Original German Pre-WWII NSDAP 1938 Munich Agreement Commemorative Propaganda Table Medal Designed by Karl Goetz

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a German Pre-WWII NSDAP 1938 Munich Agreement Table Medal, commemorating the failed act of appeasement that allowed the German annexation of the so-called "Sudetenland" in Czechoslovakia. Sometimes referred to as the "Munich Betrayal", the agreement involved the leaders of NSDAP Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and Fascist Italy, and ignored previous alliances and military pacts. The party made many such commemorative propaganda items, both as a way to raise money, and as a way to make the symbolism of the party ubiquitous in everyday life.

This table medal measures 60mm in diameter with a thickness of 3mm, and is stamped on the side by maker BAYER. HAUPTMÜNZAMT, or the Bavarian State Mint, a known maker of these medals. The original designer of the metal was Karl Xaver Goetz, based in Munich, who designed many such medals during the WWI and WWII periods. This example looks to be made from gilt brass, making it very attractive.

The front of the medal shows overlapping busts of the heads of state from the four countries, showing Adolf H, Benito Mussolini, Neville Chamberlain, and Édouard Daladier from left to right. There is a token dove to the left, and the names are listed above and below the four busts:

ADOLF·HI**ER
BEINOTO·MVSSOLINI
(4 Busts)
NEV·CHAMBERLAIN
ED·DALADIER

The reverse of the medal shows the site of the Munich agreement, the Führerbau ("the Führer's building"), a building in Munich built to serve as a symbol of Adolf H and the importance of Munich to the NSDAP. Below this is the NSDAP coat of arms for Munich: a monk under one of the city gates, with a spread winged eagle with a swas on its breast on top. It has the following inscription:

DIE
MÜNCHENER
ABMACHUNGEN
IM·FÜHRERHAUS
(Führerbau)
29.IX. (Munich Coat of Arms) 1938

This translates to "The Munich Agreements in the Führer House 29 September 1938".

Condition is very good, showing only some light oxidation spotting on both sides. A very interesting piece of Third Reich propaganda material!

The Munich Agreement was an agreement reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by NSDAP Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and Fascist Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, where more than three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is also known in some areas as the Munich Betrayal (Czech: Mnichovská zrada; Slovak: Mníchovská zrada), because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic.

Germany had started a low-intensity undeclared war on Czechoslovakia on 17 September 1938. In reaction, Britain and France on 20 September formally requested Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland territory to Germany. This was followed by Polish and Hungarian territorial demands brought on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Meanwhile, German forces conquered parts of the Cheb District and Jeseník District, where local battles included use of German artillery, Czechoslovak tanks, and armored vehicles. Lightly armed German infantry briefly overran other border counties before being repelled. Poland also grouped its army units near its common border with Czechoslovakia and conducted an unsuccessful probing offensive on 23 September. Hungary moved its troops towards the border with Czechoslovakia, without attacking. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance, provided that the Red Army would be able to cross Polish and Romanian territory. Both countries refused to allow the Soviet army to use their territories.

An emergency meeting of the main European powers–not including Czechoslovakia, although their representatives were present in the town, or the Soviet Union, an ally to both France and Czechoslovakia–took place in Munich, Germany, on 29–30 September 1938. An agreement was quickly reached on Adolf H's terms, and signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy. The Czechoslovak mountainous borderland marked a natural border between the Czech state and the Germanic states since the early Middle Ages; it also presented a major natural obstacle to a possible German attack. Strengthened by significant border fortifications, the Sudetenland was of absolute strategic importance to Czechoslovakia.

On 30 September, Czechoslovakia submitted to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by Britain and France, and agreed to surrender territory to Germany following the Munich terms.