From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award

Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in prindple for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfilment:--

1. The evacuation will begin on the 1st October.

2. The United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall be completed by the 10th October, without any existing installations having been destroyed and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the evacuation without damage to the said installations.

3. The conditions governing the evacuation will be laid down in detail by an international commission composed of representatives of Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia.

4. The occupation by stages of the predominantly German territory by German troops will begin on the lst October. The four territories marked on the attached maps will be occupied by German troops in the following order: the territory marked No. I on the let and 2nd of October, the territory marked No. II on the 2nd and 3rd of October, the territory marked No. III on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October, the territory marked No. IV on the 6th and 7th of October. The remaining territory of preponderantly German character will be ascertained by the aforesaid intemational commission forthwith and be occupied by German troops by the 10th of October.

5. The international commission referred to in paragraph 3 will determine the territories in which a plebisdte is to be held. These territories will be occupied by international bodies until the plebiscite has been completed. The same commission will fix the conditions in which the plebiscite is to be held, taking as a basis the conditions of the Saar plebiscite. The commission will also fix a date, not later than the end of November, on which the plebisdte will be held.

6. The final determination of the frontiers will be carried out by the international commission. This commission will also be entitled to recommend to the four Powers, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, in certain exceptional cases minor modifications in the strictly ethnographical determination of the zones which are to be transferred without plebiscite.

7. There will be a right of option into and out of the transferred territories, the option to be exercised within six months from the date of this agreement. A German-Czechoslovak commission shall determine the details of the option, consider ways of faclitating the transfer of population and settle questions of prindple arising out of the said transfer.

8. The Czechoslovak Government will within a period of four weeks from the date of this agreement release from their military and police forces any Sudeten Germans who may wish to be released, and the Czechoslovak Government will within the same period release Sudeten German prisoners who are serving terms of imprisonment for political offences.

Adolf Hitler

Neville Chamberlain

Edouard Daladier

Benito Mussolini

Munich, September 29, 1938

Annex to the Agreement

His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the French Government have entered into the above agreement on the basis that they stand by the offer, contained in paragraph 6 of the Anglo-French proposals of the 19th September, relating to an international guarantee of the new boundaries of the Czechoslovak State against unprovoked aggression.

When the question of the Polish and Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia has been settled, Germany and Italy for their part will give a guarantee to Czechoslovakia.

Adolf Hitler

Neville Chamberlain

Edouard Daladier

Benito Mussolini

Munich, September 29, 1938

Declaration

The Heads of the Governments of the four Powers declare that the problems of the Polish and Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia, if not settled within three months by agreement between the respective Governments, shall form the subject of another meeting of the Heads of the Governments of the four Powers here present.

Adolf Hitler

Neville Chamberlain

Edouard Daladier

Benito Mussolini

Munich, September 29, 1938

Supplementary Declaration

All questions which may arise out of the transfer of the territory shall be considered as coming within the terms of reference to the international commission.

Adolf Hitler

Neville Chamberlain

Edouard Daladier

Benito Mussolini

Munich, September 29, 1938

Composition of the International Commission

The four Heads of Government here present agree that the international commission provided for in the agreement signed by them to-day shall consist of the Secretary of State in the German Foreign Office, the British, French and Italian Ambassadors accredited in Berlin, and a representative to be nominated by the Government of Czechoslovakia.

Adolf Hitler

Neville Chamberlain

Edouard Daladier

Benito Mussolini

Munich, September 29, 1938

British White Paper, No. 4, Cmd. 5848, London, H.M.S.0., 1938.

In pursuance of the request made by the Royal Hungarian and the Czechoslovak Govemments to the German and the Royal Italian Govemments to settle by arbitration the outstanding question of the areas to be ceded to Hungary, and in pursuance of the notes exchanged on the subject between the Govemments concerned on October 30th 1938> the German Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Italy and Emperor of Ethiopia, Count Galeazzo Ciano, have today met at the Belvedere Castle at Vienna and given the desired arbitral award in the names of their Govemments.

For this purpose they have invited to Vienna the Royal Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Koloman von Kanya, and the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Franz Chvalkovsky, in order to give them an opportunity in the first place again to explain the point of view of their Govemments.

This arbitral award, together with the map mentioned in paragraph I, has been handed to the Royal Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and to the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs. They have taken cognizance of it and have again confimmed, on behalf of their Govemments, the statement which they made on October 30th 1938 that they accept the arbitral award as a final settlement and that they undertake to carry it out unconditionally and without delay.

Done in the German and Italian languages in quadruplicate.

Vienna, November 2nd 1938.

V. Ribbentrop Count Ciano V. Kanya Chvalkovsky

ANNEX

Arbitral Award of November 2,193B

In pursuance of the request made by the Royal Hungarian and the Czecho slovak Govemments to the German and the Royal Italian Govemments to settle by arbitration the outstanding question of the areas to be ceded to Hungary, and in pursuance of the notes exchanged on the subject between the Governments concemed on October 30th l938, the Gemman Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop, and the Minieter of Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Italy and Emperor of Ethiopia, Count Galeazzo Ciano, have today met at Vienna and, after a further discussion with the Royal Hungarian Minister of Foreign affairs, M. Koloman von Kanya, and the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Franz Chvalkovsky, have given the following arbitral award in the names of their Govemments:

1. The areas to be ceded by Czechoslovakia to Hungary are marked on the annexed map.(2) The demarcation of the frontier on the spot is confided to a Hungarian-Czechoslovak Commission.

2. The evacuation of the ceded territories by Czechoslovakia and their occupation by Hungary begine on November 5th and is to be concluded by November 10th. Tbe individual stages of the

evacuation and occupation together with other details are to be fixed by a HungarianCzechoslovak Commission.

3. The Czechoslovak Government will take care that the ceded territories are left in an orderly condition on evacuation.

4. Individual questions arising out of the cession of terntory, in particuliar questions relating to nationality and options, are to be settled by a Hungarian-Czechoslovak Commission.

5. Likewise, detailed provisions for the protection of persons of Magyar nationality remaining in the territory of Czechoslovakia and of persons of non-Magyar nationality remaining in the ceded territories are to be agreed upon by a Hungarian-Czechoslovak Commission. The Commission will take particular care that the Magyar national group in Pressburg is given the same position as the other national groups.

6. In so far as the cession of territories to Hungary involves disadvantages and difficulties of an economic or transport character for the territory remaining with Czechoslovakia, the Royal Hungarian Government will do everything possible, in agreement with the Czchoslovak Government, to remove such disadvantages and difficulties.

7. Should any difficulties or doubt arise in the execution of the arbitral award, the Royal Hungarian and the Czech Governments will immediately consult with each other. Should they be unable to reach an agreement on any question, such question will be submitted to the German and Royal Italian Governments for final decision.

Vienna, November 2nd 1938.

Joachim von Ribbentrop Galeazzo Ciano

Source: Washingtlon, Carnegie Endowment for lnternational Peace, Vol. 8, 1938-1941, 210-202.

1. Not registered with the Secretariat of the League of Nations.

(1) The main sources for these tables are: Information Hungary, edited by Ferenc Erdei and the Hungaran Academy of Sciences (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1968); Jacob S. Siege], The Population of Hungary (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958); Statistical Year-book of Hungary, 1949-1955, compiled by the Central Bureau of Statistics from Statisztikai Evkonyv, Budapest 1957 (Washington: U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, 1958); and Magyar Statisztikai zsebkonyv (Budapest: Kozgazdasagi es Jogl Konyvkiado, 1966).

(2) Discrepancy is due to the slightly higher estimates by recent surveyors.

(3) This sudden growth in population is due to the influx of refugees from the Succession States.

4. The difference of 22 square miles between the area of inter-war and post-war Hungary is due to the 1oss of three additional villages (the Bratialava [Pozsony] bridgehead) to Czechoslovakia.

5. Hungary's population on January 1, 1949. Data for 1947 is not available.

Source: Konnyu, Leslie, A Condensed Ceography of Hungary, St. Louis, The American-Hungarian Review. 1971, 63-64

From Trianon to the First Vienna Arbitral Award