Soldiers reinforced by some 140,000 reservists maintained perfect order throughout Czechoslovakia today as municipal elections were held, with early results indicating expected gains for the Sudeten German party and a swing away from the right among the non-German majority voters.
Returns from 24 municipalities indicated the election of 406 Sudeten councilmen in districts which returned only 42 successful German Socialist candidates. The German Socialists had won 110 seats in the last elections.
British Minister Basil Newton called at the Foreign Ministry, reportedly merely to inform himself on the situation. Although travellers arriving from Germany reported troop movements along the Czechoslovak frontier, It was believed that thrice-repeated visits of British Ambassador Sir Nevile Henderson to the German Foreign Ministry had relieved tension in that quarter. The political committee of the cabinet met to study returns.
At Usi Nadlabem (Aussig), the most important among the German minority towns voting today, Konrad Henlein’s Sudeten German Party received 19,874 out of a total of 29,000 votes. At the last Parliamentary election there it had revived 16,494 votes. The Henleinist gains here and elsewhere were attributed to the support of German Christian Socialists and Agrarians, whose groups recently consolidated with the Sudeten German Party.
The German Democratic Party received 3,032 votes as compared with 4,414 at the last election. The Jews, who had not presented candidates at the last election, today received 628 votes. The Czechoslovak National Socialists (not related to the German Nazis) made the greatest gains after the Sudetens, winning 2,500 votes as compared with 2,020, in the last election.
At the town of Most, Henlein’s supporters received 10,681 votes out of a total of 17,344. A gain of 1,397 votes over their showing at the last legislative election. Here the Jews, also presenting candidates for the first time, received 379 votes. The German Social Democrats polled 563 votes at most, as compared with 663 previously.
At Ceskalipa, in Northern Bohemia, the Henleinists received 6,244 votes out of about 10,000. This result compared with 5,178 in the preceding election. The Sudeten German vote jumped at Rymarov from 2,500 at the last legislative election to 3,338 out of 3,937 votes cast today.
In some districts the German Christian Socialists and Agrarians presented isolated lists with some success, showing that many members of these parties refused to obey orders to support Henlein.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
