Split

Pared down on three sides by territorial slicings of Germany. Hungary and Poland after the Munich Deal, what is left of Czechoslovakia was last week split in two. Germany demanded and got a corridor 40 miles long, 197 feet wide through the slim middle of the whittled little nation. Along this strip Adolf Hitler will build one of his Autobahnen, which will run from Breslau in German Silesia south to Vienna and thus provide a direct and short motor connection between the eastern part of Germany and the recently-acquired Ostmark.* The road, to be completed in 1940, is the first section of a great highway which Germany intends to push through the Balkans into Asia Minor, via Belgrade, Sofia and Istanbul, as part of her drive to the East. Along the Czechoslovak strip, police, customs and traffic control will be in German hands. The two parts of Czechoslovakia will be connected by tunnels and overpasses. >So completely has Czechoslovakia come under German authority that last week it proceeded in the best authoritarian manner to nominate a President to succeed resigned Dr. Benes. Nomination (tantamount to election) was done by the National Assembly, now an impotent body in the control of the State Party for National Unity, which, in turn, is dominated by the Cabinet of Premier Jan Syrovy, the one-eyed general. Week ahead of time Czech newspapers announced that Dr. Emil Hacha, 66-year-old Czech jurist, would this week be unanimously elected by the Assembly.

With a new President scheduled to be elected this week, the Government set about removing last reminders of Dr. Benes. The Minister of Posts announced that all 50-heller stamps bearing Benes' portrait would be recalled and destroyed.

*Already in effect is a concession to Germany whereby trains from Annaberg and Mittehwalde to Breclav are not subject to Czech customs regulation as they cross Bohemia. A German-built canal will connect the Oder and the Danube.

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