In Munich, in the Führerbau, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini sign the agreement on the Sudeten territory. The date of the instrument, concluded in the night of 29 to 30, is 30 September 1938. Czechoslovakia does not sign. It is not the Anschluss of March 1938, and it is not the Anglo-German declaration, on a separate sheet, of the same morning.

The text heads “Munich, September 29, 1938”. The four take into consideration an agreement already reached in principle for the cession to Germany and each hold themselves responsible for fulfilment. Czechoslovakia is held to evacuate without damage to existing installations.

Clause 1: evacuation begins on 1 October. Clause 2: the United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that evacuation shall be completed by 10 October. Clause 4: occupation by stages of the predominantly German territory, after the attached map: zone I on 1–2 October, II on 2–3, III on 3–5, IV on 6–7; the remainder, ascertained by the commission, by 10 October.

Clause 3: an international commission — Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia — lays down the evacuation in detail. Clause 5: the same commission determines where a plebiscite is to be held, on the Saar basis, not later than the end of November, with international occupation until then. Clause 6: the final frontier, also by the commission; it may recommend to the four Powers minor ethnographical modifications.

Clause 7: a right of option into and out of the transferred territories, within six months; a German-Czechoslovak commission settles the details. Clause 8: within four weeks the Czechoslovak Government releases from the military and police any Sudeten Germans who wish it, and Sudeten German prisoners serving for political offences.

The annex: the British and French Governments stand by the offer of 19 September of an international guarantee of the new boundaries. Germany and Italy will give a guarantee when the Polish and Hungarian minority questions have been settled. It is not the First Vienna Award of 2 November 1938, and it is not the occupation of the Czech remainder, of 15 March 1939.

Galeazzo Ciano is in the room; he does not sign. Edvard Beneš receives the terms after the fact. The Soviet Union is not summoned. The meetings at Berchtesgaden, 15 September, and Bad Godesberg, 22–24 September, are earlier talks, not this act.

The international commission did not hold the plebiscites provided for in clause 5. That later note does not change the text signed at Munich.

Image: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Ciano, Munich, 29 September 1938; Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173; CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Munich Agreement. Treaty text: Munich Pact, 29 September 1938 (Avalon).