Description:

EDOUARD DALADIER
(1884 - 1970) French 'radical' politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of World War II. Daladier was a signatory to the disastrous Munich Pact. DALADIER ON HIS MUNICH PACT NEGOTIATIONS Superb content T.L.S. as Prime Minister on official letterhead, 1p. 4to. Paris, October 12, 1938, to the Duke of Coburg and President of the United German Action Union, discussing the Munich Agreement which had been signed two weeks prior. In part: '...In your telegram of October 1, you were good enough to inform me of the satisfaction which the German veterans felt at the happy outcome of the Munich negotiations. I am happy that my efforts to remove the theater of war from Europe are recognized and understood by those who, like ourselves, have in the past experienced its horrors and grief...' File holes at the left margin, else very fine. Daladier himself was a veteran of World War I which explains his sentiments to the German veteran's association. Just two weeks prior to his letter on September 30th, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy signed the Munich Agreement which allowed the annexation of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany, without the consent of Czechoslovakia. Most of Europe applauded the agreement as success in preventing another major war, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain famously declared that he had achieved 'peace in our time.' Ironically, despite his statements in this letter, Daladier was aware of the ambitions of Hitler. He reportedly told the British in a late April 1938 meeting that Hitler's real aim was to eventually secure 'a domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble.' Despite this, he still chose to appease the Nazis. In September of the following year, Germany would invade Poland beginning the war, and Daladier would eventually resign as Prime Minister after a series of failures. He was tried by the Vichy government for treason after the fall of France, and spent the war imprisoned. An excellent historic document.

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August 24, 2021 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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