Adolf Hitler invaded the Sudetenland in 1938, on various pretexts including the refusal of Prague to agree to the impossible demands of the head of a German ethnic group there.
Hitler did not consider the Sudetenland to be of primary importance, but a useful starting point to delay reaction to his policy of aggression. A conference was assembled including representatives from France, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain.
The conference was considered a success in the UK, asserting the rights of the remaining non-ethnic Sudetenlanders, and allowing German occupation whilst insisting that no further acts of invasion should take place. The British public were not keen to enter another war.
 Neville Chamberlain's ticket (Click to enlarge) |
Chamberlain's 'Peace in our Time' was of course doomed, and the Munich agreement referred to sarcastically as the 'Peace of Paper' after WWII began. Now the ticket which Chamberlain used to fly to Germany has come up for auction at Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers and Valuers in Ludlow.
To be precise, half of the return ticket has shown up (found in the possessions of British Airways founder George William Denny). The other half sold at Christie's in London in 1992, tripling its top estimate of £4,000 to sell for £13,200.
This half is estimated at £5,000-7,000 - a 'peace of history' if ever there was one. The auction takes place on January 19.
Collectors of WWII memorabilia will be interested to know that a signed photo of Chamberlain's more favourably remembered successor Winston Churchill is currently available.
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