Sir, - Eulogising Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) as "a man traduced by history", Kevin Myers attributes noble motives to that prime minister's three trips within a fortnight to Germany (in September 1938) to confer with Hitler (An Irishman's Diary, September 8th).
My own assessment of Chamberlain's record during those fateful weeks would be that of a blackmailer, albeit a naive one. Chamberlain intrigued with French leaders against Czechoslovakia ("people about whom we know nothing") and prevailed on them to repudiate sacrosanct pledges. France's ratting on obligations explicitly written into treaties seems to me to be nothing less than cheating at international level, in which murky business Chamberlain was clearly implicated.
In seeking to make allowance for the British leader, Kevin Myers asserts that the Czechs were not prepared to fight to maintain the integrity of their state. The swift mobilisations of the Czechoslovak army in May and September 1938 (my late father participating) belied the accuracy of this accusation.
The Munich treaty, signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, implicitly held Czechoslovakia responsible for any conflict or war arising out of non-acceptance of the "agreement". That President Benes caved in and gave the army orders to withdraw from fortified border territories is open to criticism (as is his pathetic response to Communist blackmail in 1948).
The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942 by Czechoslovak paratroopers suggests less acquiescence by the Czech nation in its bondage that Kevin Myers would have us believe.
The second World War was more likely to have been avoided by honouring pledges and treaties than by dishonouring them. - Yours, etc.,
Karl Bacik, Meadowgrove, Blackrock, Cork.