bohemia in History'', page 274. Cambridge University Press, 1998.]</ref>

==Stamps, currency, officials, documents==
<gallery widths="250" heights="250" perrow="4">
Image:50krobv.jpg|A bill of 50 [[Bohemian and Moravian koruna|Crowns]] of the Protectorate.
Image:1kc protektorat l.JPG|1 Crown or Koruna of the Protectorate.
Image:Stamp of Bohemia and Moravia 1939.jpg|Stamp of the Protectorate.
Image:Protektoratni obcanka 1943.jpg|Personal identification card of the Protectorate.
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[German history]]

[[Category:Nations]]
[[Category:History]]