THE CASE OF BRUNO WEIGL
Commonwealth and Foreign
THE last has not been heard of Bruno Weigl nor of the "barbarous and mediaeval character" of Czechoslovakia. Bruno Weigl, it will be remembered, was a German citizen employed in a Czech gas-mask firm in Prague. Suspected both of industrial and of military spying, he was arrested last November. He was found to be a member of a Nazi organisation which, even for German citizens, is forbidden in this country, and to be an agent between Nazis here and in Germany. It was in order that he should admit this, so the Germans hold, that Weigl was maltreated by the Czecho- slovak police.
Weigl was released on May 20th, and went at once with his story to the German Legation in Prague. He was then conducted over the frontier. The German Minister in Prague, Dr. Eisenlohr, took the case to Dr. ICrofta; the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister. M. Krofta expressed his extreme regret if the story should be true and said he would make immediate enquiries from the Ministry of the Interior. On enquiry, it was found that Weigl's story was not true and that there was other evidence of this than that of the officials concerned.
Diplomatic negotiations were in progress when, on June ath, the full story was published in Berlin by the German official 'press agency and the controlled German Press. The official Czech press agency immediately pub- lished a denial from the Ministry of the Interior. The German Press talked large of" counter measures," of diplo- matic measures being insufficient, and openly threatened Czechoslovakia. In private conversation German officials involved in the case recalled the fate of Almeria, and said that the world must learn that no German citizen could be harmed with impunity.
,Alarm reached a high pitch on Saturday when the" Leipzig" affair was reported, when the Blum Government was tottering to its fall, when the Germans were demanding intervention in Spain and counter measures in Czechoslovakia, and Russia and France seemed hors de combat. Sunday passed and by the middle of the week the German Press was quieter again and diplomatic negotiations were again the method being used by the Germans to clear up the Weigl case. The Germans are demanding the public disavowal and punish- ment of the officials who are supposed to have maltreated Weigl. The CzechS hold fast to their denial that the man was maltreated. If they continue in this position, so the Germans say, the situation will again be serious. The Germans have up their sleeves other cases which are likely to be presented before the world at a suitable moment, just as Weigl's case was saved up for four weeks. The Czechs, on the other hand, have at least ten to every one of the German cases, and these are not just the stories of Communists and emigres, they rest on documentary evidence of the maltreat- ment of Czech citizens by the German police. The last, therefore, has not been heard of police methods in Central Europe.
But the last has not been heard for other reasons than that there is much more to hear. More will be heard because it serves the German purpose that Czechoslovakia shall, once and for all, be intimidated ; and the German chance of doing this becomes smaller and smaller as England becomes more and more aware of the tactics that are being played and the issues which are at stake.
The issue is the independence of Central Europe. With- out Czechoslovakia German influence would be supreme in Poland, Hungary, Austria, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Greece, Bulgaria. is practically supreme already, but the pro- montory which stretches into Germany and unfalteringly Prague, June 22nd. affirms its independence and its dislike of National Socialism is the centre. on which all the democratic hopes of South Eastern Europe are placed. Prague knows very well, for all the "unswerving, unity" of the Little Entente, that while hopes are placed on her she can do little placing of hopes on others in Central Europe. Czechoslovakia depends for her independence on her alliances with France and Russia, and on the sympathy of England for the independence of small countries.
It seems at the moment as if the Russian alliance has lost all practical value till the Soviet Government and the Army are reorganised. France is threatened also with a decline of her worth as an ally. The moment, therefore, has never been so opportune for Germany. Czech and German are each aware that if ever their two countries were left alone to fight things out, there could bd but one issne—that Prague should come within the German sphere of influence. The two means of bringing this about are (t) by forcing Prague to renounce the Soviet pact, (2) by putting Henlein, the leader of the Sudetendeutsch in Czechoslovakia, as a German watchdog in the Prague Government. The Czechoslovak Government would then _have no political—and more important, no military—secrets from Germany. Peace would then be secure in Eastern Europe, because the generation of 1937 would have given to Germany what the generation of 1914 died to prevent. Those who are con- vinced of Germany's desire for peace forget that peace hath her victories no less renowned than war. While France and Russia are weak and England is indifferent, Germany can achieve every one of her aims in Eastern Europe without stilling a blow.
In these circumstances it is obvious why the last has not been hcard of Bruno Weigl. He is a ready instrument in the hand of an unscrupulous German foreign policy. The Germans have lost on the first round. One more breach of diplomatic etiquette has alienated from them the sympathies of the British, and it was the British, above all, who were supposed to be' SO" revolted by' Czech police inethods that they, would decide to let Germany do her will. The first round is lost, but there will be a second and a third when the ' Leipzig ' has been "avenged." Only there will be no Almeria in Czechoslovakia and no civil war. -If one sign of revolt is shown by the Sudeten Germans, everything is prepared for its extinction. 'If one Czech town is trea' ed as Almeria was treated, there will be war in Europe. The Sudeten Germans know the first. The Reich Germans will do well to remember the second. X. Y. Z.
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