The Death of Czecho -Slovakia It was Tuesday that saw
the final downfall of the Czecho- Slovak Republic. Last week the Federal President, Dr. Hacha, made last attempt to save the unity of the Republic by dismissing the Slovak Prime Minister, Father Tiso, and installing Dr. Sidor as his successor. An appeal by Father Tiso, on Monday, to Herr Hitler produced a demand from Berlin to Prague for the immediate summoning of the Slovak Diet, which on Tuesday, with Father Tiso reinstalled as Prime Minister, proclaimed the independence of Slovakia, and asked for the protection of the Reich. In Carpatho- Ukraine the Prime Minister, Father Voloshin, appealed to Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini, but neither made any attempt to hinder the advance of Hungarian troops, which are making slow progress towards the Polish frontier. On the afternoon of the same day President Hacha visited Berlin, where on Wednesday morning it was announced that Germany had assumed " protection " of the Czech people ; during the day German troops invaded Bohemia and Slovakia and entered Prague. Herr Hitler has once again applied the principle of self-determination, with the result that the Czechs and the Slovaks will be governed from Berlin and the Rutherians from Budapesth.
