Bidspirit auction | German WWII Sudetenland Commemorative Medal

German WWII Sudetenland Commemorative Medal - German WWII Sudetenland Commemorative Medal, Dated 1 October 1938 This medal features two male figures on the obverse, one bearing a broken chain and the other raising a flag above a stylized eagle and swastika, rendered in a tone appearing to be gilt bronze. The reverse is inscribed ”1. OKTOBER 1938” surrounded by the slogan ”EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN FÜHRER.” This medal was issued to commemorate the German annexation of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, formalized by the Munich Agreement of September 1938 and completed with German occupation beginning October 1, 1938. The imagery of the broken chain was intended to evoke the ”liberation” of ethnic Germans in the region, a central theme of Nazi propaganda surrounding the annexation. This medal was instituted by the German government in 1938 to mark the annexation of the Sudetenland following the Munich Agreement, by which Britain, France, and Italy sanctioned the cession of Czechoslovak border territories to Germany without Czechoslovak participation. It was awarded broadly to military personnel and civil officials involved in the occupation, and became one of the more widely distributed Third Reich commemorative awards of the pre-war annexation period. The occupation of the Sudetenland was followed within months by the German seizure of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, a step widely regarded as a key precursor to the outbreak of the Second World War.