Prager Tagblatt
- Shamefaced Friendship.
- The New Government before the Chambers
- The Slovaks Make Demands.
Prague's German-language daily devoted its front page of 15 October 1926 to the debut of the third Švehla cabinet, which had presented itself to both chambers the day before. The editorial "Shamefaced Friendship" noted that the government declaration made no grand or concrete point of the cabinet's Czech-German make-up, and called the coalition a "miniature Locarno" without the great Locarno's fanfare. The parliamentary report described a packed house, with deputies present almost to a man and overflowing diplomatic and public galleries. A further report warned that Slovak demands put the new government's majority in question ahead of a vote expected the following Tuesday. A caption introduced Zierhut as the new Vice-President of the Chamber.
Translation
Shamefaced Friendship.
Dep[?]. Zierhut, the new Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies.
Shamefaced Friendship.
Prague, 14 October. Anyone who knows our conditions could not have expected that the declaration with which the new government introduces itself would underline what is characteristic of this cabinet – its composition of Czechs and Germans – with lofty pathos or in concrete words. Our miniature Locarno lacks the imposing accompanying music that roared around the birth of the great Locarno. The Czech-German governing partnership and the exposé, [?], [?] the [?]
The New Government before the Chambers
[?] The new government before [?]
Prague, 14 October. The first nationally mixed government presented itself today to the two chambers of the National Assembly. The government declarations were made first in the Chamber of Deputies. The outward scene matched the significance of the moment: the deputies present in the House almost to a man, the diplomatic and visitors' boxes overcrowded, the gallery reserved for the public occupied down to the very last seat, and on the standing gallery people packed head to head. The session, called for half past three in the afternoon, begins with the usual [?] delay. At last the [?] government [?] appointed [?] the House [?] warm [?] ascend[?] the tribune [?] government [?] deputies [?] their seats [?] bench. Švehla['s] exposé [?] with emphasis [?]
The Slovaks Make Demands.
[?] and his [?]applause [?] our [?]
The Slovaks Make Demands.
Above all they demand the M[?]
The debate, which will presumably be concluded next Tuesday, must end in a vote on whether the House takes note of the declarations or not. The question now arises whether the new government really commands a reliable majority. Until now one could assume that the government majority would be made up of the Czech Agrarians, the People's Party, the Slovaks, the Tradesmen's Party and the National Democrats, the German Landbund and the German Christian Socials. Now, however, the Slovak [?] seem [?]
Context
The first German ministers and the third Švehla cabinet
The "first nationally mixed government" in the report was Antonín Švehla's third cabinet, in office from 12 October 1926. Robert Mayr-Harting of the German Christian Social People's Party became Minister of Justice and Franz Spina of the Bund der Landwirte became Minister of Public Works (Arbeitsminister). It was the first time since the founding of Czechoslovakia that Germans had entered a government, and Spina is described as the country's very first ethnic German minister. Before this, the all-national coalition of Czech and Slovak parties had broken up over agricultural tariffs and the payment of priests' salaries. That left room for a new combination: Spina's party joined Švehla together with Czechoslovak agrarians, clericals, tradesmen and National Democrats. This is close to the expected majority the paper listed, which put the German Landbund and the German Christian Socials next to the Czech Agrarians. Mayr-Harting remained Minister of Justice until December 1929 and pushed for German to be used as a language in the courts.
The opposition's verdict in the debate of 19 October 1926
The debate the paper expected to end "next Tuesday" took place on Tuesday 19 October 1926. The stenographic record of that sitting contains a speech by a German Social Democrat, given in Czech in the record, that attacks the same points the Tagblatt handled cautiously. He said that when the government presented itself to the Chamber it no longer had a majority, because the Slovak People's Party had openly declared itself in opposition. He also challenged listeners to find even one concrete word in the programme declaration. In his account, the National Democrats stood like Cerberus at the coalition's gates, making sure the Germans received no concessions by the back door and spoiling the German partners' honeymoon. The Tagblatt's own complaint that the declaration avoided concrete words, and its title "Shamefaced Friendship", describe the same reluctance from a friendlier side. The paper put it down to Czech-German conditions, while the Social Democrat took it as proof of an incoherent bourgeois coalition.
Hlinka's Slovak People's Party and its price for joining the majority
The "Slovaks" in the paper's list of the expected majority meant above all Andrej Hlinka's Catholic Slovak People's Party. Its central demand was autonomy. In 1918 Masaryk had signed an agreement with American Slovaks in Pittsburgh that promised Slovak autonomy, and Hlinka argued for autonomy both in the National Assembly and at the Paris Peace Conference. The front page breaks off just as it starts to list the Slovak demands ("above all they demand the M…"), so the reading does not show exactly what was being asked for in October 1926. Later events show how the dispute ended. In 1927 Prague made a modest concession that gave Slovakia the status of a separate province, and the Slovak Populists joined the central government, with Monsignor Jozef Tiso among those appointed to the cabinet. The "reliable majority" the paper doubted was therefore completed only some months after this issue, and at the price of an administrative reform rather than full autonomy.
The "miniature Locarno" and the German activists' turn
The editorial's "miniature Locarno" is the paper's own image. It set the Czech-German coalition beside the international settlement of Locarno and noted that the domestic version came without the great one's imposing music. Behind the comparison lay several years of effort by the German "activists", the parties that chose cooperation with the Czechoslovak state. As early as December 1918 Mayr-Harting had argued for German participation in the new state, at a time when German Bohemian politicians still wanted the Sudeten areas to join Austria. In 1922 he gave the main address at the founding session of the German League for the League of Nations and International Understanding in Prague. This gives the paper's diplomatic metaphor a concrete link to the new Minister of Justice. Not everyone accepted the grand framing. The German Social Democratic speaker of 19 October mocked the new German government papers for trumpeting a "historic turn" that would end rule by a foreign nation and bring "national equality".
Original
Verschämte Freundschaft.
A [?] g. Zierhut, der neue Vizepräsident des Abgeordnetenhauses. Verschämte Freundschaft. Prag, 14. Oktober. Wer unsere Verhältnisse kennt, konnte nicht erwarten, daß die Erklärung, mit der sich die neue Regierung einführt, das Charakteristische dieses Kabinetts - seine Zusammensetzung aus Tschechen und Deutschen - mit hochgestimmtem Pathos oder mit konkreten Worten hervorheben würde. Unser Miniatur-Locarno entbehrt der imposanten Begleitmusik, welche die Entstehung des großen Locarnos umrauschte. Die tschechischdeutsche Regierungsgemeinschaft und das Exposé, [?], [?] der [?]
Die neue Regierung vor den Kammern
[?] Die neue Regierung vor Prag, 14. Oktober. Die erste nationalgemischte gierung hat sich heute den beiden Kammern Nationalversammlung vorgestellt. Die gierungserklärungen erfolgten zunächst im geordnetenhause. Das äußere Bild entsprach Bedeutung des Augenblicks: die Abgeordten fast vollzählig im Hause anwesend, die plomaten - und Fremdenlogen überfüllt, die das Publikum reservierte Galerie bis auf s letzte Plätzchen besetzt, auf der Stehgalerie pf an Kopf. Die auf ½4 Uhr nachmittags beraumte Sitzung beginnt mit der üblichen [?] Verspätung. Endlich ziehen die regierung e ernannt ha Hause vor, warmem B lien besteig tribüne, u R e g i e r u geordnete e ihre Plätze bank. Svehl Exposé, da zeichnet un Nachdruck
Die Slowaken stellen Forderungen.
g bei stversunde u n d sein eifall, e beentsln d ern bei nserer PartwenZwiDie Slowaken stelle Sie verlangen vor allem das M Die Debatte, die vermutlich nächsten Dienstag beendet sein wird, muß. in einer A b s t i mm u n g a u s k l i n g e n, ob das Haus die Erklärungen zur Kenntnis nehme oder nicht. Es entsteht nun die Frage, ob die neue Regierung auch wirklich über eine zuverlässige Mehrheit verfügt. Bisher konnte man annehmen, daß die Regierungsmehrheit sich aus den tschechischen Azrariern, den Volksparteilern, Slowaken, Gewerbeparteilern und Nationaldemokraten, den deutschen Landbündlern und deutschen Christlichsozialen zusammensetzen werde. Nun scheinen aber die slowakischen