Although omens pointing to an operation against Czechoslovakia planned for the middle of March had been evident for months, it was nevertheless more like a surprise for the great majority of the population of the historische Länder (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) when, in the late evening of 14th March of this year the occupation of Mährisch Ostrau [now Ostrava, Czech Republic], the industrial and coal and steel centre and the surrounding areas, was announced. Shortly before this, it had become known that the President Dr. [Emil] Hácha escorted by the foreign minister Dr. [František] Chvalkovsky had travelled to Berlin on the afternoon of the same day to negotiate with the Reich Chancelor Hitler.
If one had initially been inclined to think that this was a temporary or partial occupation, then one was disabused on the morning 15th March. From early on and in fiercely driving snow, lorries and other motorised divisions of all branches of the Reich army entered Prague, and few hours later offices of the army, the Gestapo and other organisations (SS, SA etc.) were already active.
The population was indescribably dejected, yet they accepted the knowledge of the troop invasion silently and without incident.
The commanding general, who was the highest authority, immediately issued bilingual decrees and which ordered the first curfew for between the hours of 8 o’clock in the evening and 6 o’clock in the morning. The Führer arrived at Prague Castle in the evening, where he was “enthusiastically” received the following morning by the Germans in Prague and by the Sudeten German high school students who had been sent to Prague with the troop invasion. He left Prague at around midday and betook himself to Brünn [now Brno], where he was acclaimed by the sizeable German population of the town and everyone in the surrounding area. After his departure the curfew was extended to midnight.
Understandably, the Jewish population was seized by a tremendous mood of panic, all the more so as it became known that Jewish institutions (HICEM, Sozialamt, Palästinaamt etc.) had been closed and partly sealed administratively by the German authorities. The leaders of these organisations had to undergo police interrogation, some were imprisoned, e.g. Frau Dr. Schmolka, the commendable leader of HICEM, of whom it is said that she was taken to the newly established concentration camp near Michalovce, the existence of which is denied by the German and Czech press, etc. Owners of the numerous retail and wholesale firms in Jewish possession in most cases were immediately subjected to “Arisierung” of their businesses through handover to reliably Aryan employees etc.
However, the intention of most Jews to depart for abroad, apart from the difficulty of entering other countries, was made impossible from the moment of the occupation onwards by tying it to the approval of the German authorities. Whilst the procurement of an Ausreisgenehmigung had been relatively easy in the very first days as the German military command was responsible for this, in the course of the first weeks the Gestapo took control of the agenda and thereby of a life of suffering for many. There are many cases where Jews queued many long nights to obtain the Ausreisegenehmigung and just before they reached their turn they were dispersed by the police. Many did not spend the nights in their homes from fear of the Gestapo, and very many who were afraid to show their passport to the Gestapo because of political or other reasons crossed the Polish border illegally, an attempt that often cost many 1,000 Kronen [Cz. Koruna]. In many cases, however, crossing the border in this manner was not successful, and the Polish guards chased the refugees back over the Czech border, where their belongings up to RM. 3.- were confiscated by the German Gestapo men. They were then taken across the border by the Gestapo by a different route.
The situation in Prague intensified in the final days of March, the official decree appeared stating that Ausreiseansuchen from Jews would no longer be accepted, a measure that is hopefully only temporary.
The circumstances must be regarded as better than might otherwise have been, as the Czech fascist movement of [former] Legion General Radola Gajda, who began to develop a very active function through the German troops immediately after the occupation of the country, was stopped by the German authorities at the beginning, for it cannot be foreseen what harm the goings on of the Czech fascists meant for the Jewish population. The Czech population as a whole rejected the nasty antisemitic deeds of this vanishingly small group, much as its attempts to incite hatred in these people in previous months remained almost without resonance. Nevertheless one should not overlook the fact that another tactic for excluding Jews from all occupations and trades etc. was in progress with hundred per cent success. The exclusion of Jewish and non-Aryan members in which they often played significant roles was carried out by professional etc. organisations in the minimum time, not officially.
The situation was also very threatening for the thousands who had attempted to flee to the historische Länder after the occupation of the Sudetenland, as well as the Reichsdeutsche and Austrian emigrants living there.
The Gestapo has been carrying out continual arrests amongst these people, and in that context are the suicides of many exceptionally well-known personalities.
Gestapo headquarters in Prague has been established in the building of the well-known Jewish banking house Petschek.
The hope of many of those remaining in the historische Länder is that those nations willing to help will undertake a mass evacuation operation of those who still find themselves there, to find asylum anywhere else through their own efforts, because many of them lack even the smallest connection to abroad.
