Memories
Looking back at what made the news in years gone by SEPTEMBER 30, 1938
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boasted of “Peace for our time” after signing a non-aggression pact with Germany 80 years ago.
He was hailed as bringing peace to Europe after arriving back in Britain holding an agreement, signed by Adolf Hitler, which stated the Third Reich’s leader’s desire never to go to war with Britain again.
Hitler wrote: “We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.”
But Chamberlain’s much-heralded agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, as the peace didn’t even last a year before Europe was plunged back into war, barely two decades after the guns had fallen silent at the end of the First World War.
The Fuhrer had no intention of sticking to the promises he’d made, referring to the agreement as “just a scrap of paper” as he invaded Poland in September 1939, forcing Britain and France to declare war.
There were, in fact, two pieces of paper including the infamous one Chamberlain brandished before the cameras and a jubilant crowd as he landed at Heston Airfield from Munich on September 30 the previous year.
That was a personal pact