George Korper - March 26, 2007
Germans Move into Sudetenland
Do you remember Chamberlain? Did you, did you...
Do I remember Chamberlain?
...guys talk about...
Of course, of course.
What, what were the reactions to Chamberlain?
Well, terrible, terrible, terrible because that was the death knell, you see. That area which surrounds Bohemia Moravia, just ??? of 300,000 Germans which was settled by the, by the uh, by the uh, Habsburg's from 1612. Sixteen-hundred-and-twelve was the Battle of the White Mountains, just outside of Prague and where the Czech kings were beaten and uh, the Habsburgs took over. They started settling Germans in the area 300 years before, before the First World War. These people after the war became full-time citizens, again, the work of Masaryk. If it hadn't been for Masaryk, the, the Czechs would have probably beat them out which would have been a wonderful thing to do, but they didn't. He said, "These people have lived here. We are not going to displace them and they are full citizens. If they want German schools, let them have it. If they want to send their children to Czech schools, that's their choice. Totally free." My father claimed--and he hated the Germans, of course--he was big patriot my father, that was the reason for it--for, for what happened because the, the Stock people had anywhere in the world to move, move him. They liked him very much. They could have moved him. They moved back the second in command, a Mr. Green, who was in charge of that manufacturing--worked under my father but he, he was the director in charge of manufacture. They moved him out and found a home for him in Palestine in the, in the distillery. Uh, the third one got stuck but the third one had--was married to a, a Gentile, so he is survived. Okay, he--they, they didn't touch these intermarriages...
[interruption in interview]
Your father did not, did not want to leave or did he...
He did not want to leave because he said, "We are Czech Jews, going back generations. I have the papers to prove it and they cannot consider us other than full, full citizens and they treat us the same as the rest of the nation. This is not Austria where they were all German speaking so he planned the excuse to take over in the Anschluß in 1938. And this is not Germany where he will know they were his citizens. He claimed that they were poison of the nation. This is a--this was a free country which was occupied. He has to treat us the same as the rest of the people."
And, what was his reaction when the Germans were going to the Sudetenland?
When they entered that Sudetenland, he, he reacted like everybody else. He said, "Well, okay, it's, it's, it's terrible that they sold us down the river," because they--there was a little entente--an agreement that they will stand together Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, in fact, Britain and, and uh, France. Britain and--now I am not sure if Russia was in this, probably not. I'm not sure. But, I have a feeling that there was some kind of agreement, agreement because there were Slavs, okay, the Czechs uh, with Russia as well. Anyway, but the disappointment was with France and Great Britain that, that, that a Brit should sign something like this. And, you know how he came back, Chamberlain? Big victory. "We can't, we can't uh, we can't risk a war on account of people we know nothing about." In the meantime, when I came to England I found that, that we were more civilized and more advanced in manufacturing, in business, in everything else that we man...manufactured like glass, textiles, and so on, than ???
Peace in our time.
Peace in our time, yes.
And what, what were his feelings...
So it's alright so, so that was--that had to be accepted. I mean, and I should mention to you that any further defense of our own--we had quite a lot of trained--apparently army vehicles was outdated but, yeah, it was good and they built us a sort of small Maginot Line in the mountains which were all in the Sudetenland. There were heavy guns which was their specialty. They, they exported guns and the Bren guns--the Bren gun machine gun was the, the, the weapon of choice of the British Army right through the war. So, that was made in Brno.
And, and Beneš, was Beneš supported?
Uh, Beneš, no. Beneš--again, immediately, immediately there was a sign of the Germans, possibly invading uh, into, into parts of his, part of his government and the got Poland. So, so under Masaryk I don't know that this would have happened. But, this is, this is well after the...
[interruption in interview]
...but, the fact is when the Germans marched in, my father still believed that it is going to be not so easy but survive it? There is no question. He didn't want to send me to England and I must tell you very quickly that even, even though we had this first cousin, who I think I mentioned to you, living in, in London and who was a very, very nice man--the, the, the--a viola player, right? He had a, had a good business. He came from Jablonec--Gablonz which was in the Sudetenland and where they, they--world-known glass and exported in the whole world that is how he finished up in London. The company he worked for, that was his first job when he did his schooling. Um, so they lived in Gablonz and his first job was a, was a glass exporting company and they sent him to London to be their agent there and then he stayed. So, uh, how did I get to this? Yes, so my father, even after the Sudetenland situation believed--and, when the Germans marched in, still believed that, that the Jews they had to be a little bit tougher, but that--don't forget, he was still in his job when I, when I left. He was still in his job, my father. So, I don't know how he reacted when he lost the job, when the star came out. This I don't know. And, my sister pretends she doesn't remember. She does not talk about it. She does not...
No one believed they would kill them?
Yes, about killing that, that, wasn't even their worse dream, okay? [coughs] So...
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