Sofia, Feb 15 (CTK) – Germany is to lend the Czech Republic the original of the Munich Agreement, a key historical document from 1938, Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky said on Thursday after meeting his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel on the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Bulgarian capital Sofia.
“I appreciate very much the fact that the German side will lend the Czech Republic the original of the Munich Agreement. I thanked Sigmar Gabriel,” Stropnicky tweeted.
He also said that, during the talk, he appreciated the excellent level of the two countries’ mutual relations and stressed the significance of a strategic dialogue between both states.
“Our joint goal is a further deepening of strategic cooperation, within the EU as well,” he added.
The agreement, which was signed on September 30, 1938, in Munich by representatives of Britain, France, Italy and Germany, made Czechoslovakia, which had not been invited to the negotiations, give up the fortified border regions mostly inhabited by Sudeten Germans and cede them to Hitler’s Germany. It was one of the milestones of Czechoslovakia’s history after its establishment in 1918.
In 2008, the National Museum in Prague exhibited three originals of the Munich Agreement. The French original likely got lost.
The display included original maps, which were part of the documents, detailing the territorial demands of Nazi Germany towards Czechoslovakia, and were carried away by the USA a few years after the war.
The rare documents were insured in millions of crowns and their display was strictly guarded. Over 250,000 people attended the exhibition.
