Prague, 16 March 1988
Foreign (Office), Berlin
Cipher Cable (Secret Proced.)
No. 57 of 16 Mar.
With reference to cable order No. 30 of 14 March.
Rebuff to Frank has had a salutary effect. Have thrashed out matters with Henlein,-who recently had shunned me, and with Frank separately and received following promises:
1. The line of German Foreign Policy as transmitted by the German Legation is exclusively decisive for policy and tactics of the Sudeten German Party. My directives are to be complied with implicitly.
2. Public speeches and the press will be coordinated uniformly with my approval. The editorial staff of "Zeit" [Time] is to be improved.
3. Party leadership abandons the former intransigent line which in the end might lead to political complications and adopts a line of gradual promotion of Sudeten German interests. The objectives are to be set in every case with my participation and to be promoted by parallel diplomatic action. Laws for the protection of nationalities [Volksschutzgesetze] and "territorial autonomy" are no longer to be stressed.
4. If consultations with Berlin agencies are required or desired before Henlein issues important statements on his program, they are to be applied for and prepared through the Mission.
5. All information of the Sudeten German Party for German agencies is to be transmitted through the Legation.
6. Henlein will establish contact with me every week, and will come to Prague at any time if requested.
I now hope to have the Sudeten German Party under firm control, as this is more than ever necessary for coming developments in the interest of foreign policy. Please inform ministries concerned and Mittelstelle (Central Office for Racial Germans) and request them to support this uniform direction of the Sudeten German Party.
[Initial illegible]
[Five names and initials omitted]