Frontiers, Minorities, Transfers, Expulsions. British Diplomacy towards Czechoslovakia and Poland during WWII. Vol. I: Plans

0451514 - HÚ 2016 CZ eng B - Monography
Kuklík, J. - Němeček, Jan
Frontiers, Minorities, Transfers, Expulsions. British Diplomacy towards Czechoslovakia and Poland during WWII. Vol. I: Plans.
Prague: Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague: Prague: Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2015. 400 s. ISBN 978-80-87488-22-5
Institutional support: RVO:67985963
Keywords : frontiers * minorities * transfers * diplomacy * WWII
Subject RIV: AB - History

The first part of the edition deals with the relationship of the British Diplomacy to minority and frontier problems in Central Europe between 1939 and 1945 in the context of the Czechoslovak and Polish issues. Britain considered rather ineffective and inapplicable the system of minority treaties under the auspices of the League of Nations. During WWII, supporting the restoration of Czechoslovakia within its pre-Munich frontiers as well as an independent Poland, Britain was trying to find an alternative. In July 1942 the British War Cabinet approved the principle of the transfer of German minorities from Czechoslovakia, Poland and from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe to Germany. This British approach was based upon several reasons besides their belief that the resettlement of German minorities would strengthen the position of the respective states in Central Europe and help them effectively face the threat coming from the USSR as well as potentially from Germany. In addition, the transfers would eliminate a possibility that German minorities could again become a threat to European peace.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0252652